Transfer Pricing And The Arm S Length Principle In International Tax Law

The arm's length principle serves as the domestic and international standard to evaluate transfer prices between members of multinational enterprises for tax purposes. The OECD has adopted the arm's length principle in Article 9 of its Model Income Tax Convention in order to ensure that transfer prices between members of multinational enterprises correspond to those that would have been agreed between independent enterprises under comparable circumstances. The arm's length principle provides the legal framework for governments to have their fair share of taxes, and for enterprises to avoid double taxation on their profits. This timely book contains a comparative analysis of the legal basis for the arm's length principle and the contents of the arm's length rules in US tax law as well as in the OECD Model Tax Convention and Transfer Pricing Guidelines. It includes a thorough review of international case law on transfer pricing from the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The book ends with an analysis of the issues associated with the application of the arm's length principle for multinational enterprises in a global economy.

The taxation of multinational corporate groups has become a major concern in the academic and political debate on the future of international taxation. In particular the arm’s length standard for the determination of transfer prices is under increasing pressure. Many countries and international bodies are now taking a closer look at the use of transfer prices for profit shifting and are exploring alternative mechanisms such as formulary apportionment for the allocation of taxing rights. With regard to this topic, this volume is the first to offer a concise analysis of transfer pricing in the international tax arena from an interdisciplinary legal and economic point of view. Fundamentals such as the efficient allocation of resources within multi-unit firms and distortions between different goals of transfer pricing as well as different aspects of it in tax and corporate law, the traditional OECD approach and practical aspects concerning intangibles, capital and risk allocation are covered by outstanding authors.

This book outlines how the application of the arm?s length principle should be reconsidered in light of the initiative of the OECD and G20 to counter tax base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). The arm?s length principle embedded in article 9 of the OECD Model is not an anti-avoidance rule and has been misidentified as the primary tool for tackling abusive practices. Transfer pricing analysis, commonly understood as examining economic substance, in reality examines whether related parties have the functional and financial capacity to perform the contracts they have entered into.

Value Creation and its effects on Transfer Pricing and tax law Emerging from the OECD/G20 BEPS Project, a new, somewhat fuzzy notion of Value Creation came to permeate not only Transfer Pricing language but also wider allocation rules and anti-abuse provisions in international tax law. The notion of ‘Value Creation’ reframes the interpretation and application of the Arm’s Length Principle (ALP) that is embedded in Articles 7 and 9 of the OECD Model Convention. This new Value Creation notion and approach assist in understanding key enterprise functions while different industry sectors manifest these concepts in various ways. Situating such notions and this approach within the law of tax treaties and analyzing terms of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines alongside their factual context is the aim of this book. Here, law students address Transfer Pricing and Value Creation in sectors as varied as commodities trade, automotive, consumer products, food and beverages, pharmaceutical and life sciences, telecommunications, and the key topic of value creation in a digitalized economy. Our LL.M. students were required to address issues not explored in legal research and to discuss factual topics relevant for Transfer Pricing. All students focused on topics that are new to the international tax debate that keep evolving and on factual matters that often escape legal research.

Transfer pricing is one of the most relevant and challenging topics in international taxation. Over the last century, nearly every country in the world introduced transfer pricing rules into their domestic legislation. Indeed, it was estimated that profit shifting generated by the improper application of transfer pricing rules has resulted in global tax losses worth USD 500 billion for governments – 20% of all corporate tax revenues. It is thus imperative that all tax professionals thoroughly understand the nature of transfer pricing and how the growing body of applicable rules works in practice. In this crucially significant volume, stakeholders from government, multinational companies, international organisations, advisory groups and academia offer deeply informed perspectives, both general and specific, on the practical application of transfer pricing rules, taking into consideration all the most recent developments. With approximately 160 practical examples and 90 relevant international judicial precedents, the presentation proceeds from general to more specialised topics. Such aspects of the subject as the following are thoroughly analysed: what is transfer pricing and the purpose of transfer pricing rules; the arm’s length principle and its application; the consequences of a transaction not being in accordance with the arm’s length principle; the transfer pricing methods; the mechanisms to avoid and resolve disputes; the transfer pricing documentation; the attribution of profits to permanent establishments; the transfer pricing aspects of specific transactions, such as services, financing, intangibles and business restructurings. The application of transfer pricing legislation is arguably the most difficult task that taxpayers and tax authorities around the world must face. With this authoritative source of practical guidance, government officials, tax lawyers, in-house tax counsel, academics, advisory firms, the business community and other stakeholders worldwide will have all the detail they need to move forward in tackling this thorny aspect of the current tax environment.

Transfer pricing remains one of the biggest areas of heightened controversy in worldwide taxation for multinational firms and tax administrations. Due to its long-reaching effects, tax professionals and tax jurisdictions are required to apprehend the basics of the subject. H. Passemard designed this monograph to act as a guide for understanding Transfer Pricing principles and their practical application. It provides a levelled approach by first and foremost detailing the Transfer Pricing fundamentals and then proceeding to specific topics that are extremely relevant in our current tax environment. The book caters to tax lawyers, in-house tax counsels and academics working in international organizations, the business community and advisory firms as well as government officials interested in understanding Transfer Pricing.

This Second Edition provides an updated and succinct, yet highly informative overview of the key issues surrounding taxation and international law from Reuven Avi-Yonah, a leading authority on international tax. This small but powerful book surveys the nuances of the varying taxation systems, offering expert insight into the scope, reach and nature of international tax regimes, as well as providing an excellent platform for understanding how the principles of jurisdiction apply to tax and the connected tools that are used by countries in imposing taxes. It includes new material on BEPS, the EU Anti Tax Avoidance Package, and the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

This is the first book to present a sustained analysis and critique of arm's length based transfer pricing rules following the G20 / OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The book considers the nature and scope of transfer pricing rules based on the arm's length principle starting with an explanation of how the rules were created and and how they evolved over time. It provides how internationally accepted transfer pricing rules were applied immediately prior to the BEPS project, and describes the principal problems that had arisen with those rules. The issues highlighted include problems relating to the complexity of the rules, the use and availability of comparables, and, in particular, problems permitting avoidance and income shifting, including problems related to low tax entities with 'excessive capital'. Having described the pre-BEPS rules and inherent problems, the book goes on to examine the extent to which the work undertaken by the BEPs project provides a solid foundation for future transfer pricing determinations and the problems that remain after BEPS. It identifies those issues on which the BEPS output has been positive, and also those issues which BEPS has not successfully addressed and which remain problematic. This book is the most detailed and up-to-date publication on this highly topical and often controversial topic.