In this edition of the newsletter, you will find the most important national and global developments in tax law that are (closely) related to the world transfer pricing.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Quantera Global news, developments, and blogs
- We have officially launched our podcast “The Transfer Pricing Method”. Three episodes (1:APAs, 2: Public CbCR, and 3: Brazil’s Adoption of OECD Guidelines) are now available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts and our website.
- On 28 January, we published a blog on the Public Country-by-Country Reporting. You can read the blog post here.
- Quantera Global and PRK Partners, a law firm located in Slovakia and Czech Republic providing professional support in the fields of tax law and transfer pricing, form a strategic partnership. For more information click here.
- Quantera Global will be present at the WU Global Transfer Pricing Conference in Vienna from February 19-21. If you’re attending and would like to connect, feel free to reach out to Maikel Verhoeven.
Quantera Global specialties
In the past month, several challenging and noteworthy projects were successfully completed, including:
- Pragmatic current account analysis and related interest setting.
- Review of intercompany loan agreement aligned with a new treasury set up.
If you would like to know more about these topics, please feel free to contact us.
Pillar Two update:
OECD
On 15 January, the OECD announced further administrative guidance under Pillar Two rules, including:
- Central record of legislation with transitional qualified status;
- Administrative guidance on article 9.1 of the GloBE model rules;
- An updated GloBE information return (GIR); and
- GIR multilateral competent authority agreement on the exchange of GloBE information (MCAA).
Local implementation updates:
21 December Spain: The congress passed the legislation for implementing Pillar Two into domestic law.
23 December Australia: Pillar Two global and domestic minimum tax rules implemented into domestic law.
24 December South Africa: Legislation for implementing Pillar Two was signed by the president.
26 December Thailand: Thailand enacted the Top-up Tax Emergency Decree to implement Pillar Two.
27 December North Macedonia: The Parliament adopts law implementing Pillar Two.
31 December South Korea: Enacted tax reform for 2025 including additional clarifications on Pillar Two.
31 December Oman: The Sultanate of Oman issued a Royal Decree implementing Pillar Two.
31 December Kuwait: The Government of Kuwait releases new legislation implementing Pillar Two.
News from around the world:
Australia
On 15 January, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) released new transfer pricing guidance for private groups in the property and construction sector that receive funding from foreign-related parties or associates. The guidance outlines how to demonstrate the commerciality and arm’s length nature of funding arrangements, highlights conventional industry practices, and identifies key risk factors that may attract ATO scrutiny. It also provides examples of different funding arrangements, the ATO’s risk assessment approach, and compliance obligations, including record-keeping requirements.
China
On 26 December 2024, China’s State Taxation Administration released its 15th annual report on the advance pricing agreement (APA) program, showing a total of 296 APAs signed from 2005 to 2023, including 36 in 2023 (nine unilateral and 27 bilateral). Most bilateral APAs were signed with Asian countries, and the majority involved the manufacturing industry. The transactional net margin method (TNMM) remained the most used transfer pricing method, accounting for 83% of all cases.
Denmark
On 9 January, the Danish Supreme Court ruled in the extensive transfer pricing case of Accenture A/S and the Danish Ministry of Taxation. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Accenture A/S and deemed the TP documentation sufficient for both transaction under dispute. The Ministry of Taxation’s disagreement with the pricing method or comparability analysis did not lead to the documentation being considered inadequate.
Netherlands
The Netherlands has updated its list of low-tax jurisdictions and non-cooperative tax jurisdictions for 2025, with no changes to the Dutch list. However, five countries were removed from the EU list: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Seychelles, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. While the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos remain on the Dutch list, the removal of Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Seychelles from the EU list means that certain tax measures, such as the CFC rule, withholding taxes, and stricter ruling policies, will no longer apply to these countries in 2025.
OECD
On 13 January, the OECD released a statement with an update of the status of negotiations on Pillar One, covering both Amount A and Amount B. While consensus has not yet been reached on the Multilateral Convention for Amount A or a framework for Amount B, progress has been made, and discussions are ongoing. The Inclusive Framework is working to resolve outstanding issues as countries assess the implications for global business taxation.
Romania
On 13 December 2024, Romania’s Ministry of Finance announced the reporting template for public country-by-country (CbC) disclosures, following the European Commission’s final regulation. Although the EU’s common template applies from 1 January 2025, Romania has opted for early implementation from 1 January 2023. Until the regulation takes effect, entities in Romania can report using non-public CbC formats, the EU template, or any format that meets the directive’s requirements.
Slovenia
On 3 December 2024, Slovenia implemented the EU public country-by-country (CbC) reporting directive through a decree published in December 2024, effective for financial years starting on or after 22 June 2024. The provisions align with the EU directive, including a safeguard clause allowing temporary omissions for competitive reasons and an exemption from website publication if the report is publicly available in the EU. Reports must be submitted to the Slovenian commercial register within 11 months of the balance sheet date, translated into Slovenian, and made public within one month.
Sri Lanka
On 6 January, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) of Sri Lanka issued its guidance on Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) for international transactions. This pioneering initiative marks a significant advancement in Sri Lanka’s tax system, bringing the country in line with global best practices and creating a more predictable and transparent framework for transfer pricing (TP) issues.
United Kingdom
On 27 January, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published transfer pricing statistics for tax year 2023 to 2024. The number of APAs concluded increased from 15 to 27, but the average time taken to conclude an APA has increased from 45.5 months to 53 months. HMRC has resolved 86 MAP cases, a decrease in comparison to the previous period in which 131 MAP cases were resolved. The average time to resolve a MAP case increased from 28.4 months to 28.8 months.
United States
- On January 20, the White House issued a memorandum rejecting prior U.S. commitments to the OECD Global Tax Deal unless approved by Congress. It also directed the Treasury Secretary and USTR to investigate foreign tax policies that may harm American companies and present response options within 60 days. Senate and House leaders expressed support for President Trump’s stance against the deal.
- On January 17, the IRS released a legal advice memorandum (AM 2025-001) clarifying the relationship between the general arm’s length standard and specific periodic adjustment rules under Treas. Reg. § 1.482. The memorandum concludes that taxpayers cannot override periodic adjustments by solely relying on the arm’s length standard or their chosen transfer pricing method. It updates prior guidance and applies to cases involving intangible property licenses and platform contributions.
Final words
Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of our newsletter. I hope you found the insights and updates valuable. If you have any questions or would like further information on any of the topics covered, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
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Best regards,
Adriaan van der Heijden
Director at Quantera Global
