EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by authority of the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Rules 2024
Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) (Qualified GloBE Taxes) Amendment (Measures No. 1) Determination 2026
Section 29 of the Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Act 2024 (the Act) provides that the Minister may make Rules prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act. Section 30 of the Act provides that these Rules may confer a power on the Minister to make a legislative instrument.
The relevant sections of the Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Rules 2024 (the Rules) that allow the Minister to make the Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) (Qualified GloBE Taxes) Determination 2025 (the Determination) are:
- paragraph 10-15(a) – specifying a tax that is a Qualified Income Inclusion Rule (IIR);
- paragraph 10-15(b) – specifying a tax that is a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (DMTT); and
- subsection 8-200(2) – specifying a jurisdiction that has QDMTT Safe Harbour status for the Fiscal Year.
The purpose of the Determination is to specify that a jurisdiction has a Qualified IIR tax, a Qualified DMTT or that the Minister is satisfied a jurisdiction has QDMTT Safe Harbour status for a Fiscal Year.
In August 2025 and January 2026 the OECD released further jurisdictions that have implemented IIR and DMTT legislation with transitional qualifying status. Transitional qualified status is obtained where OECD Inclusive Framework members determine whether the legislation of an implementing jurisdiction is sufficiently consistent with the OECD GloBE Rules, via a common peer review process. Qualification status is important for the agreed rule order of the GloBE Rules and ensures that a jurisdiction’s domestic legislation is implemented and applied consistently to the GloBE Rules.
The purpose of the Amending Determination is to align with the OECD’s central record by adding the following 12 jurisdictions that have a Qualified IIR, Qualified DMTT and QDMTT Safe Harbour Status to sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Determination:
• Gibraltar
• Hong Kong (China)
• Indonesia
• Isle of Man
• Malaysia
• North Macedonia
• Poland
• Portugal
• Qatar
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Thailand
The following 4 jurisdictions are added to section 5 of the Determination that specifies a jurisdiction has a Qualified IIR for Fiscal Years beginning on or after a specified date:
• Jersey
• New Zealand
• Switzerland
• Thailand
The following 5 jurisdictions are added to section 6 and 7 of the Determination that states that a jurisdiction has a Qualified DMTT and Qualified DMTT Safe Harbour Status for Fiscal Years beginning on or after a specified date:
• Bahrain
• Brazil
• Japan
• Qatar
• United Arab Emirates
The Act does not specify any conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Determination may be exercised.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) was consulted in developing the instrument and provided valuable feedback to ensure alignment with the OECD’s central record of legislation with qualifying status. The ATO’s feedback has been incorporated into the final instrument.
Broader consultation with affected entities was not undertaken due to the OECD’s central record of legislation, being publicly available and recording some jurisdictions as having qualifying status for financial years commencing after 31 December 2023. Therefore, it was desirable to make the declaratory Amending Determination that implements the OECD’s central record into domestic law as soon as practicable to provide certainty to affected entities. The affected entities would have been reasonably aware of OECD’s list of jurisdictions with qualifying status. Therefore, finalising the instrument without consulting industry members is appropriate given the previous awareness and limited impact on the GloBE computations.
The Amending Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003. The Amending Determination is subject to disallowance and sunsetting in accordance with sections 42 and 50, respectively, of the Legislation Act 2003.
The Amending Determination commenced on the day after the Amending Determination was registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is at Attachment A.
The Amending Determination operates to specify jurisdictions with qualifying GloBE taxes retrospectively. This retrospective application is necessary and consistent with the policy outlined in the OECD GloBE Rules that allows jurisdictions to adopt the Rules from 31 December 2023. The retrospective application of the Amending Determination is supported by section 32 of the Act which provides that any legislative instruments made under the Rules are not affected by the operation of subsection 12(2) of the Legislation Act 2003.
The Office of Impact (OIA) Analysis has been consulted. A list of reports certified as equivalent to a Policy Impact Analysis can be found at https://oia.pmc.gov.au/published-impact-analyses-and-reports/two-pillar-solution-addressing-tax-challenges-arising. The full list of reports and executive summaries of those reports are also available in the Explanatory Memorandum for the Taxation (Multinational-Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Act 2024 as these reports have been certified for the Assessment Act and the Rules.
Attachment A
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) (Qualified GloBE Taxes) Amendment (Measures No.1) Determination 2026
This Determination is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Legislative Instrument
The purpose of the Amending Determination is to specify additional jurisdictions that have a Qualified IIR tax, a Qualified DMTT or that the Minister is satisfied a jurisdiction has QDMTT Safe Harbour status for a Fiscal Year. These amendments are aligned with the OECD’s central record that specifies jurisdictions that have qualifying GloBE taxes.
Human rights implications
This Amending Determination does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This Amending Determination is compatible with human rights as it does not engage any human rights issues.