The IRS has issued its annual report on advance pricing agreements (APAs) and the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement (APMA) Program (formerly the Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) Program). The report was issued as IRS Announcement 2017-3 dated 27 March 2017. In February of 2012, the former APA Program was moved from the Office of Chief Counsel to the Office of Transfer Pricing Operations within the Large Business and International Division of the IRS and combined with the U.S. Competent Authority staff responsible for transfer pricing cases, thereby forming the APMA Program. After the formation of the APMA Program, the team that developed the IRS position in a bilateral or multilateral case and finalized the APA with the taxpayer also became responsible for discussing the case and obtaining an agreement with the treaty partner.

The Announcement of IRS is issued pursuant to § 521(b) of Pub. L. 106-170, the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, which requires the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to the public concerning advance pricing agreements (APAs) and the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement Program (APMA Program), formerly known as the Advance Pricing Agreement Program (APA Program). The first report covered calendar years 1991 through 1999. Subsequent reports covered each calendar year 2000 through 2015 separately. This eighteenth report describes the experience, structure, and activities of the APMA Program during calendar year 2016. It does not provide guidance regarding the application of the arm’s length standard.

Part I of this report includes information on the structure, composition, and operation of the APMA Program; Part II presents statistical data; and Part III includes general descriptions of various elements of the APAs executed in 2016, including types of transactions covered, transfer pricing methods used, and completion time.

The report includes the text of a model APA agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS.