The transaction was related to the 2020–21 assessment year of Shell India Markets Private Limited, an Indian subsidiary of the Shell Group. During the year, the company entered into several international transactions with associated enterprises. These included the provision of upstream technical services relating to oil and gas exploration and production under Production Sharing Contracts; the provision of IT and IT-enabled services; the allocation of centralised group costs for downstream support functions; and the recovery of salary costs relating to seconded employees. The upstream technical services were charged at cost, strictly in accordance with the terms of the Production Sharing Contracts. However, the tax authorities rejected this pricing method and applied a mark-up, treating the transaction as comparable to routine service arrangements. They also determined the arm’s length price of certain downstream cost allocations to be nil, citing a lack of evidence of benefit. Further adjustments were made in respect of IT and IT-enabled services, as well as employee cost ... Read more

The transactions under review comprised two distinct sets of dealings. The first set concerned wholesale fuel supply transactions between Lukoil Neftohim Burgas (producer) and Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD (distributor) in 2017 and 2018. The second set of transactions involved an intra-group loan of USD 150 million, which was originally agreed on 14 March 2008 between Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD and LUKOIL Europe Holdings B.V. The lender was later replaced by LUKINTER Finance B.V. through a notice of assignment dated 25 November 2014. The tax authorities took the position that the wholesale fuel prices charged to Lukoil Bulgaria were above market level. This conclusion was derived from an analysis based on operating profit, measured through the EBIT indicator. This analysis showed that Lukoil Bulgaria’s operating margin for wholesale and retail activities in 2017 and 2018 was below the average margin of a comparable group of fuel traders. As the tax authorities accepted that Lukoil Bulgaria’s sales prices to customers were market-based and that ... Read more

“Drilling LDA” had paid approximately €3.95 million in management fees to a related Maltese group company in 2014, under a management services agreement covering administrative, financial, legal and operational support connected with an offshore drilling platform. Following a tax audit, the Tax Authority disallowed tax deductions for the management fees, citing the Portugeese indispensability test for tax deduction of costs, an alleged lack of substance and simulation, and references to transfer pricing. “Drilling LDA” challenged the assessment in the Administrative Court, which overturned the decision. The Tax Authority appealed against this decision to the Central Administrative Court. Judgment The Central Administrative Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the annulment. The Court held that, once a related-party relationship had been acknowledged, the Tax Authority could not deny deductibility under the indispensability test without properly applying the transfer pricing rules or the anti-abuse regime. As the Administration failed to prove simulation or deviation from the arm’s length principle, the assessment was unlawful ... Read more

Orlen Upstream Norway AS (PGNiG Upstream Norway AS) had granted a substantial loan to a foreign group entity and applied an interest rate it believed was consistent with market conditions, supported by a benchmarking study. The tax authorities reviewed the transaction and concluded that the interest rate was set below what independent parties would have agreed under comparable circumstances. It rejected several of the taxpayer’s selected comparables as inappropriate and relied on alternative market data to determine a higher arm’s length rate. On this basis, the authority adjusted the taxpayer’s 2016 income upward. An appeal was filed by Orlen Upstream Norway AS and the court of first instance ruled in favour of the company. An appeal was then filed by the tax authorities with the Court of Appeal. Judgment The Court of Appeal upheld the tax authority’s adjustment. It found that the taxpayer’s benchmarking contained methodological weaknesses and that the selected comparables were not sufficiently similar in terms of credit ... Read more

A UK PE of the Royal Bank of Canada had (through its Canadian head office) advanced loans of CAD $540 million in the early 1980s to Sulpetro Limited (“Sulpetro”), a Canadian company, to help fund the exploitation by its group of companies of rights to drill for oil, largely in the Buchan field of the North Sea. The Sulpetro group sold its interest in the Buchan oil field to the BP group in 1986, in exchange for various sums including an entitlement to contingent royalty payments on production from the oil field (linked to the excess of the market price of the oil in question above a benchmark level) (“the Payments”). Sulpetro was already in financial difficulties at the time of the sale to BP and ultimately went into receivership in 1993, by which time some Payments had started to be made due to the rise in oil prices. After the remainder of its assets were realised, Sulpetro still owed ... Read more

Ola Energy Kenya Limited is a Kenyan oil marketing company formerly known as Libya Oil Kenya Limited. It is engaged in the wholesale, retail and commercial sale of petroleum products and lubricants. On 13 June 2023, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) issued corporation tax assessments for the years of income from 2011 to 2016. An appeal was filed where Ola Energy Kenya Limited asked the Tribunal to set aside the assessment. Judgment The Tribunal determined that the statutory basis lacked due to breach of statutes of limitations and set aside the assessment. Although the merits were rendered moot, the judgment records the disputed heads of assessment. Regarding the alleged management and corporate services received by Ola from related parties, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) had demanded Kshs 265,176,021. The KRA also asserted that other corporate or management functions within the Eastern Cluster should have been recharged to affiliates with a five percent markup, as these were considered to be low-value ... Read more

Eni Norge AS was a wholly owned subsidiary of Eni International B.V., a Dutch company. Both companies were part of the Eni Group, which was headquartered by the Italian company Eni SpA. Eni Norway had deducted costs related to the purchase of “technical services” from Eni SpA. Following an audit, the tax authorities reduced these deductions in accordance with Section 13-1 of the Tax Act (arm’s length provision). As a result, Eni Norge’s income was increased by NOK 32,673,457 in FY2015 and NOK 16,752,728 in FY2016. The tax assessment issued by the tax authorities was later confirmed by a decision of the Petroleum Tax Appeal Board. The Tax Appeal Board found that there were price differences between the internal hourly rates for technical services and the external hourly rates. The price differences could be due to errors in the cost base and/or lack of arm’s length in the allocation of costs. Eni Norge applied to the District Court for a ... Read more

Petrolatin S.A. was subject to a tax audit concerning transactions carried out with related parties. During the audit, the tax authority concluded that the prices applied in these transactions did not comply with Guatemala’s transfer pricing legislation, and increased Petrolatin’s taxable income accordingly. This was based on the view of the administration that Petrolatin had not adequately demonstrated that the prices used reflected arm’s length conditions, as required by domestic legislation. Petrolatin challenged the assessment through the administrative and judicial appeals process. The company argued that the tax authority had exceeded its legal powers, that the adjustments lacked a proper legal and factual basis, and that the administration had failed to correctly apply the transfer pricing rules in force. Petrolatin also contended that it had provided sufficient documentation and explanations to support the pricing applied in the controlled transactions, and that the burden of proof had wrongly been shifted onto the taxpayer. Judgment The Supreme Court rejected Petrolatin’s claims and ... Read more

Following a tax audit the tax authority conducted a on-site inspection of PJSC Odesa Port Plant on the completeness of tax calculation in respect of controlled transactions on the export of mineral fertilisers to non-resident companies Ameropa AG (Switzerland), “Koch Fertilizer Trading SARL (Switzerland), Nitora Commodities (Malta) Ltd (Malta), Nitora Commodities AG (Switzerland), Trammo AG (Switzerland), Trammo DMCC (United Arab Emirates), NF Trading AG (Switzerland) for FY 2013 and 2014, as well as business transactions on import of natural gas in gaseous form from a non-resident company Ostchem Holding Limited (Republic of Cyprus) for FY 2013. Based on the results of the inspection, an assessment of additional taxable income was issued. The assessment was based on the following considerations of the tax authority: – it is impossible to use the “net profit” method to confirm the compliance of prices in PJSC Odesa Port Plant’s controlled transactions for the export of mineral fertilisers in 2013 and 2014, since the “comparable uncontrolled ... Read more

Eni Norge AS was a wholly owned subsidiary of Eni International B.V., a Dutch company. Both companies were part of the Eni Group, in which the Italian company Eni S.p.A was the HQ. Eni Norway had deducted costs related to the purchase of “technical services” from Eni S.p.A. Following an audit, the tax authorities reduced these deductions pursuant to section 13-1 of the Taxation Act (arm’s length provision). This meant that Eni Norway’s income was increased by NOK 32,673,457 in FY 2015 and NOK 16,752,728 in FY 2016. The tax assessment issued by the tax authorities was later confirmed by a decision of the Petroleum Tax Appeal Board. The Appeals Board considered that there were price deviations between the intra-group hourly rates for technical services and the external hourly rates. The price deviations could be due to errors in the cost base and/or a lack of arm’s length in the distribution of costs. There was thus a discretionary right pursuant ... Read more

In 2012, the tax authorities increased the taxable income for the income years 2006-2008 for two companies in the former A. P. Møller – Mærsk Group. P. Moller – Maersk Group. The taxable income was thus increased for the former Mærsk Olie og Gas A/S (MOGAS), which was taken over by Total S.A. in 2018, and for A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S (APMM), which was the management company in the joint taxation with, among others, MOGAS. As grounds for the increases, the tax authorities referred to the fact that intra-group transactions had taken place between MOGAS and the company’s subsidiaries, Mærsk Olie Algeriet A/S and Maersk Oil Qatar A/S, which did not fulfil the tax legislation’s rules that transactions between group companies must be priced in accordance with what could have been achieved if the transactions had been concluded between independent parties (arm’s length terms). The assessment of additional income concerned three issues. Firstly, prior to the establishment of the ... Read more

A. Romania S.R.L. had purchased gas and strategy consulting services from related parties. The tax authorities issued an assessment where part of the deduction for these costs had been denied by application of the arm’s length principle. The court of first instance ruled in favor of A S.A and an appeal was then filed by the tax authorities with the High Court. Judgment of High Court The court set aside the decision issued by the court of first instance and remanded the case for reconsideration. Excerpts in English “The High Court finds that none of the contested additional tax liabilities was genuinely analysed by the court of first instance, as no logical-legal reasoning proper to the judge was set out, but the expert report carried out in the case was taken ad litteram as grounds for the judgment delivered. The adoption took place not only as regards the conclusions on the objectives of the expert’s report, which are explicitly stated ... Read more

Pgnig Upstream Norway AS (PUN) sold dry gas to its sister company (PST). According to the tax authorities the price for the gas had not been determined at arm’s length, cf. Section 13-1, first paragraph, of the Tax Act, and an assessment of additional income was issued. Judgment of the Court The Court decided in favour of the tax authorities. It found that the tax authorities had correctly concluded that there was a reduction in PUN’s income, and that the reduction was due to parties being under common control. The key point for the Court was that there was an imbalance in the functional profiles of PUN and the sister company, PST. Through certain deductions in the purchase price, PUN had indirectly been charged for parts of the sister company’s downside risk, without being allowed a share in potential upside profits. Excerpts “(…)In any event, the Court of Appeal finds reason to note that the [text removed] agreement in any ... Read more

20 February 2023 Ampol Limited announced entering a $157 million tax settlement agreement with the Australian Tax Office in a dispute over pricing of transactions between Ampol Limited and the group’s Singapore procurement hub. Ampol is an Australian based petroleum distributor and retailer, with more than 1,900 Ampol-branded gas stations across the country. Ampol Singapore was established in late 2013 and is the trading and shipping arm of the Group. According to an announcement issued by Ampol, the settlement relates to financial years ended 31 December 2014 to 2022, as well as agreement on the treatment of future earnings. As a result of the settlement: Ampol will pay a further $5.6 million in Australian tax on earnings between 2014 and 2021, and $0.1m in interest. This is in addition to the $104.1m of tax already paid on Ampol Singapore earnings, in relation to these matters, on lodgement of the tax returns for the affected years; In June 2023 Ampol will ... Read more

The tax authority had conducted a tax audit of “KOR Oil Company” on transfer pricing issues for FY 2013-2015. Based on the results of the audit, a notice was issued on corporate income tax in the amount of 138 515 235 and penalties in the amount 34 807 179. In the decision the tax authorities had based the pricing of the controlled oil transactions on market data provided by Argus China Petroleum, whereas the company had based the pricing on Brent quotation. On appeal, the assessment of additional tax was later canceled by the tax court and the court of appeal. In an appeal to the Supreme Court the tax authorities asked the court to cancel the the decision of tax court and the court of appeal. The tax authorities does not “…agree that the Argus China Petroleum source used by the Department does not contain information about daily quotations for goods, which does not comply with the requirements of ... Read more

Use of Quotation Medium. (i) On June 1, USOil, a United States corporation, enters into a contract to purchase crude oil from its foreign subsidiary, FS, in Country Z. USOil and FS agree to base their sales price on the average of the prices published for that crude in a quotation medium in the five days before August 1, the date set for delivery. USOil and FS agree to adjust the price for the particular circumstances of their transactions, including the quantity of the crude sold, contractual terms, transportation costs, risks borne, and other factors that affect the price. (ii) The quotation medium used by USOil and FS is widely and routinely used in the ordinary course of business in the industry to establish prices for uncontrolled sales. Because USOil and FS use the data to set their sales price in the same way that unrelated parties use the data from the quotation medium to set their sales prices, and ... Read more

The case concerned pricing of the wet gas in FY 2012-2014 sold between Equinor Energy (subsidiary) and Equinor ASA (parent). The intra-group sales from Equinor Energy to Equinor were regulated by an internal agreement that was entered into as part of the transfer of rights in 2009. The income that Equinor Energy receives from the internal sales is subject to section 5 of the Petroleum Tax Act with a special tax that comes in addition to the general income tax. This means that Equinor Energy had a total tax burden of 78%. Equinor, for its part, is charged with ordinary income tax, which was 27/28%. In 2012 the pricing model was changed rom the so-called “OTS price model” to a “dividend model”, which led to the price (and taxable income in Equinor Energy) being reduced compared to the previously used pricing model. The reason stated by the group for this change was that Equinor Energy had later entered into an agreement ... Read more

In 2011, Petrolia SE established a wholly owned subsidiary in Norway – Petrolia Noco AS – to conduct oil exploration activities on the Norwegian shelf. From the outset, Petrolia Noco AS received a loan from the parent company Petrolia SE. The written loan agreement was first signed later on 15 May 2012. The loan limit was originally MNOK 100 with an agreed interest rate of 3 months NIBOR with the addition of a margin of 2.25 percentage points. When the loan agreement was formalized in writing in 2012, the agreed interest rate was changed to 3 months NIBOR with the addition of an interest margin of 10 percentage points. The loan limit was increased to MNOK 150 in September 2012, and then to MNOK 330 in April 2013. In the tax return for 2012 and 2013, Petrolia Noco AS demanded a full deduction for actual interest costs on the intra-group loan to the parent company Petrolia SE. An assessment was ... Read more

Promgas s.p.a. is 50% owned by the Italian company Eni s.p.a. and 50% owned by the Russian company Gazprom Export. It deals with the purchase and sale of natural gas of Russian origin destined for the Italian market. It sells the gas to a single Italian entity not belonging to the group, Edison spa, on the basis of a contract signed on 24 January 2000. In essence, Promgas s.p.a. performes intermediary function between the Russian company, Gazprom Export (exporter of the gas), and the Italian company, Edison s.p.a. (final purchaser of the gas). Following an audit for FY 2005/06, the tax authorities – based on the Transaction Net Margin Method – held that the operating margin obtained by Promgas s.p.a. (0.23% in 2025 and 0.06% in 2006) were not in line with the results that the company could have achieved at arm’s length. Applying an operating margin of 1.39% resulted in a arm’s length profit of €4,227,438.07, for the year ... Read more

A Danish parent in the Maersk group’s oil and gas segment, Maersk Oil and Gas A/S (Mogas), had operating losses for FY 1986 to 2010, although the combined segment was highly profitable. The reoccurring losses was explained by the tax authorities as being a result of the group’s transfer pricing setup. “Mogas and its subsidiaries and branches are covered by the definition of persons in Article 2(1) of the Tax Act, which concerns group companies and permanent establishments abroad, it being irrelevant whether the subsidiaries and branches form part of local joint ventures. Mogas bears the costs of exploration and studies into the possibility of obtaining mining licences. The expenditure is incurred in the course of the company’s business of exploring for oil and gas deposits. The company is entitled to deduct the costs in accordance with Section 8B(2) of the Danish Income Tax Act. Mogas is responsible for negotiating licences and the terms thereof and for bearing the costs ... Read more

In 2009-2011 Fortis Petroleum Norway AS (FPN) bought seismic data related to oil exploration in the North Sea from a related party, Petroleum GeoServices AS (PGS), for NKR 95.000.000. FBN paid the amount by way of a convertible intra-group loan from PGS in the same amount. FPN also purchased administrative services from another related party, Consema, and later paid a substantial termination fee when the service contract was terminated. The acquisition costs, interest on the loan, costs for services and termination fees had all been deducted in the taxable income of the company for the years in question. Central to this case is the exploration refund scheme on the Norwegian shelf. This essentially means that exploration companies can demand cash payment of the tax value of exploration costs, cf. the Petroleum Tax Act § 3 letter c) fifth paragraph. If the taxpayer does not have income to cover an exploration cost, the company receives payment / refund of the tax ... Read more

ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (COPSAS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Norwegian branch of ConocoPhillips Norway, which is registered in Delaware, USA. ConocoPhillips Norway, which does not conduct special taxable business, is a wholly owned company in the ConocoPhillips Group. The group’s headquarters are in Houston, Texas, USA. The question at issue was whether the interest rate on a loan had been set too high, thus resulting in a reduction of the taxable income of COPSAS. In May 2013, COPSAS entered into a loan agreement with the related company ConocoPhillips Norway Funding Ltd (COPN Funding). The loan had a limit of NOK 20 billion and a term of 5 years. The agreed interest rate was NIBOR 6M + 1.25%. NIBOR 6M is a current interest rate (benchmark interest rate), while 1.25% is a fixed interest rate – the so-called «interest margin». The interest margin of 1.25% corresponds to 125 so-called basis points (bp). The loan facility was primarily established to ... Read more

The question in the case was whether a Norwegian company had received an arm’s length price when selling gas to a French company in the same group. Judgment of the Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal came to the conclusion that the agreed transfer price had not been at arm’s length and this meant a reduction in income for the Norwegian company. The Appeal Board for Petroleum Tax’s decision was upheld.  Click here for English translation. Click here for other translation ... Read more

“Marine Fuel Ltd” was audited for FY 2015 and an assessment was issued by the tax authorities, where the taxable income had been increased due to a transfer pricing adjustment. The tax authorities had dismissed the CUP method chosen by the group and instead applied the transactional net margin method (TNMM). Not satisfied with the adjustment, a complaint was filed by “Marine Fuel Ltd” with the Dispute Settlement Board. Judgment of the Board The Board dismissed the complaint of “Marine Fuel Ltd” and upheld the assessment issued by the tax authorities. Excerpts “As some separate transactions carried out between associated enterprises may need to be assessed as a single transaction in order to determine whether the arm’s length principle is respected, other transactions between these enterprises that were invoiced as a package may need to be assessed separately. A group may combine a package of transactions and set a price for a set of transactions, such as intangible assets for ... Read more

Article 260-8 of the Colombian Tax Statute established which taxpayers were obliged to file Transfer pricing documentation. The rule established two requirements for income taxpayers to be obliged to file DIIPT in the year 2010, the first is to have obtained a gross equity on 31 December of the taxable period of 100.100,000 UVT ($2,455,500,000) or gross income of 61,000 UVT ($1,497,855,000), and the second is to have carried out operations with economic associates or related parties domiciled abroad. In the present case, a Colombian branch of Petroleum Exploration International S.A presented a total gross income of $18,496,716,000 in the income tax return for 2010, and therefore complied with the first requirement. As for the second requirement, it is noted that according to the certificate of existence and legal representation of Colombian branch, it is a branch of the company Petroleum Exploration International S.A. whose principal place of business is Panama. (…) In the accounting inspection report of 2 April ... Read more

K-GAS Corp had issued loans and performance guarantees to overseas subsidiaries but received no remuneration in return. The tax authorities issued an assessment where additional taxable income was determined by application of the arm’s length principle. An appeal was filed by K-GAS with the district court. Decision of the Court The court upheld the decision of the tax authorities and dismissed the appeal of K-GAS Corp. Excerpts related to loans “In light of the following circumstances, which can be known by the above acknowledged facts, in light of the above legal principles, it is not economically reasonable for the Plaintiff to decide not to receive interest on the self-financing portion of the case loan to the subsidiaries in question 1 until the end of the exploration phase, and there is no illegality in the method of calculating the normal price of the Defendant. … …the Plaintiff lent the money raised from the outside to the subsidiaries in the first issue, ... Read more

Interoil Colombia Exploration and Production S.A. paid it foreign parent for cost related to exploration and administrative services, and for tax purposes these costs had been deducted in the taxable income. In total $3,571,353,600 had been declared as operating expenses for geological and geophysical studies carried out in the exploratory phase of an oil project and $5.548.680.347 had been declared for administrative services rendered from its parent company abroad Following an audit the tax authorities issued an assessment where these deductions was denied. In regards of cost related to exploration, these should have been recorded as a deferred charge amortisable over up to five years, according to articles 142 and 143 of the Tax Statute. In accordance with Article 142, these investments are recorded as deferred assets and are also declared for tax purposes. (…) According to the general accounting regulations – Decree 2649 of 1993 – deferred assets are part of the company’s assets, and correspond to anticipated expenses ... Read more

Ukrainian company “PJSP Gals-K” had been involved in various controlled transactions – complex technological drilling services; sale of crude oil; transfer of fixed assets etc. The tax authority found, that prices had not been determined in accordance with the arm’s length principle and issued a tax assessment. Gals-K disagreed and filed a complaint. The Administrative Court dismissed the tax assessment and this decision was later upheld by the Administrative Court of Appeal. Judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court The Supreme Court set aside the decisions of the Court of Appeal and remanded the case to the court of first instance for a new hearing. The court considered that breaches of procedural and substantive law by both the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance have been committed, and the case should therefore be referred to the Court of First Instance for a new hearing. Excerpts “Thus, in order to properly resolve the dispute in this part, the courts ... Read more

Ensco Gerudi provided offshore drilling services to the petroleum industry in Malaysia, including leasing drilling rigs, to oil and gas operators in Malaysia. In order to provide these services, the Ensco entered into a Master Charter Agreement dated 21.9.2006 (amended on 17.8.2011) (“Master Charter Agreement”) with Ensco Labuan Limited (“ELL”), a third-party contractor, to lease drilling rigs from ELL. Ensco then rents out the drilling rigs to its own customers. As part of the Master Charter Agreement, Ensco agreed to pay ELL a percentage of the applicable day rate that Ensco earns from its drilling contracts with its customers for the drilling rigs. By way of a letter dated 12.10.2018, the tax authorities initiated its audit for FY 2015 to 2017. The tax authorities issued its first audit findings letter on 23.10.2019 where it took the position that the pricing of the leasing transactions between the Applicant and ELL are not at arm’s length pursuant to s 140A of the ... Read more

In 2013 “Related Party B.V” entered into an agreement with “X BV” for the provision of transportation- and support services for oil and gas. The Dutch tax authority suspected that the parties were affiliated within the meaning of Section 8b of the Corporate Income Tax Act 1969. Decision of Court The Court decided in favor of the tax authority. Based on the documents in the case, the tax authority rightly suspected that there was an affiliation within the meaning of Section 8b of the Corporate Income Tax Act. The tax authority was therefore entitled to reasonably issue information decisions for the Vpb for 2013 to 2016 inclusive. Nemo Tenetur Principle – self incrimination “Related Party B.V” argued that it’s right not to incriminate itself had been violated because the information decision(s) had been issued to examine the possibility of imposing a fine. In this regard, the court observed that pursuant to the law a taxpayer is obliged to provide the ... Read more

In 2011, Petrolia SE established a wholly owned subsidiary in Norway – Petrolia Noco AS – to conduct oil exploration activities on the Norwegian shelf. From the outset, Petrolia Noco AS received a loan from the parent company Petrolia SE. The written loan agreement was first signed later on 15 May 2012. The loan limit was originally MNOK 100 with an agreed interest rate of 3 months NIBOR with the addition of a margin of 2.25 percentage points. When the loan agreement was formalized in writing in 2012, the agreed interest rate was changed to 3 months NIBOR with the addition of an interest margin of 10 percentage points. The loan limit was increased to MNOK 150 in September 2012, and then to MNOK 330 in April 2013. In the tax return for 2012 and 2013, Petrolia Noco AS demanded a full deduction for actual interest costs on the intra-group loan to the parent company Petrolia SE. Following an audit ... Read more

Azot is a producer of mineral fertilizers and one of the largest industrial groups in Ukraine. Following an audit the tax authorities concluded that Azot’s export of mineral fertilizers to a related party in Switzerland, NF Trading AG, had been priced significantly below the arm’s length price, and moreover that Azot’s import of natural gas from Russia via a related party in Cyprus, Ostchem Holding Limited, had been priced significantly above the arm’s length price. On that basis, an assessment of additional corporate income tax in the amount of 43 million UAH and a decrease in the negative value by 195 million UAH was issued. In a decision from 2019 the Administrative Court ruled in favor of the tax authorities. This decision was then appealed by Azot to the Supreme Administrative Court. The Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeal and decided in favor of the tax authorities. Click here for translation ... Read more

The disputed issue concerns the purchase prices of natural gas by SC A from an affiliated company SC B. By orders of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (NERA), the prices of supply of natural gas to domestic and non-domestic consumers were regulated and fixed, but not the price at which SC A purchased it from the SC B. The tax authority issued an assessment where the price of the controlled gas transaction was determined by reference to profit level indicators of comparable businesses. SC A brought the decision to the Romanian courts. Judgment of the Court of Appeal The appeal of SC A was dismissed and the assessment of the tax authorities upheld. Excerpt “In the present case, in order to adjust the expenses for the cost of the goods purchased from SC “B.” SRL, based on the level of the central market trend, the tax body used the information provided by the ORBIS and FISCNET applications. Following the comparative ... Read more

Companies carrying on “oil-related activities” are subject to both corporation tax and a “supplementary charge”. “Oil-related activities” are treated as a separate trade and the income from them represents “ring fence profits” on which corporation tax is charged. The “supplementary charge” is levied on “adjusted” ring fence profits, in calculating which financing costs are left out of account. Between 2006 and 2011, the supplementary charge amounted to 20% of adjusted ring fence profits. On 23 March 2011, however, it was announced that the supplementary charge would be increased to 32% from midnight. The change in rate was subsequently carried into effect by section 7 of the Finance Act 2011, which received the royal assent on 19 July 2011. Total E&P, previously Maersk Oil North Sea UK Limited and Maersk Oil UK Limited, carried on “oil-related activities” and so were subject to the supplementary charge. The question raised by the appeal is how much of each company’s adjusted ring fence profits ... Read more

A UK PE of the Royal Bank of Canada had (through its Canadian head office) advanced loans of CAD $540 million in the early 1980s to Sulpetro Limited (“Sulpetro”), a Canadian company, to help fund the exploitation by its group of companies of rights to drill for oil, largely in the Buchan field of the North Sea. The Sulpetro group sold its interest in the Buchan oil field to the BP group in 1986, in exchange for various sums including an entitlement to contingent royalty payments on production from the oil field (linked to the excess of the market price of the oil in question above a benchmark level) (“the Payments”). Sulpetro was already in financial difficulties at the time of the sale to BP and ultimately went into receivership in 1993, by which time some Payments had started to be made due to the rise in oil prices. After the remainder of its assets were realised, Sulpetro still owed ... Read more

A / S Norske Shell runs petroleum activities on the Norwegian continental shelf. By the judgment of the Court of Appeal in 2019, it had been decided that there was a basis for a discretionary tax assessment pursuant to section 13-1 of the Tax Act, based on the fact that costs for research and development in Norway should have been distributed among the other group members. According to section 13-1 third paragraph of the Norwegian Tax Act the Norwegian the arms length provisions must take into account OECD’s Transfer pricing guidelines. And according to the Court of Appeal the Petroleum Tax Appeals Board had correctly concluded – based on the fact – that this was a cost contribution arrangement. Hence the income determination then had to be in accordance with what follows from the OECD guidelines for such arrangements (TPG Chapter VIII). The question before the Supreme Court was whether this additional income assessment should also include the part of ... Read more

The “Sumykhimprom” case concerned export transactions of fertilizers to a related party in Switzerland and import transactions of natural gas from a related party in Cyprus. According to the tax authorities, the pricing of the controlled export transactions of fertilizers had been below arm’s length and the pricing of the controlled import transactions of natural gas had been above arm’s length. Judgment of the Supreme Court The Supreme Court confirmed the position of the tax authorities, determined based on the results of the audit of controlled transactions of a producer of mineral fertilizers, and the legality of additional corporate income tax in the amount of UAH 43 million and a reduction of losses carried forward by UAH 195 million. If the company carried out potentially comparable with controlled uncontrolled operations, it can use them, including for the application of the net profit method. However, the delivery conditions must be comparable, since they affect the functionality of the company, the price ... Read more

The principal activity of Shell Services Asia Sdn Bhd in Malaysia is to provide services to related companies within the Shell Group. For FY 2011 – 2016 the company was part of a contractual arrangement for the sharing of services and resources within the Shell Group as provided in a Cost Contribution Arrangement. The tax authorities conducted a transfer pricing audit, and based on the findings, issued a tax assessment, where the Cost Contribution Arrangement had instead been characterised as an intra-group services arrangement. As a result the taxable income was adjusted upwards by imposing a markup on the total costs of the services provided for fiscal years 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Consequently, the company had to pay the additional taxes in the amount of: RM 3,474,978.44; RM 2,559,754.38; RM 7,096,984.69; RM 2,537,458.50; RM 15,669,176.01. The company did not agree with the proposal and an appeal for leave was filed with the High Court related to statutory powers/legal jurisdiction of the authorities ... Read more

In 2011, Petrolia SE established a wholly owned subsidiary in Norway – Petrolia Noco AS – to conduct oil exploration activities on the Norwegian shelf. From the outset Petrolia Noco AS received a loan from the parent company Petrolia SE. The written loan agreement was first signed later on 15 May 2012. The loan limit was originally MNOK 100 with an agreed interest rate of 3 months NIBOR with the addition of a margin of 2.25 percentage points. When the loan agreement was formalized in writing in 2012, the agreed interest rate was changed to 3 months NIBOR with the addition of an interest margin of 10 percentage points. The loan limit was increased to MNOK 150 in September 2012, and then to MNOK 330 in April 2013. In the tax return for 2012 and 2013, Petrolia Noco AS demanded a full deduction for actual interest costs on the intra-group loan to the parent company Petrolia SE. Following an audit ... Read more

The Transfer Pricing Department of the General Directorate of Revenue of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, through Resolution 201-1429 of 24 October 2014, decided to sanction the taxpayer Chevron Products Antilles, LTD, now Chevron Panama Fuels Limited, with a fine of one million balboas (B/. 1,000,000.00), for failure to file the Transfer Pricing Report-Form 930 for the 2012 tax period. As a result of the issuance of the resolution mentioned in the previous paragraph, Chevron’s legal representative filed an appeal for reconsideration with the tax authority, which was resolved by Resolution 201-1321 of 1 March 2016, through which the accused act was maintained in all its parts. This resolution was notified to the taxpayer on 8 April 2016. Chevron then filed an appeal before the Administrative Tax Court, which by Resolution TAT-RF-057 of 22 May 2019, confirmed the provisions of the main administrative act and its confirmatory act, being notified of this appeal ruling on 18 June 2019, thus ... Read more

The Ukrainian group Rivneazot imports natural gas from – and exports mineral to – foreign related companies. The tax authority carried out an audit and concluded that the controlled prices of these transactions had not been determined in accordance with the arm’s length principle, which had resulted in an understatement of taxable income. Rivneazot disagreed. According to the company the CUP method had correctly been applied to the controlled natural gas import transactions and the TNMM had correctly been applied to the controlled export transactions. In 2018 the Administrative Court decided in favor of Rivneazon and set aside the tax assessment. The court concluded that information provided by the company were sufficient to use the preferred CUP method with a defined market price range for natural gas. The decision was then appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Administrative court. This decision was then appealed by the tax authorities to the ... Read more

In the Saipem case the Norwegian tax authorities found that the price paid by a related party for an oil rig had not been at arm’s length and issued an assessment. The majority of judges in the Court of Appeal found that the tax assessment was valid. The tax authorities had made sound and well-reasoned assessments and concluded that the price was outside the arm’s length range. According to the decision courts may show reluctance in testing discretionary assessments, thus giving the authorities a reasonable room for pricing transactions where the value is highly uncertain. An appeal of the case to the Supreme Court was not allowed (HR-2019-2428-U). Click here for translation ... Read more

Azot is a producer of mineral fertilizers and one of the largest industrial groups in Ukraine. Following an audit the tax authorities concluded that Azot’s export of mineral fertilizers to a related party in Switzerland, NF Trading AG, had been priced significantly below the arm’s length price, and moreover that Azot’s import of natural gas from Russia via a related party in Cyprus, Ostchem Holding Limited, had been priced significantly above the arm’s length price. On that basis, an assessment of additional corporate income tax in the amount of 43 million UAH and a decrease in the negative value by 195 million UAH was issued. The Court ruled in favor of the tax authorities. Click here for translation ... Read more

Like other sectors of the economy, there are base erosion and profit shifting risks in the mining sector. Based on the ongoing work on BEPS, the IGF (Intergovernmental Forum on Mining) and OECD has released guidance for source countries on transfer pricing in the mining sector. The transfer pricing and tax avoidance issues identified in the sector are: 1. Excessive Interest Deductions Companies may use related-party debt to shift profit offshore via excessive interest payments to related entities. “Debt shifting” is not unique to mining, but it is particularly significant for mining projects that require high levels of capital investment not directly obtainable from third parties, making substantial related-party borrowing a frequent practice. 2. Abusive Transfer Pricing Transfer pricing occurs when one company sells a good or service to another related company. Because these transactions are internal, they are not subject to market pricing and can be used by multinationals to shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Related-party transactions in mining ... Read more

A Russian company, Togliattiazot, supplied ammonia to the external market through a Swiss trading hub, Nitrochem Distribution AG. The tax authority found that the selling price of the ammonia to Nitrochem Distribution AG had not been determined by Togliattiazot in accordance with the arm’s length principle but had been to low. Hence, a transfer pricing assessment was issued where the CUP method was applied. At first, the company argued that Togliattiazot and Nitrochem Distribution AG were not even affiliates. Later, the company argued that transfer prices had been determined in accordance with the TNM-method. The court ruled in favor of the Russian tax authority. Based on information gathered by the tax authorities – SPARK-Interfax and Orbis Bureau Van Djik bases, Switzerland’s trade register, Internet sites, and e-mail correspondence etc – the tax authorities were able to prove in court, the presence of actual control between Togliattiazot and Nitrochem. The TNMM method applied by Togliattiazot was rejected by the court because ... Read more

In July 2018 Center for Global Development published a study of special transfer pricing practices in the oil sector, and their potential application to hard rock minerals. According to the study, governments of mining countries are vulnerable to investors manipulating transfer prices as a means of avoiding paying taxes. The two main risks are mining companies undercharging for mineral exports sold to related parties, and overpaying for goods and services. The “solution” has been to apply the “arm’s length principle,” which gives governments the right to adjust the value of a related party transaction so that it accords with similar transactions carried out between independent parties. However, it has been apparent for many years that the arm’s length principle, with its reliance on “comparables” that in practice can rarely be found, is an inadequate response. The paper looks at whether special practices in the oil sector that provide materially greater protection against transfer pricing risk could be applied to hard ... Read more

One possible approach is to split the relevant profits based on the division of profits that actually is observed in comparable uncontrolled transactions. Examples of possible sources of information on uncontrolled transactions that might usefully assist the determination of criteria to split the profits, depending on the facts and circumstances of the case, include joint-venture arrangements between independent parties under which profits are shared, such as development projects in the oil and gas industry; pharmaceutical collaborations, co-marketing or co-promotion agreements; arrangements between independent music record labels and music artists; uncontrolled arrangements in the financial services sector, etc ... Read more

In May 2018 the final report on corporate tax avoidance in Australia was published by the Australian Senate. The report contains the findings, conclusions and recommendations based on 4 years of hearings and investigations into tax avoidance practices by multinationals in Australia ... Read more

A tax dispute over a potential 11.6 billion rand ($878 million) charge between South Africa -based international chemicals and energy company Sasol and the Revenue Service will play out in South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal within the next 12 months. June 30. 2017 a R1.2-billion tax liability was approved by the Tax Court in a case against Sasol by SARS relating to the company’s international crude oil procurement activities between 2005 and 2012. The Tax Court further reported that the final tax amount along with other tax principles raised by SARS in relation to Sasol Oil’s crude purchases in 2013 and 2014, would result in a further tax exposure of R11.6-billion, thus uplifting the total tax liability to R12.8-billion. Aug. 14. 2017 the supreme court granted Sasol’s application for leave to appeal the tax court ruling. Sasol’s dispute with the tax authority comes after Kumba Iron Ore, Anglo American’s iron ore producer, announced it had settled a tax dispute ... Read more

The taxpayer is registered and incorporated in the Republic of South Africa and carries on business in the petrochemical industry. It has some of its subsidiaries in foreign jurisdictions. Business activities include the importation and refinement of crude oil. This matter concerns the analysis of supply agreements entered into between the XYZ Corp and some of its foreign subsidiaries. It thus brings to fore, inter alia the application of the South African developing fiscal legal principles, namely, residence based taxation, section 9D of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 and other established principles of tax law, such as anti-tax avoidance provisions and substance over form. Tax avoidance is the use of legal methods to modify taxpayer’s financial situation to reduce the amount of tax that is payable SARS’s ground of assessment is that the XYZ Group structure constituted a transaction, operation or scheme as contemplated in section 103(1) of the Act. The structure had the effect of avoiding liability ... Read more