Do you have any ‘ugly cousins’ in your group legal structure? I hasten to say that none of my actual cousins are ugly. But in the legal world of multinational groups, ‘ugly cousins’ are common. Coca-Cola is a prime example. The Court said the group’s intercompany agreements were ‘outmoded’ and ‘inconsistent with their actual behavior’. …

In transfer pricing analysis, which prevails: the contractual terms of a related party transaction, or the economic substance? The general view expressed by many TP professionals is that economic analysis is king. The Court’s decision in the recent Coca-Cola case shows that this view is at best simplistic – and for practical purposes as a guide …

The OECD’s guidance issued on 18 December 2020 on the Transfer Pricing implications of Covid (the ‘Covid Guidance’) may not have offered up any real surprises. Certainly that seems to have been the intention, and para 5 of the Covid Guidance states that it should be regarded as an application of existing guidance, and not an expansion or extension …

We are very excited to announce a new collaboration between LCN Legal and EXA AG, that brings together EXA AG’s unique Operational Transfer Pricing solutions and LCN Legal’s know-how regarding the creation and maintenance of tax-audit ready Intercompany Agreements which multinational groups need for their transfer pricing compliance. EXA …

One of the perennial challenges in the legal implementation of transfer pricing policies is reconciling differing perspectives: those of functional analysis on the one hand, and legal rights and obligations on the other. A classic example is routine returns for distribution and production functions, as in the recent Coca-Cola case. As the US Tax Court …

The following article has been kindly contributed by Dr Harold McClure, a New-York based economist who has over 25 years of transfer pricing experience. Dr. McClure received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University in 1983 and began his transfer pricing career at the IRS. He later worked at several Big 4 accounting firms, Law and Economics …