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Arm’s Length Transaction Structures - Recognizing and restructuring controlled transactions in transfer pricing

This book examines the authority to restructure and to disregard controlled transactions based on the arm's length principle. The book, thus, examines the outer limits of the adjustment authority granted by the arm's length principle as opposed to its core area of application (price adjustments).
 
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Title:

Arm’s Length Transaction Structures

Subtitle:

Recognizing and restructuring controlled transactions in transfer pricing - Volume 20 in the Doctoral Series

Author(s):

Dr Andreas Bullen

Date of publication:

April 2011

ISBN:

978-90-8722-088-4

Type of publication:

Print book

Number of pages:

878

Terms:

Price includes delivery. View purchase information

Price:
€ 140 / $ 185 (VAT excl.)
Order Print
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Title:

Arm’s Length Transaction Structures

Subtitle:

Recognizing and restructuring controlled transactions in transfer pricing - Volume 20 in the Doctoral Series

Author(s):

Dr Andreas Bullen

Date of publication:

April 2011

ISBN:

978-90-8722-117-1

Type of publication:

eBook

Number of pages:

878

Other:

Read our eBook FAQ | Download sample | Demo

Price:
€ 140 / $ 185 (VAT excl.)
Order eBook
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Title:

Arm’s Length Transaction Structures

Subtitle:

Recognizing and restructuring controlled transactions in transfer pricing - Volume 20 in the Doctoral Series

Author(s):

Dr Andreas Bullen

Date of publication:

April 2011

ISBN:

978-90-8722-088-4

Type of publication:

Online Book

Number of pages:

878

Access:

Up to five users. View purchase information

Price:
€ 140 / $ 185 (VAT excl.)
Order Online book
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Special offer

Order 2 books from the Doctoral Series and receive a 20% discount. Order 3 or more books and receive a 30% discount. Not available in combination with any other discount. Print format only.
Arm’s Length Transaction Structures - Recognizing and restructuring controlled transactions in transfer pricing

Why this book?

If associated enterprises make or impose special conditions in their controlled transactions which differ from those independent enterprises would have made, the arm’s length principle may authorize a profit adjustment. Such special conditions will not necessarily only be the price conditions, but may also include any other conditions. Hence, associated enterprises may not only value or price their transactions differently from independent enterprises, but may also structure them differently, and even enter into transactions independent enterprises would not contemplate undertaking at all.

The OECD has nevertheless recommended its Member countries as a general rule to adjust only price conditions and other valuation elements of controlled transactions based on the arm’s length principle. This general rule is sometimes referred to as the “as-structured principle”. The first main issue examined in this thesis is the obligation under the as-structured principle to recognize the controlled transaction actually undertaken by the associated enterprises as it has been structured by them.

The OECD, however, has identified two circumstances in which the arm’s length principle authorizes domestic tax administrations to restructure controlled transactions. These are (i) where the economic substance of the transaction differs from its form and (ii) where the transaction is commercially irrational and its structure practically impedes the determination of an appropriate transfer price. The second main issue examined in this thesis is the authority to restructure controlled transactions based on the arm’s length principle.

The common theme of the two main issues can be formulated as the question of how broad the authority is that the arm’s length principle grants to domestic tax administrations. This study, thus, examines the outer limits of the adjustment authority granted by the arm’s length principle.

Arm’s Length Transaction Structures examines these issues in the light of Article 9(1) of the OECD Model Tax Convention, as interpreted, in particular, by the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations. The thesis also analyses relevant domestic law material, especially from Canada, Norway, and the United States, but also from, inter alia, Australia, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
 

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Award winning

  • Winner of the 2010 Mitchell B Carroll Prize. Awarded by the International Fiscal Association (IFA).
  • Winner of the 2011 European Academic Tax Thesis Award. Awarded by the European Association of Tax Law Professors and the European Commission.

This book is part of the IBFD Doctoral Series

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Table of contents

 

Main Contents


Part I: Introduction, Methodology, Arm’s Length Provisions 

 

Part II: The As-Structured Principle

  • The As-Structured Principle’s Legal Foundation
  • Which Adjustments Are Restricted by the As-Structured Principle?
  • Examining the As-Structured Principle and Complementary Principles

Part III: Structural Adjustments

  • The Exceptions: Common Issues
  • The Economic Substance Exception
  • The Commercial Rationality Exception

Part IV: Final Remarks, Appendices
 

Author(s)

Dr Andreas Bullen wrote this thesis as a Research Fellow at the Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo. He currently practices tax law with Wiersholm, Mellbye & Bech in Oslo.
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