Academic literature on the topic 'Taxation system of transfer pricing'

For the last decades, transfer pricing has been one of the most important issues for both tax authorities and multinational corporations. On the one hand, tax authorities, despite their counter-measures, have not been able to cope with international tax avoidance or evasion using transfer pricing by multinational corporations owing to the deficiency of tax systems and the inability of tax administrations and this has resulted in a huge revenue loss to the coffers of their countries. On the other hand, while multinational corporations have been using transfer pricing as vehicles to maximize their overall after-tax profits as a group, they have been suffering intolerable administrative burdens and double taxation caused by enforcement of counter-measures by tax authorities. The basic principle for transfer pricing taxation legislation is the "arm's length principle", that transactions between parties that are not dealing at arm's length should be carried out for tax purposes under terms and at a price that one could reasonably have expected in similar circumstance had the parties been dealing at arm's length. This principle has been endorsed by the OECD, Canada, the U.S. and other developed countries, however, common specific guidelines under this principle have not been established among tax authorities and even multinational corporations themselves cannot always find an arm's length price acceptable to tax authorities. Since the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs issued the report "Transfer Pricing and Multinational Enterprises" in 1979, tax authorities, multinational corporations and tax practitioners have been making strenuous efforts to find a reasonable and practical transfer pricing taxation system and to coordinate its enforcement, all of which enables tax authorities to recover or keep their fair share of revenue and protect multinational corporations from double taxation. At present, the situation already shows some improvements due to efforts for the harmonization of guidelines among tax authorities, and due to multinational corporations' application of transfer pricing policy in a more self-restricted manner, and more appropriate advice from tax practitioners. However, there is still room for possible improvements. In Canada, there have been no guidelines other than the Income Tax Act which provides general principles of transfer pricing taxation, and actual enforcement has been based on the internal assessing guideline of Revenue Canada. But, on February 27, 1987 Revenue Canada issued Information Circular 87-2. Although an information circular does not carry any legal weight, it is expected that the circular will eliminate taxpayers' uncertainty and augment tax compliance. On the other hand, in Japan, despite its export-oriented economy, the Japanese tax authorities have not been keeping pace with the internationalization of economic activities. Having introduced anti-tax haven legislation in 1978, Japan in 1986 introduced transfer pricing taxation legislation. Although fairly concrete pricing methods have been written into legislation in order to permit the reasonable enforcement of the new system, there is much to be learned from the experience of the "advanced" countries. Above all, Canada's experience could be useful, as the provisions of the new Japanese transfer pricing taxation legislation are similar to those of the Canadian Income Tax Act and both countries have several similarities in terms of their relationship with the U.S. In this thesis, after reviewing the background to these problems, I will discuss the Canadian transfer pricing taxation system and its enforcement by looking at each type of intra-group transaction and the corresponding adjustment and mutual agreement procedure system. Then I will compare the Canadian approach and Japanese approach. Possible improvements will be dealt with in the conclusion. Since there has been little jurisprudence in this area, the discussions are primarily based on the tax authorities' perspectives and the OECD reports.<br>Law, Peter A. Allard School of<br>Graduate

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-120).<br>Increased globalisation has lead to centralised risk management and decision-making in multinational enterprises, which gives rise to the principle of tax efficient supply chain management and the need to focus on the integration of tax considerations into the multinational's supply chain. In order to retain a competitive advantage in the global economy, multinational enterprises need to constantly search for cost benefits. This has created a market for tax motivated structures and the consequential action by tax authorities world-wide to regulate transfer pricing, in order to protect their respective tax bases. As revenue authorities increase their focus on transfer pricing compliance, it is vital that multinationals adhere to the arm's length principle and ensure their transfer pricing documentation can substantiate the transfer prices selected.

The current problems and possible solutions surrounding United States transfer pricing regulations are discussed and studied. The schemes large multinational companies are implementing to legally evade taxes are uncovered as the financial effects to the United States Treasury and government are becoming material. The benefits for these schemes are financially advantageous for corporations as they are able to report larger profits and higher returns for investors. But this is being done at the expense of our government. Corporations are finding ways to escape the high U.S. corporate tax rate and lower their global tax liabilities by allocating income to lower tax jurisdictions. Tax havens like Ireland or Bermuda are popular to have subsidiaries which hold a corporations intangible property. Five United States Tax Court cases concerning transfer pricing are studied and the outcomes are analyzed. The current problems studied from these cases are, shipping intangible property, valuing intangible property, the arm’s length standard. The possible solutions to these currents problems are by no means easy to solve and no one revision can relieve all the problems. The arm’s length standard is the corner stone to the current problems and if the government can find a way to better enforce the standard or replace it, it will be a large step in the right direction.

Many multinational firms, notably Apple Inc., have engaged in increasingly aggressive tax planning strategies which shift billions of dollars overseas. This paper examines the problem through a case study of Apple, concluding that while many loopholes are utilized, aggressive transfer pricing of intangible assets is the root of the problem. Several solutions are examined before concluding that the best solution is a partial elimination of deferral in the form of a minimum payout share.

Since the 1979 economic reforms, China has been characterized by a rapid increase in international trade and an inflow of foreign direct investment. Foreign investment enterprises (FIEs) play an increasing important role in the Chinese economy and are substantially engaged in transactions with affiliates outside China. Therefore, international transfer pricing in China has become a significant issue. Empirical research on international transfer pricing has focused on multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in developed countries. However, it is difficult to generalize their findings to MNCs operating in developing countries as the business environment of developing countries is quite different from that of developed countries. Existing literature identifies that due to differences in the business environment between developed and developing countries, the tax factors which are important in developed countries should not be over-emphasized in developing countries. Some nontax factors such as foreign exchange control and restrictions on profit repatriation which may not be important in developed countries are nevertheless important in developing countries. However, empirical studies on international transfer pricing in developing countries are relatively scare. Furthermore, there have been no empirical studies that examine the relationships between management’s perception of the importance of environmental variables and management’s choice of international transfer pricing methods in developing countries, or which analyze the tax and nontax cost trade-off for tax evasion via international transfer pricing in developed or developing countries. The objective of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive empirical study on international transfer pricing in China from the perspectives of both taxpayer and the tax authority. The results of this thesis indicate that the more important the management perceives the interest of local partners and the maintenance of a good relationship with host government to be, the more likely it is that the FIE will adopt a market-based transfer pricing method. On the other hand, the more important the management perceives foreign exchange controls in transfer pricing decisions to be, the more likely it is that the FIE will choose a cost-based transfer pricing method. The research results also reveal that based on a tax and non-tax cost trade-off analysis, wholly foreign-owned enterprises, cooperative joint ventures and exportoriented FIEs are more likely to be selected for transfer pricing audits in China than equity joint ventures and domestic -market oriented enterprises. Some explanations for this result are the lack of monitoring by Chinese local partners in certain FIEs and the opportunity for transfer pricing manipulations. The results of this thesis have important policy implications for foreign investors carrying on business in China, the Chinese tax authorities as well as academic researchers. My research results should help foreign investors to have a better understanding of the tax and the nontax factors in formulating transfer pricing policies in China. The results should also help tax authorities tackle tax audit problems more effectively and in setting tax audit guidelines on related party transactions. Further, this thesis should contribute to the establishment of a more comprehensive theoretical framework of international transfer pricing in developing countries. It also empirically demonstrates the applicability of the tax and nontax cost theory in the context of international transfer pricing.

Transfer pricing has become a very popular term in South Africa over the last few years, even more so since July 2013 when the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action plan was issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G20 (an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies). The OECD and G20 has issued the plan to address the perceived flaws in international tax rules, giving rise to profit shifting. Subsequently, the OECD has issued numerous reports and as a result has updated its 2010 Transfer Pricing Guidelines. Many countries have adopted these guidelines. However as South Africa is not an OECD member, there is no certainty that it will be adopted. The question is therefore: has the South African Tax legislation met the OECD guidelines and addressed the BEPS issue? Therefore, the objective of the research is to understand whether the current South African tax legislation is in line with the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and BEPS Action Plan. The South African tax legislation provides South African taxpayers with no guidance as to how the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines needs to be implemented and interpreted. However, even though not legislation, the SARS practice note 7 and draft interpretation note on thin capitalisation provides taxpayers with a good basis of understanding the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, as these documents provided by SARS is similar to that of the guidance in the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, specifically relating to transfer pricing documentation. The issue that may result where the South African tax legislation is not in line with the OECD guidelines and the BEPS Action Plan is that Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) may use South Africa as the country to shift its profits to or from, thus effectively resulting in a loss to the Fiscus.

There is an overlap between the transfer pricing concepts that apply under tax and under customs regimes. This thesis aims to demonstrate (i) that customs and tax laws often share common principles in respect of related-party transactions; (ii) that transfer pricing as agreed to under one discipline should be recognized under the other; (iii) that the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines constitute a body of rules that is appropriate to supplement the related party provisions of the GATT/WTO Valuation Code ("GVC"); and (iv) that such guidelines are generally in accordance with the provisions of the GVC and its general principles and objectives. This thesis also analyzes the tax and customs value of imported goods, and identifies which additions to or deductions from customs value might have to be taken into account in comparing tax and customs results. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the circumstances and conditions under which the introduction of transfer pricing compensatory adjustments to transaction value would be consistent with Article 1 of the GVC.