In May, the IRS asserted $340 million in transfer pricing penalties in Western Digital Corporation v. Commissioner. If the IRS prevails, these would appear to be the largest transfer pricing penalties sustained in US Tax Court history. The penalties are notable not only for their amount, but also for the way the IRS raised them. The IRS did not apply penalties in its notices of deficiency or in its initial Tax Court pleadings. Instead, the…

In the context of a Cost Sharing Arrangement (“CSA”), Treas. Reg. §1.482-7(c)(1) defines a platform contribution (“PCT”) to be “any resource, capability, or right that a controlled participant has developed, maintained, or acquired externally to the intangible development activity (whether prior to or during the course of the CSA) that is reasonably anticipated to contribute to developing cost shared intangibles.” Treas. Reg. §1.482-7(g)(2)(viii) defines subsequent PCTs as those whose date occurs subsequent to the inception…

The IRS recently released informal guidance in the form of “Frequently Asked Questions” discussing its “observations of best practices and common mistakes in preparing transfer pricing documentation” under section 6662. Particularly right now, as many taxpayers find themselves in the throes of drafting and updating annual transfer pricing documentation reports, a review of these FAQs can provide critical insights into the IRS’s thinking that may improve the efficiency of future audits.…

Many multinational enterprises (“MNEs”) are providing new forms of financial, technical, or other support to group members facing COVID-19-related business issues such as plant (temporary) closures or supply chain disruptions. This support may in some cases give rise to a transfer of value, such as the knowhow of a seconded employee. It may also involve a transfer of assets coupled with the ability to perform certain functions and assume certain risks. Such transfers could be…

Responding to the potential disruption created by COVID-19 for transfer pricing arrangements, the Advance Pricing & Mutual Agreement (“APMA”) Program on May 11, 2020, issued informal guidance related to the pandemic. The guidance makes clear that APMA will consider the impact of COVID-19 on both pending requests and completed agreements. It also reveals that APMA is already discussing COVID-19 issues with treaty partners.…

COVID-19 has made force majeure a hot topic in transfer pricing. The idea is that the pandemic was an unexpected development of such power, like a natural disaster, that transfer pricing agreements can be changed to reflect the changed economics of a changed world. But is there any case authority to support this approach? In fact there is, from one of the largest US transfer pricing cases of the 1990s.…