As indicated in paragraph 8.9, the economically relevant characteristics of the arrangement identified under the guidance in Section D of Chapter I may indicate that the actual transaction differs from the terms of the CCA purportedly agreed by the participants. For example, one or more of the claimed participants may not have any reasonable expectation of benefit from the CCA activity. Although in principle the smallness of a participant’s share of expected benefits is no bar to eligibility, if a participant that is performing all of the subject activity is expected to have only a small fraction of the overall expected benefits, it may be questioned whether the reality of the arrangements for that party is to pool resources and share risks or whether the appearance of sharing in mutual benefits has been constructed to obtain more favourable tax results. The existence of significant balancing payments arising from a material difference between the parties’ proportionate shares of contributions and benefits may also give rise to questions about whether mutual benefits exist or whether the arrangements should be accurately delineated, taking into account all the economically relevant characteristics, as a funding transaction.
TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.39
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By OECD
Category: OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines (2022), TPG2022 Chapter VIII: Cost Contribution Arrangements | Tag: Balancing payments, CCA/CSA, Cost Contribution Arrangement (CCA), Cost Sharing Arrangement (CSA), Delineation of CCAs, Did not reflect economic reality, Economically relevant characteristics
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- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.43Any balancing payment should be treated as an addition to the contribution of the payor and as a reduction in the contribution of the recipient. As with contributions generally, the character and tax treatment of any balancing payments will be determined in accordance with domestic laws, including applicable tax treaties....
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.41Contributions, including any balancing payments, by a participant to a CCA should be treated for tax purposes in the same manner as would apply under the general rules of the tax system(s) applicable to that participant if the contributions were made outside a CCA, to carry on the activity that...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.37In the case of development CCAs, variations between a participant’s proportionate share of the overall contributions and that participant’s proportionate share of the overall expected benefits may occur in a particular year. If that CCA is otherwise acceptable and carried out faithfully, having regard to the recommendations of Section E,...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.36Balancing payments may also be required by tax administrations where the value of a participant’s proportionate contributions of property or services at the time the contribution was made has been incorrectly determined, or where the participants’ proportionate expected benefits have been incorrectly assessed, e.g. where the allocation key when fixed...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.35Balancing payments may be made by participants to “top up” the value of the contributions when their proportionate contributions are lower than their proportionate expected benefits. Such adjustments may be anticipated by the participants upon entering into the CCA, or may be the result of periodic re-evaluation of their share...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.34A CCA will be considered consistent with the arm’s length principle where the value of each participant’s proportionate share of the overall contributions to the arrangement (taking into account any balancing payments already made) is consistent with the participant’s share of the overall expected benefits to be received under the...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.24Contributions to a CCA may take many forms. For services CCAs, contributions primarily consist of the performance of the services. For development CCAs, contributions typically include the performance of development activities (e.g. R&D, marketing), and often include additional contributions relevant to the development CCA such as pre-existing tangible assets or...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.13The expectation of mutual and proportionate benefit is fundamental to the acceptance by independent enterprises of an arrangement for sharing the consequences of risks materialising and pooling resources and skills. Independent enterprises would require that the value of each participant’s proportionate share of the actual overall contributions to the arrangement...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII paragraph 8.4As indicated in Section D. 1 of Chapter I, the delineation of the actual transaction undertaken forms the first phase in any transfer pricing analysis. The contractual agreement provides the starting point for delineating the actual transaction. In this respect, no difference exists for a transfer pricing analysis between a...
- TPG2022 Chapter VIII Annex example 11. Example 1 illustrates the general principle that contributions should be assessed at value (i.e. based on arm’s length prices) in order to produce results that are consistent with the arm’s length 2. Company A and Company B are members of an MNE group and decide to enter into a...