UPDATE: UK agrees “Patent Box” compromise with Germany

Germany and the UK have agreed a joint proposal to advance the negotiations on new rules for preferential intellectual property (IP) regimes within the G20/OECD BEPS (Base erosion and profit shifting) Project, relating to tax breaks for intellectual property.

The proposal is based on the Modified Nexus Approach proposed by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), which requires tax benefits to be connected directly to R&D expenditures, but amends these rules to address concerns expressed by some countries and seeks to address outstanding issues in relation to qualification of expenditures, grandfathering and tracking qualifying R&D expenditure.

The proposal is designed to bridge different views of OECD and G20 member countries on the application of the modified nexus approach. Germany and the UK will present this to the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices and seek formal approval by the OECD and G20 at the January meeting of the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs.