Unilever Ghana Limited (UKL) filed an appeal with the High Court against an assessment of additional taxabel income issued by the tax authorities in 2019 on the following grounds. a) That the Respondent did not use a transfer pricing method as required by the Transfer Pricing Regulations, 2012 (LI 2188) in examining the Appellant Transfer Pricing Returns. b) That the Respondent misinterpreted, misunderstood and misapplied the OECD Transfer Pricing guidelines to arrive at a liability of Six Million, Two Hundred and Thirty-Six Thousand, Two Hundred Ghana Cedis (GHq:6,236,200.00) on the Advertising, Marketing and Promotion expenses incurred by the Appellant. c) That had the Respondent properly applied the OECD guidelines, the Appellant would not have been liable to pay tax on the Advertising, Marketing and promotion expenses. Judgment of the Court The High Court dismissed the appeal due to lack of statutory jurisdiction. “…I do not ... Read more

Beiersdorf Gh. Ltd. imports and distributes Nivea skin care products from the parent company based in Germany, Beiersdorf AG). The tax authorities, CGRA, had issued an assessment where deductions for royalty payments to the German parent had been denied (non recognition – not legitimate business cost). Furthermore, alledged product discounts paid to third party vendors  had been characterized as sales commissions subject to withholding tax of 10%. Beiersdorf contended the assessment and filed an appeal. The appeal was based on three main grounds: The finding of CGRA that royalty payments made by the Appellant to Beiersdorf AG (BDF) pursuant to an agreement between Appellant and BDF for the use of the Nivea brand should not be allowed as a legitimate business cost because of the failure of the Appellant to comply with prior registration of the Royalty Agreement with the Ghana Investment Promotion Center is wrong ... Read more