Primary Contacts: Mary D. Richter and Mark E. Cobetto

We work with our clients to present practical solutions to transfer pricing issues.

In order to avoid income-shifting to lower-tax entities or jurisdictions, U.S. tax rules strive to set prices between controlled taxpayers using “arms-length” pricing (what unrelated parties would pay). This arm’s-length standard applies to sales of products and services, as well as sales and use of intangibles (trade names, patents, know-how, etc.), essentially all transactions between related parties. Each type of intercompany transaction must be separately accounted for in a company’s transfer pricing policy.

 

The U.S. Tax Code requires that the taxpayer maintain contemporaneous documentation that supports its transfer pricing policy. Other countries have similar rules.