30/07/2013   On 6 June 2012 the OECD published a Discussion Draft containing proposed revisions to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines on Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles.  Comments were received from business representatives and representatives of academia and Civil Society.  A public consultation was held on the Discussion Draft in November 2012.

 

On the basis of comments received and the discussion at the public consultation, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs has now prepared a Revised Discussion Draft on Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles.  Many changes have been made to the 6 June 2012 Discussion Draft.  The changes contained in the Revised Discussion Draft include:

• The addition of a new section addressing features of the local market, location savings, assembled workforce and corporate synergies;
• Explanatory changes to the definition of intangibles;
• Revisions to Section B of the draft that adopt a more transactional approach while preserving a clear focus on the importance of functions performed, assets used and risks assumed;
• The inclusion of a section on transfer pricing aspects of the use of corporate names;
• A reorganisation of the material in Section D of the draft providing supplementary guidance on methods and comparability analysis; and
• The addition of several examples to the Annex and the revision of some of the examples from the prior Discussion Draft.

 

On 19 July 2013, the OECD also released an Action Plan related to Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.  The work on intangibles is specifically listed as one of the BEPS actions in that Action Plan.  This work on intangibles is also closely related to other BEPS actions contained in the Action Plan.  Some of the text and examples contained in the Revised Discussion Draft raise BEPS issues that the OECD intends to address through the various actions contained in the Action Plan.  Accordingly, the Revised Discussion Draft on Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles should be considered a work in process and portions of it may be revised during the course of the work on BEPS. 

 

Interested parties are invited to submit written comments on the Revised Discussion Draft on Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles to TransferPricing@oecd.org by 1 October 2013. 

 

The OECD will hold a further public consultation on the Revised Discussion Draft and other transfer pricing matters on 12 – 13 November 2013 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris, France.  Registration information for the public consultation will be published on the OECD website during September 2013.