The Republic of Cyprus and the Federal Republic of Germany signed on 19 February 2021 an amending Protocol (the “Protocol”) to the Double Tax Treaty dated 18 February 2011 (the “DTT”) between the two states. The Protocol was ratified by Cyprus on 5 March 2021 and it is expected to become effective on or after 1 January following that in which all legal procedures are completed for the Protocol to enter into force.
 
The Protocol implements, among others, the minimum standards of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) actions of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) related to bilateral agreements and other amendments that have been bilaterally agreed upon.  
 
More specifically, the main amendments introduced by the Protocol, include (i) the introduction of specific wording in the Preamble of the DTT in order to be in line with the OECD minimum standard in BEPS Action 6; (ii) the amendment of article 7 of the DTT in relation to business profits in order to be in line with the 2017 OECD Model Tax Convention, and (iii) the introduction of a principal purpose test (“PPT”) in article 27 “entitlement of benefits” of the DTT which is in line with the OECD minimum standard in BEPS Action 6 (PPT).
 
The text of the signed Protocol can be found here.