(i) Company A is a consumer products company located in the United States. Companies B and C are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Company A and are located in Countries B and C, respectively. Company A and its subsidiaries manufacture products for sale in their respective markets. Company A hires a consultant who has expertise regarding a manufacturing process used by Company A and its subsidiary, Company B. Company C, the Country C subsidiary, uses a different manufacturing process, and accordingly will not receive any benefit from the outside consultant hired by Company A. In allocating and apportioning the cost of hiring the outside consultant (100), Company A determines that sales constitute the most appropriate allocation key. (ii) Company A and its subsidiaries have the following sales: Company A B C Total Sales 400 100 200 700 (iii) Because Company C does not obtain any benefit from the consultant, none of the costs are allocated to it. Rather, the costs of 100 ... Read more

Company A pays an annual license fee of 500x to an uncontrolled taxpayer for unlimited use of a database within the corporate group. Under the terms of the license with the uncontrolled taxpayer, Company A is permitted to use the database for its own use and in rendering research services to its subsidiary, Company B. Company B obtains benefits from the database that are similar to those that it would obtain if it had independently licensed the database from the uncontrolled taxpayer. Evaluation of the arm’s length charge (under a method in which costs are relevant) to Company B for the controlled services that incorporate use of the database must take into account the full amount of the license fee of 500x paid by Company A, as reasonably allocated and apportioned to the relevant benefits, although the incremental use of the database for the benefit of Company B did not result in an increase in the license fee paid by ... Read more

The principles of this paragraph (k) are illustrated by the following examples: ... Read more

The practices used by the taxpayer to apportion costs in connection with preparation of statements and analyses for the use of management, creditors, minority shareholders, joint venturers, clients, customers, potential investors, or other parties or agencies in interest will be considered as potential indicators of reliable allocation methods, but need not be accorded conclusive weight by the Commissioner. In determining the extent to which allocations are to be made to or from foreign members of a controlled group, practices employed by the domestic members in apportioning costs among themselves will also be considered if the relationships with the foreign members are comparable to the relationships among the domestic members of the controlled group. For example, if for purposes of reporting to public stockholders or to a governmental agency, a corporation apportions the costs attributable to its executive officers among the domestic members of a controlled group on a reasonable and consistent basis, and such officers exercise comparable control over foreign ... Read more

Any reasonable method may be used to allocate and apportion costs under this section. In establishing the appropriate method of allocation and apportionment, consideration should be given to all bases and factors, including, for example, total services costs, total costs for a relevant activity, assets, sales, compensation, space utilized, and time spent. The costs incurred by supporting departments may be apportioned to other departments on the basis of reasonable overall estimates, or such costs may be reflected in the other departments’ costs by applying reasonable departmental overhead rates. Allocations and apportionments of costs must be made on the basis of the full cost, as opposed to the incremental cost ... Read more

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In any case where the renderer’s activity that results in a benefit (within the meaning of paragraph (l)(3) of this section) for one recipient in a controlled services transaction also generates a benefit for one or more other members of a controlled group (including the benefit, if any, to the renderer), and the amount charged under this section in the controlled services transaction is determined under a method that makes reference to costs, costs must be allocated among the portions of the activity performed for the benefit of the first mentioned recipient and such other members of the controlled group under this paragraph (k). The principles of this paragraph (k) must also be used whenever it is appropriate to allocate and apportion any class of costs (for example, overhead costs) in order to determine the total services costs of rendering the services. In no event will an allocation of costs based on a generalized or non-specific benefit be appropriate ... Read more

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For purposes of this section, total services costs means all costs of rendering those services for which total services costs are being determined. Total services costs include all costs in cash or in kind (including stock-based compensation) that, based on analysis of the facts and circumstances, are directly identified with, or reasonably allocated in accordance with the principles of paragraph (k)(2) of this section to, the services. In general, costs for this purpose should comprise provision for all resources expended, used, or made available to achieve the specific objective for which the service is rendered. Reference to generally accepted accounting principles or Federal income tax accounting rules may provide a useful starting point but will not necessarily be conclusive regarding inclusion of costs in total services costs. Total services costs do not include interest expense, foreign income taxes (as defined in § 1.901-2(a)), or domestic income taxes ... Read more

A ruling was issued by the Italian Revenue Service on the following question on the VAT treatment of Transfer Pricing adjustments. 1) an internal CUP (Compared Uncontrolled Price) methodology is used, on the basis of which, net of appropriate adjustments, the price of goods charged by ALFA S.p.A. to its EU affiliates is compared with the price applied by the same company in transactions with independent third parties. The adjustments applied to the price identified by the CUP method, as clarified by the same applicant in the note forwarded at the time of submitting the supplementary documentation, consist of a discount of XX on the price of finished products that can be applied to independent third parties; this last reduction would be attributable to the higher costs borne by the subsidiaries compared to third party resellers; 2) at the end of the year, a corroborative analysis (sanity check) is carried out using the TNMM (Transactional Net Margin Method), aimed at ... Read more

An Italian parent company “Lender SpA” had granted interest free loans to foreign subsidiaries. Lender SpA had also paid subsidiaries for services rendered. The Italian tax authorities held that interest should be paid on the loans and that the company had not sufficiently demonstrated the conditions to justify the deductibility of costs of services. The regional Court found in favor of the tax authorities and dismissed the appeal of Lender SpA. “For these loans, which took place on the initiative of the Managing Director and in the absence of a resolution of the Shareholders’ Meeting, the Company partly used its available liquidity and partly resorted to the credit market. In this situation, contrary to what was claimed by the company xxxxx, the principle established by the aforementioned art. 110, paragraph 7 of the Consolidated Income Tax Act should have been applied and, therefore, the Italian company should have valued the financing services provided to its foreign subsidiaries at the same ... Read more

At issue was deduction of VAT on purported costs incurred for intra-group services. Cost allocated to Rohm and Hass under a cost sharing agreement had been deemed non-deductible for VAT purposes by the Italien Tax Authorities, as the taxpayer had not been able to prove the effectiveness and relevance of these services. The Regional Tax Commission (C.t.r.) dismissed an appeal filed by Rohm and Hass. In particular, the court noted that Rohm and Haas had not proved “that the services, allegedly provided by the other subsidiaries, forming part of a single group, had in some way directly and positively influenced the company’s performance, reduced any costs, favoured the improvement of the production and marketing of products, or reduced costs previously assumed for similar services, or even that the provision of new services had, even on a provisional basis, increased the company’s potential“. Judgement of Supreme Court The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Regional tax commission and dismissed the ... Read more

At issue was deduction of VAT on purported costs incurred for intra-group services, which had been deemed non-deductible for tax as well as VAT purposes by the Italien Tax Authorities, as the taxpayer had not been able to prove the effectiveness and relevance of these services. The Supreme Court found that in order for intra-group cost to be deductible (and VAT deductible) taxpayer must prove that, a real service have been received which is objectively determinable and adequately documented. This burden of proof had not been lifted by the taxpayer and VAT payments on the purported services were consequently non-deductible. Click here for English translation Sentenza Cassazione Civile n. 3599 del 13022020 ... Read more

The tax authorities had issued an assessment where deductibility of service costs charged to an Italien company had been disallowed for tax purposes, as the Italien company – according to the tax authorities – had not provided sufficient proof of the benefits from the purported services received (marketing, telephone, EDP and legal, accounting and tax consultancy services). Judgement of the Supreme court. The Court dismissed the appeal of Alfa Gomma and ruled in favor of the tax administration.. Excerpts from the Judgement “By the second ground, alleging infringement of Article 2697 of the Civil Code, the appellant criticises the judgment of appeal in so far as it finds that Alfa Gomma Sud did not discharge its burden of proof, since the documentation produced does not make it possible to carry out an adequate check as to the existence, relevance and usefulness of the costs of the services charged by the parent company Alfa Gomma SpA. It submits that, in so ... Read more

Gemplus India Pvt. Ltd. is a part of the Gemplus group, engaged in providing smart card solutions for the telecommunications industry, financial services industry and other e-businesses. The company entered into a intra group management services agreement for receipt of services in marketing and sales support, customer service support, finance, accounting and administration support and legal support. The tax administration found there was no clear proof that such services had actually been rendered. There was no specific benefit derived by the Indian company. Gemplus India Pvt. Ltd. had not established the benefit of these services and had already incurred expenses towards professional and consultancy services and employed qualified personnel in India for rendering similar services. The Appellate Tribunal decided the case in favour of Revenue. To satisfy the arm’s-length standard, a charge for intra group services or intangibles must at least meet the following conditions: • The need for intra group services or intangibles is established. • The intra group ... Read more