With the implementation of the “Multilateral Risk Assessment" in Section 118b Federal Tax Code (BAO), the legal basis for the participation of the Austrian tax administration in the International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP) and the European Trust and Cooperation Approach (ETACA) was established. Both instruments pursue the idea of cooperation between an MNE and the tax authorities of several countries regarding the risk assessment of specific cross-border tax structures. Whether the participating MNE gains a certain degree of tax certainty through the participation in the multilateral risk assessment and what legal consequences this has for the subsequent tax procedure is subject of this paper.
