International Transfer pricing

International transfer pricing refers to the determination of prices to be charged between related persons and in particular within a multinational enterprise for transactions between various group members (sales of goods, the provision of services, transfer and use of patents and know-how granting of loans etc.) As these prices are not negotiated in an open market they might deviate from prices agreed upon by non-related trading associates in comparable transactions under similar circumstances.

The above leads to a special interest on the part of tax authorities in intra-group transactions and especially in cross- border transactions. In many circumstances the tax authorities would seek to adjust the prices adopted in these transactions to arm’s length prices. However, the intra-group trading partners themselves may find it difficult to settle on satisfactory transfer prices, even if they are in many cases no comparable transactions in the open market. In such circumstances the tax authorities may seek to arrive at the arm’s length price by using cost-based methods or methods based on the price changed to the final customer – the ‘resale minus’ or resale price method or any other which can produce an acceptable result.