Strategizing International Tax Best Practices – by Keith Brockman

Posts tagged ‘BEPS Actions 8-10’

OECD: Financial instruments draft

Under the mandate of the Report on Actions 8-10 of the BEPS Action Plan (“Aligning Transfer Pricing Outcomes with Value Creation”), Working Party No. 6 (“WP6”) has produced a non-consensus discussion draft on financial transactions.

Comments are due by September 7, 2018.  The treasury function, guarantees, intra-group loans, cash pooling transactions and captive insurance are the broad agendas discussed.

The guidance is not intended to prevent countries from implementing approaches to address capital structure and interest deductibility under domestic legislation, nor does it seek to mandate accurate delineation under Chapter I as the only approach for determining whether purported debt should be respected as debt.

As this guidance is critical for establishing if an instrument is true debt, as well as transfer pricing implications for financial relationships, this discussion draft is critical to review and provide relevant comments.

The OECD’s discussion draft is referenced herein for review.

 

Click to access BEPS-actions-8-10-transfer-pricing-financial-transactions-discussion-draft-2018.pdf

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OECD / UN

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Intangibles: OECD’s discussion draft

OECD has issued its latest discussion draft on hard-to-value intangibles; comments are due by June 30, 2017.

OECD’s press release states:  The Final Report on Actions 8-10 of the BEPS Action Plan (“Aligning Transfer Pricing Outcomes with Value Creation”) mandated the development of guidance on the implementation of the approach to pricing hard-to-value intangibles (“HTVI”) contained in Section D.4 of Chapter VI of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines.
This discussion draft, which does not yet represent a consensus position of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs or its subsidiary bodies, presents the principles that should underline the implementation of the approach to HTVI, provides examples illustrating the application of this approach, and addresses the interaction between the approach to HTVI and the mutual agreement procedure under an applicable treaty.

As intangibles are one of the most contested issues in transfer pricing, also fact specific with subjectivity, this discussion draft merits a review by all international tax practitioners to view the current thinking by the OECD, as well as a chance to provide comments in reaction.

EY’s Global Tax Alert and the Discussion Draft references are provided:

Click to access 2017G_03394-171Gbl_OECD%20releases%20implementation%20guidance%20on%20hard-to-value%20intangibles.pdf

Click to access BEPS-implementation-guidance-on-hard-to-value-intangibles-discussion-draft.pdf

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OECD

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TP BEPS soft law: UK / Sweden

The UK tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), will refer to the OECD base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) report on BEPS Actions 8-10 in transfer pricing audits.  Maura Parsons, HMRC deputy director and head of transfer pricing, has stated that HMRC will look to the 2015 BEPS reports in addition to the current OECD guidelines (although British law explicitly refers to the 2010 version on the transfer pricing guidelines).

Additionally, Sweden has taken a similar position and adopted the final OECD report in audits.

This line of reasoning is primarily based upon the premise / supposition that the new OECD guidelines are merely a clarification of existing rules, not requiring new legislation.  

In addition to the inherent uncertainty of the new rules, UK, Sweden and other countries that will adopt this position introduce additional challenges into understanding the current law, requirements and grounds upon which appeals / court cases will be based.  This is a new trend that promises to expand quickly into other countries, undermining the intent of transparency and consistency worldwide.  

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OECD

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OECD BEPS update

EY’s Global Alert discusses the upcoming public consultations on BEPS Actions 8-10, and includes country related BEPS initiatives for Australia, France, Honduras, India and Taiwan.

Click to access 2015G_CM5299_The%20Latest%20on%20BEPS%20-%2016%20March%202015.pdf

The latest updates highlight the pivotal discussions around complex transfer pricing issues including risk recharacterisation (also referred to as non-recognition).  These discussions and final guidelines will set the stage for upcoming controversies, including efforts to avoid double taxation.

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OECD / UN

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TEI’s comments: BEPS Actions

TEI has provided comments in response to several OECD BEPS Actions, linked herein for reference.

Action 10:Profit Splits-Key comments:

  • Profit split methodologies should be limited to scenarios where there is not reliable arm’s length pricing.
  • Simple examples provided do not provide a comprehensive basis for detailed replies and consideration.
  • A profit split approach may be subject to abuse by tax authorities.
  • Hindsight application of transfer pricing methodologies should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

Click to access TEI%20Comments%20BEPS%20Action%2010%20-%20Profit%20Splits%20-%20FINAL%20to%20OECD%206%20February%202015.pdf

Actions 8-10: TP Guidelines

  • Transfer pricing analyses discussed in the proposal would require significant resources for MNE’s and tax authorities.
  • The possible merging of the approaches of attributing profits for Article 7 (PE) and Article 9 (Associated Enterprises) should be clarified.
  • The imposition of “insufficient transfer pricing documentation” penalties should be abandoned/relaxed by tax authorities for a reasonable period of time after implementation of the new guidelines.
  • Additional compliance burdens elicit increased complexity and confusion.

Click to access TEI%20Comments%20BEPS%20Actions%208-10%20-%20Risk%20and%20Recharacterisation%20FINAL%20to%20OECD%206%20February%202015.pdf

Action 4: Interest

  • The proposal represents a shift away from the arm’s length principle, introducing difficult and impractical problems to resolve.
  • Capitalisation factors include many considerations other than tax.
  • Double tax consequences are more likely, as MNE’s will not be able to easily rearrange financing structures worldwide.
  • The withholding tax impacts should be clarified for foreign tax credit and related calculations.
  • MNE’s with a higher effective tax rate, and thus less prone to base erosion or profit shifting arrangements, should be excluded.
  • The concept of global limitation calculations, and interest sharing, needs to be further discussed to determine efficient audit guidance.

Click to access TEI%20Comments%20BEPS%20Action%204%20-%20Interest%20Deductions%20-%20FINAL%20to%20OECD%203%20February%202015.pdf

Action 10: Commodities

  • Right to use publicly available quoted exchange prices as a comparable is a welcome proposal.
  • Discussion of other issues, including pricing, pricing date, and documentation should be further considered and clarified.

Click to access TEI%20Comments%20BEPS%20Action%2010%20-%20Commodity%20Transactions%20-%20FINAL%20to%20OECD%203%20February%202015.pdf

 

TEI’s comments are always informative, practical and highlight issues that are both useful as well as problematic.  Therefore, these comments provide an excellent forum, along with comments from other interested parties, for further consideration prior to drafting final guidance.

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OECD / UN

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