Action 14 of the action plan on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) was concerned with improving the effectiveness and timeliness of dispute resolution mechanisms. The minimum standard under action 14 requires jurisdictions to try to resolve mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases within 24 months on average.
Around 65 member countries of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS are now reporting their MAP statistics under an agreed reporting framework. On 27 November 2017 these MAP statistics were made available for the 2016 reporting period.
Around 8,000 cases were ongoing in the inventory of the reporting jurisdictions as of 1 January 2016 and in the course of 2016 almost 25% of those cases were closed. Almost 1,500 new MAP cases began on or after 1 January 2016, approximately 25% of which were already closed by the end of 2016.
More than half the MAP cases in the inventories were transfer pricing cases. On average transfer pricing cases need approximately 30 months to resolve compared with an average of 17 months for other cases.
More than 85% of MAPs concluded in 2016 resolved the relevant issue. Around 5% of the MAP cases closed because they were withdrawn by taxpayers and around 10% closed without being resolved.
The agreed reporting framework under BEPS action 14 sets out common definitions of a MAP case, the start date, the end date and the outcomes. These definitions are now used for counting MAP cases and for calculating the average time needed to close a case. The statistics also show the types of cases concerned and the outcomes reached.
