The game changer

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

The game changer

This year has been a game changer for global transfer pricing. With the final release of the UN Practical Transfer Pricing Manual for Developing Countries in May and with consistent developments in the OECD's transfer pricing aspects of intangibles project – not to mention its new Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project – the goalposts for companies' transfer pricing compliance requirements are changing.

Transfer pricing has also been brought further under public scrutiny by parliamentary hearings in the UK and the US in particular, which have focused on the tax affairs of multinationals such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Starbucks.

At the crux of these interrogations has been how tax planning by these companies minimises tax payments in the US and the UK so effectively, while making huge profits.

However, while the public and politicians are displeased with the level of the companies' tax payments, the taxpayers say they are all acting within the boundaries of the law, and there is no evidence to dispute that their tax planning is anything but legal. The problem lies, they argue, in how the laws are drafted.

The OECD has admitted that international guidelines have not kept pace with business and that the digital industries will make a good test case for its BEPS project. It is unsurprising, therefore, that, bar Starbucks, the majority of the companies that have faced the fiercest criticism for their tax planning are in the digital industries, where it is harder to evaluate what constitutes a permanent establishment for one thing.

While it is still difficult to say what the impact of the BEPS project will be on transfer pricing, the mere publication of the UN manual has had a more tangible impact, not least because of the inclusion in it of separate country chapters from Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

One taxpayer, Han Jin Ping of Siemens China, explains what impact the China chapter will have on companies' transfer pricing affairs in this Global Transfer Pricing supplement. Combined with the useful guides from advisers about BEPS at an international and EMEIA level, and country guides from Chile, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the US, taxpayers can get a global overview of the most important changes to transfer pricing, from a developed and developing country perspective.

We hope you find this transfer pricing supplement both useful and informative. For more in-depth coverage of all the most recent transfer pricing developments around the world, including controversy case analyses, regulation updates and jurisdictional guides to audit, documentation and intangible assets, visit www.TPWeek.com.

Sophie Ashley

Online editor, International Tax Review

Managing editor, TPWeek.com

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump have agreed that the countries will look to conclude a deal by July 21, 2025
The firm’s lack of transparency regarding its tax leaks scandal should see the ban extended beyond June 30, senators Deborah O’Neill and Barbara Pocock tell ITR
Despite posing significant administrative hurdles, digital services taxes remain ‘the best way forward’ for emerging economies, says Neil Kelley, COO of Ascoria
A ‘joint understanding’ among G7 countries that ‘defends American interests’ is set to be announced, Scott Bessent claimed
The ‘big four’ firm’s inaugural annual report unveiled a sharp drop in profits for 2024; in other news, Baker McKenzie and Perkins Coie expanded their US tax benches
Representatives from the two countries focused on TP as they met this week to evaluate progress under a previously signed agreement – it is understood
The UK accountancy firm’s transfer pricing lead tells ITR about his expat lifestyle, taking risks, and what makes tax cool
Dolphin Drilling intends to discuss the final liability amount and manner of settlement with HM Revenue and Customs
Winning the case against the 20% VAT imposition was always going to be an uphill challenge for the claimants, UK tax advisers argue
A ‘paradigm shift’ in Chile’s tax enforcement requires compliance architecture built on proactive governance, strategic documentation and active monitoring of judicial developments
Gift this article