Transfer Pricing and Location of Intangibles - Spillover and Tax Avoidance through Profit Shifting

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Reineke ◽  
Katrin Weiskirchner-Merten
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Home Bias ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Optimal Location ◽  
The Other ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Length Range ◽  
A Company

This study examines how spillovers affect a multinational company's choice of an intangible's location and the corresponding transfer price for using this intangible. Our model uses a company with a domestic division in a high-tax country and a foreign division in a low-tax country, where each division's activities generate spillovers on the other division's income. In contrast to previous studies, our analysis incorporates an intangible's optimal location when the company trades off tax minimization and efficient activities. By locating the intangible abroad, the company reduces its tax liability, whereas locating the intangible domestically yields more efficient domestic division activities. For a high spillover of the domestic division, the company locates the intangible domestically. Our model supports empirical evidence regarding intangibles' location that is interpreted as "home bias". Additionally, we show how variations in regulatory parameters-arm's length range and tax rate differential-affect the divisions' activities and the intangible's location.

The Portuguese intellectual property box: issues in designing investment incentives

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-102
Author(s):  
António Martins
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Corporate Taxation ◽  
Investment Incentives ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Benefits ◽  
Set Up

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss tax and accounting issues related to the evolution of the intellectual property box in Portugal and present a preliminary view of its impact. In 2014, Portugal adopted an Intellectual Property (IP) box, exempting from corporate taxation half of the gross revenue obtained from selling IP rights. In 2016, the country adopted a new IP regime, in line with BEPS’ recommendations, with stricter rules for exempting income. The “modified nexus approach”, recommended by the OECD, was the cornerstone of legal changes. The research questions addressed in this paper are as follows: was the Portuguese IP box, set up in 2014, internationally competitive in terms of the scope of qualifying assets and the tax rate when compared to other EU countries? Could its legal design induce potential corporate tax avoidance? Does the new IP box framework reduce avoidance opportunities and does it increase tax and accounting complexity for companies and tax auditors? Design/methodology/approach The methodology used in this paper is based on the legal research method combined with a case study analysis of the IP box in Portugal. The economic motivation for legal changes, the interaction between the tax authorities and the policy makers in the wake of BEPS’ recommendations, and the economic crisis that Portugal faced, influenced legislative options. A multidisciplinary approach is required to analyse the IP box modifications, and the methodology follows this line of enquiry. Findings The author concludes that the 2014 IP box was not competitive in terms of the scope of qualifying assets and the tax rate. However, it could be a potential tool for tax avoidance, mainly linked to transfer pricing strategies. Legal changes, introduced in 2016, by enacting stricter rules for granting tax benefits, fit a worldwide trend of restraining profit shifting opportunities linked to intangibles. The new framework clearly impacts tax and accounting complexity, for companies and tax auditors. Preliminary data, for 2014 and 2015, show a negligible impact of the IP box on corporate taxation. Practical implications The “modified nexus approach” is not a definitive panacea for fighting tax avoidance. Multinationals may move resources (e.g. highly specialized persons) to entities that are developing IP, curtailing the restriction associated with acquiring services from related parties. Tax authorities may fight these schemes, but face a challenging task. The grandfathering option and new accounting choices related to expense allocation are delicate issues. Not all countries adopted BEPS’ recommendations at the same time, which may impact international profit shifting activities and increase tax authorities’ costs to control them. The paper also provides preliminary and exploratory evidence that IP boxes, per se, do not suddenly raise the R&D activity of firms. Originality/value The analysis highlights legal, accounting and economic issues in dealing with changes in investment incentives and can or may be a useful remainder for countries in the process of setting up, or amending, IP boxes.

The impact of countries' transfer pricing rules on profit shifting

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex A.T. Rathke ◽  
Amaury José Rezende ◽  
Christoph Watrin
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Pricing Rules ◽  
Transfer Prices ◽  
Extensive Information ◽  
Import And Export ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of different transfer pricing rules on tax-induced profit shifting. Existing studies create different enforcement rankings of countries based on specific transfer pricing provisions on the assumption that larger penalties and more extensive information requirements imply higher tax enforcement. This assumption carries limitations related to the impact of transfer pricing rules in different countries and to the interaction of different tax rules. Instead, the authors propose a nonordered segregation of groups of countries with different transfer pricing rules, and they empirically investigate the impact of these transfer pricing rules on the profit-shifting behavior of firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply the hierarchical clustering method to analyze 57 observable quantitative and qualitative characteristics of transfer pricing rules of each country. This approach allows the creation of groups of countries based on a comprehensive set of regulatory characteristics, to investigate evidence of profit shifting for each of these separate groups. Profit-shifting behavior is measured by the variation in the volume of import and export transactions between local firms and related parties located in other countries.FindingsThe results indicate that firms have a higher volume of intrafirm transactions with related parties located in countries with a lower tax rate. This result is consistent with the profit-shifting hypothesis. Moreover, the results show that relevant differences in transfer pricing rules across countries produce different effects on the volume of intrafirm transactions. The authors observe that the existence of domestic transfer pricing rules that override the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines may inhibit profit shifting. In addition, the results suggest that the OECD guidelines may facilitate profit shifting. Overall, it is observed that some transfer pricing rules may be more effective than others in curbing profit shifting and that firms are still able to manipulate transfer prices under some tax rules.Research limitations/implications(1) The authors focus on the Brazilian context, which provides a suitable set of profit-shifting incentives for the analysis, since it combines an extreme corporate tax rate, a highly complex tax system, and a unique set of transfer pricing rules. (2) Profit-shifting behavior is captured by the volume of intrafirm transactions. The authors would prefer to observe the transfer price directly; however, this information is not disclosed by firms, for it may represent a limitation to the investigation. Nonetheless, theory shows that the profit-shifting behavior is reflected by the manipulation of both transfer prices and intra-firm outputs.Practical implicationsThe authors find that the volume of intrafirm transactions may decrease or increase, depending on the transfer pricing system of the foreign country (including the tax-differential effect). It suggests that some transfer pricing rules are more effective than others in curtailing the profit-shifting behavior and that firms are still able to find vulnerabilities in current rules and take advantage of them in deploying a profit-shifting strategy.Social implicationsResults provide knowledge about how key differences on transfer pricing rules across countries influence the profit-shifting behavior. The results of the study may have valuable application in solving regulatory mismatches, to eliminate blind spots in transfer pricing rules and thus to contribute to the current review of OECD guidelines and to the global tax reset movement.Originality/valueRecent studies suggest that if tax-avoidance incentives are somewhat weak, it becomes difficult to observe the shifting behavior of firms. The puzzle is to check whether profit shifting is nonexistent under weak incentives or whether this is a matter of methodological limitations. The authors’ analysis is applied to a complex tax background with strong profit-shifting incentives; thus, it allows the authors to obtain robust evidences of the shifting behavior and the effect of different transfer pricing rules.

scholarly journals Corporate Taxation and the International Challenge

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-131
Author(s):  
Peter Koerver Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Avoidance Measures

Abstract It is argued th**at the higher degree of economic integration across borders and the international trend towards a reduction of corporate income tax rates have had a significant impact on the Danish corporate tax regime in recent years. Accordingly, during the last ten years the Danish statutory corporate tax rate has been lowered further, while several government actions at the same time have been taken in order to combat international tax avoidance and evasion. As a result, new anti-avoidance provisions have been introduced and some of the older anti-avoidance provisions have been tightened in order to prevent base erosion and profit shifting. Thus, to some extent Denmark has already tried to address a number of the key pressure areas mentioned in the recently published OECD BEPS report, such as international mismatches in entity and instrument characterization, the tax treatment of related party debt financing, transfer pricing and the effectiveness of anti-avoidance measures. However, the article concludes that these anti-avoidance provisions often suffer from being quite complex, very broad in scope and open to criticism from an EU law perspective.

scholarly journals Is There Money on the Table? Evidence on the Magnitude of Profit Shifting in the Extractive Industries

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Beer ◽  
Dan Devlin
Keyword(s):  
Developing Economies ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Extractive Industries ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Pricing Rules ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Fiscal Regime

Profit shifting remains a key concern in international tax system debate, but discussions are largely based on aggregate estimates, with less attention paid to individual sectors. Drawing on a novel dataset, we quantify tax avoidance risks in the extractive industries, a sector which is revenue critical for many developing economies. We find that a one percentage point increase in the domestic corporate tax rate has historically reduced sectoral profits by slightly over 3 percent; and the response tends to be more pronounced among mining than among hydrocarbon firms. There is only weak evidence transfer pricing rules contain tax minimization efforts of MNEs in our sample, but interest limitation rules (e.g., thin capitalization or earnings based rules) do reduce the observable extent of profit shifting. Our findings highlight the challenge of taxing income in the natural resource sector and suggest how fiscal regime design might be strengthened.

scholarly journals The Use of International Tax Planning in Subsidiaries from the Financial and ICT Sectors in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-196
Author(s):  
Vít Jedlička
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Tax Burden ◽  
Effective Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Havens ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Dummy Variable ◽  
International Tax

Tax avoidance is an important element of management in the global economy. Managers use tax havens for reducing a company’s effective tax rate. The most common practices in international tax planning can be divided into three groups: loans and their related interest, royalties, and transfer pricing. The aim of this article is to find the determinants of the tax burden faced by foreign-owned subsidiaries. Therefore, a model was created for the tax burden, focusing on the special position of subsidiaries within international tax planning. For this purpose, taxes/outcomes was established as a new dependent variable. The panel data used include Czech companies that are owned by parent companies located in other EU countries. The model distinguishes EU tax havens from regular member states; sector dummy variables are also included. The regression model that was created did not confirm the assumed dependencies. Rather, it indicated other important determinants: profitability, the share of intangible assets, size, and the dummy variable for the ICT sector. Based on the regression results, the independent variables connected with known tax planning schemes have relatively low importance. The significance of these results can be seen in the subsequent conclusions. First of all, there is no difference between the subsidiaries’ tax burdens based on the parent company’s location. Corporations use international tax planning whether or not they are owned from a tax haven. The second significant conclusion indicates the importance of certain sectors and their attributes concerning the tax burden. Companies from the ICT sector are linked to a lower tax burden. On the other hand, the dependencies within the financial sector are not statistically significant. From the perspective of further research, it would be constructive to incorporate the subsidiary’s position within the group.

scholarly journals Effects of Differential Tax Rates on Transfer Pricing

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-hsing Li ◽  
Kashi R. Balachandran
Keyword(s):  
Internal Control ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Closed Form Solution ◽  
Form Solution ◽  
Price System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Optimal Mechanism ◽  
Pricing System

The purpose of this paper is to study transfer pricing under asymmetric information and taxation. In accordance with the empirical evidence documented in accounting literature, this paper assumes that the firm uses one pricing system instead of two pricing systems—one for the tax purposes and the other for internal control. We provide a closed-form solution for the optimal mechanism under a dual-price system, which allows for the price credited to the manufacturing division to not equal the price charged to the distribution division. The equilibrium outcomes of the analysis suggest several interesting findings. Under a dual-price system, both divisional accounting profits at equilibrium change in the same direction with respect to the change of tax rate. However, the direct effect is larger than the indirect effect. Under a dual-price system, the division with the lower tax rate should be credited more profits than the division with the higher tax rate, but it would not fully bear all the profits.

Challenges of Monitoring Tax Compliance by Multinational Firms: Evidence from Chile

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 500-505
Author(s):  
Sebastián Bustos ◽  
Dina Pomeranz ◽  
José Vila-Belda ◽  
Gabriel Zucman
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Effective Tax Rates ◽  
Arm’S Length Principle ◽  
Debt Shifting

This paper reviews common challenges of taxing multinational firms, using Chile as a case study. We briefly describe key international tax avoidance methods: profit shifting to low-tax jurisdictions through transfer pricing and debt shifting. We discuss the prevalent policy to tax multinationals--the arm's length principle--and alternative proposals using apportionment formulas. Novel data from Chile show that multinationals make up a large share of GDP but report lower profit and effective tax rates than local firms. In 2011, Chile implemented a reform following OECD guidelines to enforce the arm's length principle. We discuss potential effects on tax collection and welfare.

scholarly journals PENGARUH TRANSFER PRICING TERHADAP PENGHINDARAN PAJAK

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Paskalis A Panjalusman ◽  
Erik Nugraha ◽  
Audita Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Effective Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Purposive Sampling ◽  
Independent Variable

AbstractThis study aims to examine the effect of transfer pricing on tax avoidance. The independent variable used in this study is transfer pricing. While the dependent variable used in this study is tax avoidance, which is measured using the effective tax rate (GAAP-ETR). The population in this study amounted to 15 multinational manufacturing sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during the 2014-2017 period. Determination of research samples using purposive sampling method and obtained a sample of 9 multinational manufacturing companies based on certain criteria. The results of the study show that transfer pricing has an effect but not significantly on tax avoidance. Key Word. transfer pricing; tax avodiance AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh transfer pricing terhadap penghindaran pajak (tax avoidance). Variabel independen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah transfer pricing. Sedangkan variabel dependen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah penghindaran pajak (tax avoidance) yang diukur menggunakan effective tax rate (GAAP-ETR). Populasi dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 15 perusahaan sektor manufaktur multinasional yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) selama periode 2014-2017. Penentuan sampel penelitian menggunakan metode purposive sampling dan memperoleh sampel sebanyak 9 perusahaan manufaktur multinasional berdasarkan kriteria tertentu. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa transfer pricing berpengaruh tetapi tidak signifikan terhadap penghindaran pajak (tax avoidance). Kata Kunci. transfer pricing; penghindaran pajak

scholarly journals Amazon, Medtronic, the OECD on Risk Analysis: Thesis on Transfer Pricing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Edward Andrew Lincoln
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Agency Relationships ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
International Tax ◽  
Tax Court ◽  
The U.S

The mission of this thesis is to demonstrate the diverging adherence to contracts of the OECD and US in risk allocation for transfer pricing purposes as featured in BEPS Actions 8-10. The OECD adopts a principal of objective behavioral—non-agency—analysis of economic activity, which is impracticable and unworkable. The OECD denies that accurate legal contracts accurately delineate legal relationship. This implies an inherent fraud in corporate business management, which if true would be criminal in most countries—the OECD is implying everything in writing is a lie. The OECD denies the tax implications of principle-agent legal agency relationships as defined by contract law in its transfer pricing recommendations. On the other hand, the U.S. Tax Court still looks to the agency relationships between corporate entities. The U.S. Tax Court follows the correct approach.Corporate management can be divided between principle and agents. People usually think about management and shareholders, but there are also risk managers and asset managers that can be bifurcated. In terms of management, the bottom of the hierarchy is the managers of the factories. The capital fund managers or the shareholders have all the power—it will be taxed here not at the managers of the factories. The managers at the top of the hierarchy will get the highest level of remuneration. Reliance on contract is the only way that makes sense. Tax is based on legal—rather than equitable—matters. How would one tax equity?Two polar opposites define the alternative approaches to the proper appraisal of income for purposes of taxation for transfer pricing. On the one hand, the United States Tax Court has focused largely on contractual language and terms of agreement. On the other, hand the OECD through BEPS jurisdictions (most of the rest of the world where policies have been formulated) choose to analyze actual economic behavior and reality independent of the mere words chosen by the parties.Globalization and technology have greater importance in our daily lives every day. As technology and industrial processes grow every day, technology leads to greater globalization, and greater globalization of supply chains leads to more efficient and efficient technology. For example, years ago, heart problems would lead to death, but now small “battery” type instruments (pacemakers) can prevent heart attacks. The examples of the health benefits from technology are endless.As technology becomes greater and more efficient, globalization has also created supply chains and industrial production processes that are no longer local. As global supply chains increase in complexity, profits need to be properly allocated to certain jurisdictions for taxation purposes—to raise revenue support government functions for society’s benefit. This is a fundamental issue of international taxation. The leading principle for the allocation is the arm’s length principle, according to which related enterprises must charge prices that would have been charged in the open market. Although the principle’s goal aims at avoiding profit shifting, multinational enterprises for years used to shift profits to low tax jurisdictions to avoid taxes in high tax jurisdictions. In the early part of the 21st century increased to attention to these phenomena has lead to the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project to combat this harmful tax competition. This is the most groundbreaking change to the international tax treaty framework since the 1920s—that was initially set up to facilitate cross-border trade. This BEPS project has led to fundamental proposals—as a type of model law—to change the international tax system.

MULTINATIONAL TAX AVOIDANCE AND ANTI-AVOIDANCE ENFORCEMENT: FIRM-LEVEL EVIDENCE FROM DEVELOPING ASEAN COUNTRIES

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
ATHIPHAT MUTHITACHAROEN ◽  
KRISLERT SAMPHANTHARAK
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Avoidance Measures ◽  
Asean Countries

We use firm-level data from ASEAN5 to examine the significance of tax-motivated profit shifting by multinational enterprises and to analyze how anti-avoidance measures mitigate the profit shifting. We show that (1) tax-motivated profit shifting is statistically and economically significant, especially for manufacturing firms, (2) auditing and transfer-pricing scrutiny is more effective in reducing profit shifting than documentation requirement alone and (3) tax-motivated profit shifting is prominent for large firms, while anti-tax avoidance measures result in the absence of profit shifting detected from small manufacturing firms. The findings have important implications for developing countries with weak governance but dependent on MNEs.

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