Since its Company Tax Communication of 2001, the European Commission has been promoting a comprehensive harmonization of corporation taxes within the Internal Market on the basis of consolidation and formulary apportionment of the profits of cross-border enterprises, both in the form of a Home State Taxation (HST) and of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. This study assesses whether this approach represents a viable alternative to the arm's length standard currently applied in international tax law. The study comprises four parts. First, a theoretical concept of formulary apportionment is presented, followed by an evaluation of the practical experiences of four jurisdictions (United States, Canada, Switzerland and Germany) with formulary apportionment at the subnational level. Next, a proposal for harmonization on the basis of consolidation and apportionment is developed, and the book concludes with an overall analysis of the merits and drawbacks of the proposed model for harmonization.

The Allocation of Multinational Business Income: Reassessing the Formulary Apportionment Option Edited by Richard Krever & François Vaillancourt Although arm’s length methodology continues to prevail in international taxation policy, it has long been replaced by the formulary apportionment method at the subnational level in a few federal countries. Its use is planned for international profit allocation as an element of the European Union’s CCCTB proposals. In this timely book – a global guide to formulary apportionment, both as it exists in practice and how it might function internationally – a knowledgeable group of contributors from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, address this actively debated topic, both in respect of its technical aspects and its promise as a global response to the avoidance, distortions, and unfairness of current allocation systems. Drawing on a wealth of literature considering formulary apportionment in the international sphere and considering decades of experience with the system in the states and provinces of the United States and Canada, the contributors explicate and examine such pertinent issues as the following: the debate about what factors should be used to allocate profits under a formulary apportionment system and experience in jurisdictions using formulary apportionment; application of formulary apportionment in specific sectors such as digital enterprises and the banking industry; the political economy of establishing and maintaining a successful formulary apportionment regime; formulary apportionment proposals for Europe; the role of traditional tax criteria such as economic efficiency, fairness, ease of administration, and robustness to avoidance and incentive compatibility; determining which parts of a multinational group are included in a formulary apportionment unit; and whether innovative profit-split methodologies such as those developed by China are shifting traditional arm’s length methods to a quasi-formulary apportionment system. Providing a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the formulary apportionment option, this state of the art summary of history, current practice, proposals and prospects in the ongoing debate over arm’s length versus formulary apportionment methodologies will be welcomed by practitioners, policy-makers, and academics concerned with international taxation, all of whom will gain an understanding of the case put forward by proponents for adoption of formulary apportionment in Europe and globally and the counter-arguments they face. Readers will acquire a better understanding of the implications of formulary apportionment and its central role in the current debate about the future of international taxation rules. “...providing (sic) all the intellectual ammunition needed to carefully re-examine one of the ideas traditionally considered as apocryphal by the OECD and to a significant portion of the tax professional community...readers of this book will come away not only with a renewed understanding of the multiple facets of formulary apportionment, but also of some of the fundamental pressure points in the international tax system. Accordingly, it is a welcome and timely addition to the literature. ” Dr. Stjepan Gadžo, Assistant Professor at University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law / British Tax Review 2021, Issue 2, p243-246

International tax regimes and practices are heavily criticized for failing to fairly levy corporate tax on giant multinational taxpayers in the current globalized and digitalized world. This important and far-seeing book demonstrates how formulary apportionment (FA) – an approach by which a multinational corporation pays each jurisdiction’s corporate tax based on the share of its worldwide income allocated to that jurisdiction – can achieve the much-sought goal of aligning value creation and taxation. The author, through an intensive analysis of the European Union’s (EU’s) Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) Directive Proposal(s) and comparison to the United States (US’s) formulary apportionment experience, shows how the perceived problems with an FA system can be overcome and lays out the necessary elements for its feasibility. With detailed attention to the debates around formulary apportionment and its theoretical foundations, the book provides a blueprint for rebuilding the normative framework for the EU’s tax reform by clearly analysing the implications of the following and more: theorising public benefits to be represented by taxation; reorganising different economic theories about tax neutrality and tax justice; advancing the comparative legal research methodology to analyse law reform by combining the functional approach and the problem-solving approach; designing the logical formulary apportionment system for digital economy; ensuring the removal of the incentive for multinationals to shift reported income to low-tax locations; reducing the tax system’s complexity and the administrative burden it imposes on firms; eliminating transfer pricing complexity for intra-firm transactions; achieving equal weighting of the sales factor, the labour factor, and the asset factor in the formula; application of ‘destination-based’ rule for attributing the sales factor; and replacing the traditional permanent establishment nexus with a ‘factor presence nexus’. The presentation incorporates extensive comparison between the EU’s formulary apportionment tax reform option and FA systems existing in the United States (US) at state level, including reference to relevant US case law and legislation. As a possible option to address the problem of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), formulary apportionment is gaining increasing acceptance and attention. This book will prove invaluable to taxation authorities, tax practitioners, and scholars in its deeply informed and systematic guidance on good practices and prevention of problematic experiences in establishing and implementing an effective and market-neutral FA system.

Having spent almost fifty years of my life defending the separate accou- ing, arm's length pricing method, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised to be asked to contribute to a book suggesting that the European Union might do well to consider adopting a formulary approach to deal with the taxation of inter and intra company transactions. I was even more surprised to see the invitation coming from Ms. Joann Weiner an ardent co-defender of arm's length pricing and my strong right arm in that regard while we both served in the U.S. Treasury Department in the mid '90s. The book gives Ms Weiner the opportunity to comment frankly from an insider's perspective of the many admitted problems of the arm's length system which could be avoided by a formulary approach. Ms. Weiner brings to this project a thorough expert knowledge of the b- efits and shortfalls of each of the systems she discusses - separate accounting v. formulary apportionment. Who better to decide to give qualified support to formulary than someone who organized a U.S. Treasury conference to defend arm's length pricing against a Congressional challenge in favor of formulary apportionment.

For corporate managers, maximization of the profits and the market value of the firm is a prime objective. The logical working out of this principle in multinational enterprises has led to an intense focus on transfer pricing between related companies, principally on account of the very attractive tax advantages made possible. Inevitably, numerous countries have established transfer pricing legislation designed to combat the distortions and manipulations that are inherent in such transactions. This important book, one of the first in-depth analysis of the current worldwide working of transfer pricing in intra-group financing and its resonance in law, presents the relevant issues related to loans, financial guarantees, and cash pooling; analyses an innovative possible approach to these issues; and describes new methodologies that can be implemented in practice in order to make intra-group financing more compliant with efficient corporate financing decisions and the generally accepted OECD arm’s length principle. Comparing the tax measures implemented in the corporate tax law systems of forty countries, this study investigates such aspects of intra-group financing as the following: – corporate finance theories, studies, and surveys regarding financing decisions; – application of the arm’s length principle to limit the deductibility of interest expenses; – impact of the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project; – transfer pricing issues related to intra-group financing; – credit risk in corporate finance; – rationales utilized by credit rating agencies; and – the assessment of arm’s length nature of intra-group financing. The author describes ways in which the application of the arm’s length principle can be strengthened and how the related risk of distortion and manipulation can be minimized. The solutions and methodologies proposed are applicable to any business sector. Given that determination of the arm’s length nature of transactions between related companies is one of the most difficult tasks currently faced by taxpayers and tax administrations around the world, this thorough assessment and analysis will prove extraordinarily useful for in-house and advisory practitioners, corporate officers, academics, international organizations, and government officials charged with finding effective responses to the serious issues raised. In addition to its well-researched analysis, the book’s comparative overview of how loans, financial guarantees, and cash pooling are currently addressed by OECD Member States and by their national courts is of great practical value in business decision making.

Transfer pricing refers to the pricing of cross-border intercompany transactions. Transfer prices influence the tax base of multinational enterprises, and thus also the fiscal revenues of the countries where they are doing business. The importance of transfer pricing has significantly expanded over time and culminated with the work of the OECD on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). With the globalisation of business activities, the need for States to prevent tax avoidance, and the risk of double taxation faced by multinational enterprises, transfer pricing has become a key question for multinational enterprises and tax administrations alike. Introduction to Transfer Pricing intends at providing a general introduction to the fundamentals of transfer pricing. The book is focused on explanations of the principles that apply, albeit to various extents, in most countries. Although the majority of these principles are provided by the OECD the views of other international organisations – in particular the United Nations and the European Union – are also taken into account. Moreover, the book illustrates the fundamentals of transfer pricing with concrete examples based on the structures often used by multinational enterprises when conducting cross-border business activities. Also included are relevant court cases from a variety of countries. Among the issues and topics covered are the following: the arm’s length principle in theory and practice; transfer pricing methods; intercompany transactions involving intangibles and financial transactions; common types of transfer pricing models; cross-border business restructurings; the substance requirement for transfer pricing purposes; attribution of profits to permanent establishments; and the prevention and resolution of transfer pricing disputes. This second edition was updated based on the 2022 OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and the 2021 UN Transfer Pricing Manual.

The principle of territoriality and the fundamental freedoms The tension between the fundamental freedoms and the sovereignty of the Member States is omnipresent in the CJEU ́s case law on direct taxation. A significant number of cases concerned one of the core principles in national tax laws: the principle of territoriality. Although this principle is continuously mentioned in cases concerning the compatibility of direct tax measures with the fundamental freedoms, the case law seems to provoke more questions than answers. This book provides guidance on the meaning of territoriality in the CJEU ́s case law on direct taxation as well as on the role which this principle plays in the compatibility of domestic direct tax measures with the fundamental freedoms. During a critical and dogmatically oriented journey through the CJEU ́s case law, the reader can enjoy a comprehensive analysis, containing references to more than 300 cases. Without a doubt, this timeless reflection of the tension between the principle of territoriality and the fundamental freedoms is not only interesting from a dogmatic perspective, but also from a tax policy one.