MADRID: The introduction of a new double tax avoidance treaty between Finland and Spain will be delayed by at least one year due to the ongoing political stalemate in Spain.
The Finnish Finance Ministry announced on October 7 that the application of the agreement, which was expected to begin on January 1, 2017, will now not happen until the beginning of 2018 “at the earliest.”
The agreement is scheduled to come into force three months after ratification by Spain, and apply from the following January. However, the Ministry pointed out that Spain’s ratification notice should have been delivered by the end of September to enable the agreement to apply from January 2017.
A ministry statement explained: “Under the agreement, countries must inform each other that they have completed the measures necessary for the [agreement’s] entry into force. Finland gave such notice to Spain in April 2016. Spain has not been able to give notice, because the country has not had a government that would be able to obtain parliamentary approval for the agreement.”
