New Double Taxation Agreements Take Effect

On January 1 2014 five new agreements for the avoidance of double taxation between Cyprus and other countries came into effect. The new agreements are with Estonia, Finland, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. The first four are entirely new agreements, extending Cyprus's network of double tax agreements; the agreement with Ukraine replaces the agreement between Cyprus and the former Soviet Union, and has been adopted by Cyprus and Ukraine following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. All the new agreements follow the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development Model Convention. Although the final formal exchange of instruments of ratification of the Cyprus-Spain agreement had not been completed at January 1 2014, the Cyprus authorities nonetheless intend to apply the agreement with effect from that date.