This guide concerns the relationship between customs valuation and transfer pricing. The 2018 edition includes updates to reflect developments on transfer pricing at the OECD including the OECD/G20 BEPS Project, information on recent texts concluded by the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation and updates to national initiatives (Annex I).
Issues of transfer pricing have come to the fore in both international tax and customs regimes. In particular, the problem of how to apply the two systems of valuation to the same transaction is of widespread concern. This well-known book, now in a fully updated second edition, is a problem-solving guide for professionals charged with valuating transactions in their client’s or company’s best interests. Through detailed examination of relevant guidelines, transfer pricing methodologies, and business realities prevailing among multinational enterprises, it offers a cogent and convincing account of how tax and customs transfer pricing regimes may be harmonized. Among other essential elements, the author discusses the following in depth: – the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines; – the GATT/WTO Customs Valuation Code (GVC) and other valuation rules in key jurisdictions and regional agreements; – the OECD and UN model tax conventions; – the arm’s length principle; – methods, both traditional and new, of determining whether the parties’ relationship in uenced the price; and – additions to and deductions from the customs value. This second edition discusses new developments in the eld, including a chapter on Commentary 23.1 and Case Study 14.1 of the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation of the World Customs Organization (WCO) – the rst international instruments linking transfer pricing and customs valuation. The book concludes with an analysis of the circumstances and conditions under which the introduction of transfer pricing year-end adjustments to transaction value would be consistent with Article 1 of the GVC. The book will continue to provide practitioners, customs administrations, and academics with a highly practical analysis of the intersection of transfer pricing and customs valuation. It will be welcomed by customs administrations charged with examining the acceptability of a transaction value xed between related parties and by multinational companies as a truly actionable tool they can use to optimize decision-making as it relates to transfer pricing and customs valuation in a “real world” setting.
This book discusses the intricate role of transfer pricing and customs value in international business environment. It examines the relationship between valuation for transfer pricing purposes and valuation for customs, and the significance of the relationship for multinational enterprises, tax authorities and customs administrations. The book begins by reviewing relevant international standards such as the OECD Guidelines and the GATT/WTO Customs Valuation Agreement. This is followed by a discussion of related issues such as VAT and administrative matters. Country chapters provide an overview of the applicable legislation and valuation methods, and case studies allow direct comparison between the practices of the different countries. The book concludes by summarizing the existing relationship between transfer pricing valuations and customs valuations, and by suggesting possible solutions towards a more integrated approach.
The article discusses transfer pricing for customs valuation. In the context of the WCO Guide to Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing the author focuses on case study 14.1 followed by several cases mostly involving US customs rulings, but also covers the 20 December 2017 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Hamamatsu case.
The article studies the relationship between transfer pricing and customs valuation. The author explains two different approaches of transfer pricing, the first one adopted by tax agencies, based on the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and the second adopted by customs agencies, based on the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement (CVA). From the business perspective, the divergence between the two taxation regimes is an obstacle to the liberalization of trade and inhibits international development for companies. On the other hand, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) believes that the WTO CVA and the use of the OECD Guidelines are enough to settle the issue of customs valuation and transfer pricing. However, ICC specifies that tax and customs approaches of intercompany transactions should converge to the same value. In this goal, ICC published a policy statement in 2012, which has been integrated in the WCO guidelines. This statement, based on the harmonization of the current rules, contains several additional options to derive customs value. The author states that the Union Customs Code does not contain any evolution from a transfer pricing perspective but contains some negatives changes regarding custom valuation. Also, the opportunity of the WCO Free Trade Agreement should be taken to move forward on this issue.
Although valuation is fundamental to both tax and customs liability in international transactions, values calculated by the two regimes can differ, often markedly, in situations where no clear rules of transfer pricing apply. Through detailed examination of relevant guidelines, transfer pricing methodologies, and business realities prevailing among multinational enterprises, Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing offers a cogent and convincing account of how tax and customs transfer pricing regimes may be harmonized.Among the essential elements of this important thesis, the author discusses the following in depth: the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines; the GATT/WTO Valuation Code (GVC); the arm's length principle; methods, both traditional and new, of determining whether the parties' relationship influenced the price; and additions to and deductions from the customs value. The study 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.
The authors discuss the new case study released by the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation of the World Customs Organization. The case study is a significant development, providing a practical example of how certain transfer pricing documentation can be used by customs authorities to determine whether a relationship has influenced the price when assessing customs valuation.
This guide to the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement is based on the authors' experiences of teaching its finer points to customs officials and policy-makers around the world. Covering the methods of valuation and the provisions on enforcement, implementation and dispute settlement, the authors give practical examples, explain interpretative decisions of national and international customs bodies, and analyse the history of its negotiation. Written as a learning tool, it helps both new and experienced policy-makers, customs officials, importers and exporters to gain a deeper understanding of the Agreement's function and aims.