9th IBFD Frans Vanistendael Award goes to Richard Collier and Ian Dykes
The winning article was titled “On the Apparent Widespread Misapplication of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines” and published by IBFD in volume 76, issue 1 of the Bulletin for International Taxation.
Richard Collier and Ian Dykes present an important analysis examining the risk and other aspects of transfer pricing guidelines around the world outside income allocation and BEPS 2.0. Their article mentions that though the arm’s length standard is the fulcrum of transfer pricing, the recent OECD guidelines following the work on BEPS reveal some contradictions.
The authors concentrate on the importance being given to decision-making functions and to the concept of value creation that arose out of the OECD BEPS work for preventing abuse by multinational corporations and posit that the recent OECD guidance is flawed in that it conflicts with the basic delineation exercise for determining the risks assumed by each of the related entities.
In their view, the vagueness of the guidance, which can be interpreted any which way, is deliberate considering the political compulsions of the project. The paper deals with an important, current issue of international taxation, exhibits a considerable deal of technical expertise and practical insight, but also offers a rigorous and critical examination of some theoretical foundations and fundamental conflicts of transfer pricing. It thus also has the potential to significantly influence the international tax policy agenda as well as stimulate academic debate on transfer pricing in the coming years.
For these reasons, the jury concluded that the article deserved to win the award, which was personally presented by Rosa Vanistendael, the widow of Frans Vanistendael.
Applications welcome for the 10th IBFD Frans Vanistendael Award 2024
All articles, book chapters and books on international (including European) tax law published in 2023 are eligible. The conferral of the 10th Frans Vanistendael Award will take place at IBFD’s headquarters in Amsterdam in May 2024. Send your applications by the 31 December 2023 to ibfd.award@ibfd.org.