Japan
A. Progress in the implementation of the minimum standard
Japan has 75 tax agreements in force as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. Forty-four of those agreements comply with the minimum standard.
Japan signed the MLI in 2017 and deposited its instrument of acceptance on 26 September 2018. The MLI entered into force for Japan on 1 January 2019. Subsequently, Japan made additional notifications to expand its list of agreements to be covered under the MLI.1 The agreements modified by the MLI come into compliance with the minimum standard once the provisions of the MLI take effect. Japan has not listed its agreements with Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Georgia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, the United States, Viet Nam and Zambia, which have not joined the MLI or have joined the MLI but not listed the agreements with Japan. These agreements will therefore not, at this stage, be modified by the MLI. Japan indicated that it would list such agreements once the treaty partners join the MLI and list the agreements with Japan except for the cases where the agreement will be updated through bilateral negotiations to be compliant with the minimum standard.
Japan has signed a bilateral complying instrument with respect to its agreement with Georgia.
Japan indicated in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire that steps have been taken (other than under the MLI) to implement the minimum standard in its agreements with Azerbaijan* and Switzerland.2
Japan indicated in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire that the agreements with Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam and Zambia do not give rise to material treaty-shopping concerns for Japan.
Japan is implementing the minimum standard through the inclusion of the preamble statement and the PPT for its compliant agreements with Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Ecuador*, Egypt, Finland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Korea, Luxembourg, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. Japan is implementing the minimum standard through the inclusion of the preamble statement and the PPT combined with the LOB for its compliant agreements with Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Spain, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan*.3
← 1. Japan made additional notifications to expand its list of agreements to be covered under the MLI on 14 February 2020 and on 22 July 2020.
← 2. Japan and Switzerland signed an amending protocol to the 1971 Japan-Switzerland income tax treaty, as amended by the 2010 protocol, on 16 July 2021.
← 3. For its agreements listed under the MLI, Japan is implementing the preamble statement (Article 6 of the MLI) and the PPT (Article 7 of the MLI). Japan has made a reservation pursuant to Article 6(4) of the MLI not to apply Article 6(1) of the MLI with respect to agreements that already contain the relevant preamble language (covering one agreement).