The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze impacts of BEPS including Country-by-Country reporting on the business field and on the tax administration. The theoretical part describes the importance of the initiative of BEPS transfer pricing including its the updated package, Action 8-10. Next part describes and compares the actual transfer pricing regulations in the countries of Visegrad 4 and in Germany. The last part of the diploma thesis analyzes the current transfer pricing situations and the cases of multinational corporation such as Google and Starbucks and it is followed by chaptures analyzing possible advantages and disadvantages that will arise from the new statement of CBCR.

This work focuses on methods of the transfer pricing identification, in connection with the possibility to find comparable independent data on the market. In the first part, the author describes the basic ideas and the main legislation resources both in the Czech Republic and internationally. It also describes the main methods of the transfer pricing identification mentioned in the Transfer Pricing Guideline. Second part examines the method's application, which depends mainly on the type of the controlled transaction as well as on the comparable data availibility. Third part relates to the model case, which shows in detail the complete process of the transfer pricing identification. Each process includes the functional analysis of related parties, choosing the best possible method and the comparable analysis, which focuses on the searching out the independent comparable companies.

Setting of transfer price, which is in line with arm's length principle and also with other legislature obligations, is currently with respect of limited experiences with such problematics very actual topic espetially with regard to possible impact. Institution of Billing Rulings of determination of transfer price is a newly established tool leading to legal confidence of tax payers and desireable step forward in Czech legislature. Evaluation of operation and usefulness of this tool is the main goal of my diploma thesis. Tax legisature includes also other editorial obligations of tax authority. Theire description is another objective of my thesis. Analysis of transfer pricing problematics is necessary for understandig the topic and therefore is a partial goal of my thesis. The full picture of transfer pricing Billing Rulings problematics with its aspects analysed on theoretical level is completed with practical example of application for Billing Rulings. The analysis of legislature lead to formulation of suggestions leading to better functioning of this institution.

The thesis focuses on the transfer pricing questions in the Czech companies. The theoretical part concerns the legislative background, transfer pricing determination methodology and related necessary documentation. The practical part contains the performed questionnaire survey targeted at transfer pricing methods, binding consideration, documentation, and experience with the tax search. A specific manufacturing company is then used to illustrate the manner of transfer pricing determination.

This thesis focuses on the effects tax havens have on both developed and developing countries. The work is presented in four chapters. The first chapter builds a framework of the subject by focusing on tax havens and the issues they create. A brief history of tax havens is discussed and essential statistics are presented. The second chapter discusses the effects tax havens have on developing countries. The link between transfer pricing and tax havens is also analyzed. The third chapter identifies the effects tax havens have on developed countries and its role in the financial crisis. The last chapter explores the current fight against tax havens and their likely impact in the future.

This thesis deals with taxation of permanent establishments and effect of transfer pricing regulation on method of attribution taxable profit to permanent establishments. Firstly, the thesis describes reasons for creation of permanent establishments and analyses how international and local legislation approaches to taxation of their profits. It also examines methods of attribution taxable profit to permanent establishments. Finally, the thesis analyses whether it is possible to use publically available data for determining tax base of "dependent agent" permanent establishment. For this purposes the following methods were used: regression analysis, cluster analysis and logistic regression analysis.

Recent scandals involving related party transactions (RPTs) have attracted researchers’ and governments’ attention. Because imperfections exist in the legislation of RPTs, business groups might abuse transfer pricing of such transactions for certain purposes. These purposes include earnings management of listed companies that seek to attract investors and profit shifting from subsidiaries to parent companies. This study investigates the impact of corporate governance on the choice of transfer pricing methods in China. I classify transfer pricing methods into two major groups (i.e., market-based and cost-based methods). I hypothesize that companies with weak corporate governance are more likely to use cost-based pricing methods, which are regarded as subjective and more easily manipulated. According to previous studies on corporate governance, a smaller board size, CEO-Chairman duality (i.e. the CEO and the Chairman of the company are the same person), and a lower percentage of independent directors on the board are indicators of weak corporate governance. Using data collected from annual reports of Chinese listed firms in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Markets from 2003 to 2005, I find that government-controlled companies are more likely to use market-based methods than others. It is consistent with the hypothesis that ownership has an impact on the choice of transfer pricing methods. The results also show that when the chairman of the board and the CEO of the company is the same person, companies are more likely to use cost-based methods. However, inconsistent with my hypothesis, the results indicate that firms with small boards are more likely to choose cost-based methods than firms with large boards. This study extends prior research on transfer pricing by focusing on the impact of corporate governance. Furthermore, this study suggests that regulators might limit transfer pricing manipulations by stipulating a firm’s corporate governance structure. This research also draws both regulators’ and investors’ attention to the impact of corporate governance on transfer pricing methods.

Immateriella tillgångar är hos många företag mycket värdefulla. Det kan röra sig om patent, varumärken eller know-how för att nämna några. Inte sällan är immateriella tillgångar även en bidragande faktor till höga resultat. Know-how är i sin tur en unik tillgång dels på grund av avsaknaden av ett registreringsförfarande, dels eftersom det rör sig om företagshemligheter som inte är kända för utomstående. Det tillhör vardagen för företag att dela information mellan olika delar i verksamheten för att på så sätt öka produktiviteten och bidra till ökade intäkter. Utgångspunkten för framställningen är att ett företag i land X delar information, via telefon, med ett företag i land Y, vilket resulterar i ökade intäkter för företaget i land Y. Att information delas via telefon är inte uppseendeväckande, men situationen blir intressant ut ett skatterättsligt perspektiv just eftersom know-how utgör en såpass värdefull tillgång. En mer intressant blir det i de fall som överföringen inte dokumenteras eftersom det i slutändan skulle kunna resultera i skattemässiga fel. I de fall de involverande företagen är i intressegemenskap, skulle även reglerna avseende internprissättning kunna aktualiseras. Möjligen är det juts i en sådan situation, i vilket värdet inte lämnar företaget på samma sätt som vid en överföring till ett utomstående företag, som de stora läckagen sker. Det är även relevant att beakta digitaliseringens effekter på samhället och på juridiken, exempelvisi form av förslaget om ett införande av begreppet digital närvaro i den internationella sktaterätten som grund för beskattning för att ersätta det fasta driftstället. Genom BEPS-projektet som presenterats av OECD och G20 har steg tagits gällande hanteringen av bland annat digitaliseringens utmaningar inom skatterätten samt internprissättning i förhållande till immateriella tillgångar. Huruvida projektet kommer få önskad effekt i praktiken samt är tillräckligt för att motverka uteblivna skatteintäkter för staterna återstår att se. Viktigt i typsituationen är framförallt relationen mellan gällande rätt, tillämpningen av gällnade rätt och slutligen bevisbördan. Det handlar således om ett teoretiskt problem respektive praktiska lösningar. Vad som i teorin kan anses problematiskt visar sig nämligen inte sällan mer komplicerat i praktiken.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce in the field of Taxation / Online resource (54 leaves) / The purpose of this research report is to identify any improvements that can be made to the South African transfer pricing legislation for intra-group services. South Africa’s transfer pricing legislation for intra-group services will be compared to Aligning Transfer Pricing Outcomes with Value Creation, Action 8-10, 2015 Final Reports, OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project (‘BEPS Action Plan’) released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (‘OECD’). The Action 10 of the BEPS Action Plan introduces a simplified transfer pricing approach for low value-adding intra-group services. The simplified approach aims to reduce base erosion payments through excessive management fees and head office expenses (OECD, 2015:141). According to Verlinden and Katz (2015:1): ‘… the simplified approach lowers the burden on multinational enterprise groups to demonstrate the beneficial nature of the low value-adding activities for other MNE group members; and allows for an elective approach for reducing the administration involved in the pricing of low value-adding services. The OECD is achieving an appropriate balance between theoretical sophistication and practical application that is commensurate with the tax at stake in the countries paying and receiving the charges … .’ This approach will benefit tax authorities with limited resources in performing transfer pricing audits enabling them to verify the arm’s length nature within the intra-group services charge (Watson, 2015:8). Key words: Anti-avoidance, BEPS Action Plan, Transfer Pricing, Arm’s Length Method, Arm’s Length Price, Intra-Group Services, Low Value-Adding Intra-Group Services, Comparable Uncontrolled Price Method, Resale Price Method, Cost Plus Method, Transactional Net Margin Method, OECD Guidelines, OECD. / GR2018

Thesis (M.Com. (Taxation))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accountancy, 2015. / Could not copy abstract