With approximately one year to go before its formal deadline, the United Nations (UN) Tax Convention process is on the tracks and moving forward quickly. In line with the mandate – or “Terms of Reference” – from the UN General Assembly, the co-leads of the process have now published formal negotiating drafts for no less than three legally binding agreements – one Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation; one Protocol on Cross-Border Services; and one Protocol on Prevention and Resolution of Tax Disputes. 

From 3-13 August 2026, these draft texts were the basis of intergovernmental negotiations at the UN Headquarters in New York, where civil society participated very actively in the discussions. Subsequently, a coalition of over 100 civil society organisations and trade unions have sent written inputs in response to the drafts. In addition to stakeholders, governments have also been invited to send written inputs. All submissions can be found on the UN website here. 

The Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation

The joint submission regarding the Framework Convention is available in English, French and Spanish. In the document, the signatories highlight that significant progress has been made since the previous draft, including the addition of some very important governance provisions. However, a number of key issues remain to be addressed before the Convention can match the objective of establishing “an inclusive, fair, transparent, efficient, equitable and effective international tax system for sustainable development”. 

In particular, the following vital components are missing: 

• Ensuring equitable taxation of multinational enterprises; 

• Key transparency provisions, including a global asset register, beneficial ownership registers and public country by country reporting; 

• The special challenges related to environmentally damaging companies, including extractive industries;

• Ensuring compliance and addressing non-cooperative jurisdictions; 

• Effective participation of stakeholders at the future Conference of the Parties (COP) and its subsidiary bodies;

• The objective of reducing inequalities between and within countries, including through progressive taxation;

• Progressive environmental taxation;

• Gender-responsive taxation. 

Furthermore, the following elements in the text still need to be made operational: 

• The link to sustainable development (Article 4 in the draft text);

• Fair allocation of taxing rights (Article 5); 

• Effective taxation of high-net worth individuals (Article 6);

• Effective measures to combat harmful tax practices and illicit financial flows (Articles 7 and 8). 

The signatories also welcome the new Article on the relation between the Convention and existing international agreements (Article 21 in the draft text), but stress that the text must be significantly stronger and unambiguous. 

The two early Protocols

In addition to the Convention itself, the UN negotiations also include two early protocols. The negotiation in August in New York was the first time these were discussed on the basis of draft texts. 

The coalition has also submitted joint inputs to these processes, which can be found here: 

• Protocol 1 on Cross-Border Services – available in English, French and Spanish; 

• Protocol 2 on Disputes – available in English, French and Spanish. 

For both protocols, the signatories express concern that in the current draft, they rely heavily on the existing international tax system, including the highly problematic transfer pricing system and the network of bilateral double-tax treaties. With this in mind, the group calls for “anti-lock in” clauses to be added to both Protocols, in order to ensure that no country is forced to align with and endorse the current (failed) international system, and that the provisions of the Protocols will not prevent the Parties from introducing fundamental reforms to the international tax system in the future. 

Furthermore, the signatories call for objectives and preambles to be added to both Protocols, with the aim of clarifying how they aim to support the implementation of the Convention. In the same vein, the signatories highlight draft Article 21 of the Convention, which obliges countries to renegotiate existing bilateral tax treaties if they are not in line with the Convention, and call for this provision to be mirrored and fully integrated into both the Protocols. 

Furthermore, both Protocols currently include provisions that would give rights to multinational corporations. The signatories express strong concern about this and call for deletion of the relevant provisions. 

Protocol 1 – Cross-Border Services

For Protocol 1 – on Taxation of Cross-Border Services, the signatories also highlight that strengthening source country taxing rights related to cross-border services is vital, and the Protocol must deliver truly fair and effective solutions which promote implementation of the Convention. However, the current draft strongly resembles a typical bilateral tax agreement aimed at avoiding double taxation. This creates a mismatch with the objectives of the Convention, so rather than promoting reforms and addressing systemic problems, the Protocol risks reinforcing them. 

The signatories also stress that: 

• The hierarchical allocation of source country taxing rights, which is outlined in the draft, can inadvertently result in cancellation of legitimate claims for source country taxing rights; 

• The Protocol must establish a multilateral system that acknowledges, protects, coordinates and can enforce source country taxing rights in multiple countries simultaneously;

• Furthermore, the Protocol should:

  • Introduce the concept of Significant Economic Presence; 

  • Include international shipping and air transport. 

Protocol 2 – Disputes

For the second protocol, the signatories underline their fundamental concerns with the fact that rather than promoting reform and addressing the systemic problems that lead to disputes, the draft Protocol seems focused on enforcing the old system. It is also still unclear how the protocol will contribute to the implementation of the Convention. 

Furthermore, the signatories underline that: 

• A definition of “double taxation” should be introduced which explicitly guards the ability of Parties to introduce effective rules to combat harmful tax practices and unfair allocation of taxing rights;

• Furthermore, the Protocol should:

  • Reflect principle 9(a) of the ToR by introducing differentiated responsibilities for developing countries;

  • Include a mandate to address the problems related to advance rulings for multinational enterprises; 

  • Have Mutual Agreement Procedure as a core mechanism, but government-to-government focused;

  • Not include the option of arbitration. 

Next steps

The next session of the UN tax convention negotiations will take place in Nairobi from 30 November – 10 December 2026. This negotiating round is expected to focus on the Convention and the 2nd early protocol (on disputes), while the first protocol will be discussed at the following session in January 2027. 

Until then, government negotiators will continue the discussions online in zoom meetings that are not open to the public. In joint submissions to the Convention, the coalition of civil society and trade unions has repeatedly called for full transparency of the negotiations, including by allowing observers to participate and present their suggestions through the negotiations, including during online meetings. Unfortunately, this call has not yet received support from any UN Member State. 

According to the Terms of Reference, the UN Tax Process is set to finish by mid-2027 with the adoption of the Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and the two early protocols.