Country-by-Country Reporting – Compilation of 2024 Peer Review Reports

First reporting fiscal year: To be confirmed

Consolidated group revenue threshold: MRO 22 billion

Filing deadline: 12 months following the end of the reporting fiscal year

Local filing required: Yes

Surrogate parent entity filing permitted: Yes

First review of the domestic legal framework: 2022/2023

There are several areas where there are recommendations to improve the legislation. These recommendations remain in place since the 2022/2023 peer review.

As Mauritania’s legislation does not include an effective date, a legislative filing requirement is therefore not in effect in Mauritania. Mauritania should introduce an effective date in the legislation in order to give effect to the filing requirement.

Mauritania’s legislation specifies a filing threshold of MRO 22 billion. The minimum standard requires a filing threshold of EUR 750 million or a near equivalent amount in domestic currency as of January 2015. The filing threshold specified in Mauritania’s legislation is not consistent with this. It is recommended that Mauritania amend the filing threshold or otherwise clarify that it is in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include an effective date from which CbC reporting is required. It is recommended that Mauritania clarify or amend the legislation to include an effective date for the CbC filing requirement.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “Group”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “Group” that is in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “MNE Group”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “MNE Group” that is in line with the standard.

The definition of “Ultimate Parent Entity” in Mauritania’s legislation refers to a legal person being required to prepare consolidated financial statements under accounting principles, but it does not include an entity that would be required to prepare consolidated financial statements if its equity interests were traded on a public securities exchange in Mauritania (“deemed listing provision”), as required under the standard. In addition, it is unclear whether the first condition relates to an obligation to prepare consolidated financial statements under accounting principles applicable in Mauritania or whether it could apply to legal persons that prepare such statements without being required to do so. It is also unclear whether the legislation would apply to entities which do not have legal personality.

Under the terms of reference, the Ultimate Parent Entity shall not be held by another Constituent Entity that owns directly or indirectly sufficient interest to be considered as an Ultimate Parent Entity. This is not reflected in Mauritania’s primary law, which instead contains the following conditions in the primary filing obligation provisions: the Ultimate Parent Entity is “not held by one or more legal entities located in Mauritania which are subject to the filing of this declaration, or established outside Mauritania and required to file a similar declaration under foreign regulations”. It appears that these provisions may in fact trigger a primary filing obligation on a Constituent Entity in Mauritania which would not be considered the Ultimate Parent Entity under the terms of reference, where the actual Ultimate Parent Entity under the terms of reference is not required to file a CbC report. In effect, this is an instance of local filing for entities in Mauritania when there is no requirement to file CbC report on an entity located in another jurisdiction, which would be considered as their Ultimate Parent Entity as per the standard (this may technically give rise to a duplication of the CbC reports filed under both the primary and secondary filing requirements by the parent company in Mauritania). Where such a local filing obligation occurs, there are no provisions (i) which would allow an MNE Group to designate one Constituent Entity to file the CbC report and (ii) which would deactivate this filing obligation when a CbC report is made available through surrogate filing.

In light of the above, it is recommended that Mauritania amend the definition of UPE or otherwise clarify the definition to be in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “Constituent Entity”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “Constituent Entity” that is in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “Consolidated Financial Statements”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “Consolidated Financial Statements” that is in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “Fiscal Year”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “Fiscal Year” that is in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “Reporting Fiscal Year”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “Reporting Fiscal Year” that is in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “Reporting Entity”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “Reporting Entity” that is in line with the standard.

Mauritania’s legislation does not include a definition of “Systemic Failure”. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its legislation to include a definition of “Systemic Failure” that is in line with the standard.

The information included in Mauritania’s legislation does not include the template of the Country-by-Country report and does not include any details of what should be included under each heading in the report. It is recommended that Mauritania publish the full content and format requirements of the CbC Report.

The local filing provision in Mauritania applies where an MNE Group has a Constituent Entity established in Mauritania which is not the Ultimate Parent Entity of the group, and the jurisdiction of residence of the Ultimate Parent Entity of the MNE Group does not have an international agreement with Mauritania allowing the automatic exchange of CbC reports. This is broader than the condition under the standard, where a jurisdiction may require local filing if "the jurisdiction in which the Ultimate Parent Entity is resident for tax purposes has a current International Agreement to which the given jurisdiction is a party but does not have a Qualifying Competent Authority Agreement in effect to which this jurisdiction is a party by the time for filing the Country-by-Country Report". Under Mauritania’s legislation, local filing may be required in circumstances where there is no current international agreement between Mauritania and the residence jurisdiction of the Ultimate Parent Entity. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its primary law or otherwise ensure that local filing only occurs in the circumstances permitted under the minimum standard, in particular to prevent local filing in the absence on an international agreement.

With respect to the conditions under which local filing may be required, under Mauritania’s legislation, local filing applies where an MNE group has a Constituent Entity established in Mauritania which is not the Ultimate Parent Entity of the Group, and the jurisdiction of the Ultimate Parent Entity has concluded an agreement with Mauritania for the automatic exchange of CbC reports but does not comply with the obligations arising from such agreement. Whether these provisions fully reflect the standard which limit local filing to the instances of “Systemic Failure” (i.e. suspension for reasons other than those that are in accordance with the terms of that agreement or persistent failure to automatically provide the CbC report) should be clarified. It is recommended that Mauritania amend its primary legislation or otherwise clarify that local filing will only apply if there is a “Systemic Failure”.

Mauritania has a legislative requirement for local filing which is in effect despite Mauritania not yet meeting all of the consistency, confidentiality and appropriate use conditions. It is therefore recommended that Mauritania take steps to ensure that local filing only occurs in the circumstances permitted under the minimum standard.

Mauritania’s local filing requirements will not apply if there is surrogate filing in another jurisdiction which is listed in a list of states or territories which have adopted regulations imposing the filing of a CbC report similar to that required in Mauritania, which have concluded an agreement with Mauritania for the automatic exchange of CbC reports and which comply with the obligations arising from such agreement. It is unclear whether local filing would be “deactivated” in respect of jurisdictions which allow voluntary parent surrogate filing, being noted that the list mentioned above has not yet been published at this point in time. This will be monitored.

It is recommended that Mauritania clarify that the annual consolidated group revenue threshold calculation rule applies in line with the OECD guidance on currency fluctuations in respect of an MNE Group whose Ultimate Parent Entity is located in a jurisdiction other than Mauritania.

Mauritania does not have a legal mechanism in place to enforce compliance with the minimum standard. It is recommended that Mauritania take steps to ensure that enforcement provisions and monitoring relating to the enforcement of CbCR filing obligations are implemented.

Mauritania does not have a process to take appropriate measures in case it is notified by another jurisdiction that such other jurisdiction has reason to believe that an error may have led to incorrect or incomplete information reporting by a Reporting Entity or that there is non-compliance of a Reporting Entity with respect to its obligation to file a CbC report. As no exchange of CbC reports has yet occurred no recommendation is made but this aspect will be further monitored.

Mauritania has no bilateral relationships in place for the exchange of CbC reports nor processes to ensure that the exchange of information is conducted in a manner consistent with the terms of reference relating to the exchange of information framework.

It is recommended that Mauritania take steps to have qualifying competent authority agreements in effect with jurisdictions of the Inclusive Framework that meet the confidentiality, consistency and appropriate use conditions and with which Mauritania has an international exchange of information agreement in effect that allows for the automatic exchange of tax information.

It is recommended that Mauritania take steps to implement the necessary processes or written procedures to ensure that the exchange of information is conducted in a manner consistent with the terms of reference relating to the exchange of information framework.

These recommendations remain in place since the 2022/2023 peer review.

Mauritania does not yet have controls in place to ensure the appropriate use of CbC reports.

It is recommended that Mauritania take steps to ensure that the appropriate use condition is met ahead of the first exchanges of information.

This recommendation remains in place since the 2022/2023 peer review.