According to a notice published by Finland's Ministry of Finance, the ratification instruments for the amending protocol to the 2016 income tax treaty between Finland and Germany were exchanged on 26 January 2021 and the protocol will enter into force on 25 February 2021. The protocol, signed 18 November 2019, includes the following changes:

• The title and preamble are replaced in line with OECD BEPS Standards;
• Article 25 (Application of the Convention in Special Cases) is replaced with a new Article 25 (Prevention of Treaty Abuse), which includes the provision that a benefit under the treaty will not be granted in respect of an item of income if it is reasonable to conclude that obtaining that benefit was one of the principal purposes of any arrangement or transaction that resulted directly or indirectly in that benefit, unless it is established that granting that benefit would be in accordance with the object and purpose of the relevant provisions of the treaty; and
• Paragraph 7 of the final protocol signed with the treaty is deleted (concerned prior Article 25).

The protocol applies from 1 January 2022.

Note, a prior report that the protocol entered into force in November 2020 has been updated.