Transfer Pricing Brief: December 2020

Australia	CbC reporting requirement/Master File/Local File: The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a notice declaring a lodgment deferral until 29th January 2021 for the Local file, Master file, and Country-by-Country (CbC) report for the year ended 31st December 2019. See the story in Regfollower
Belgium	Scope of transfer pricing rules: On 23 November 2020, the Belgian tax authorities issued guidance on the technological requirements of DAC6 and the mandatory disclosure and reporting of certain cross-border arrangements. The guidance comprises a user guide describing the electronic form to be used by an intermediary or the taxpayer for filing reports. See the story in Regfollower Filing deadlines: On 12 November 2020, the Belgian Minister of Finance (MoF) announced a further extension of the filing corporate income tax (CIT) returns to 30 November 2020 for the Assessment Year 2020. Local file-Deadlines: As the Local file form (275LF) constitutes part of the corporate income tax return, the postponed deadline also applies to the filing of the Local file. See the story in Regfollower
Chile	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 26 November 2020, Chile deposited its ratification instrument for BEPS MLI. The MLI will enter into force for the Chile on 1 March 2021. See the story in Regfollower
Croatia	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 25 November 2020, the Parliament approved the draft Law for ratifying the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS (MLI). See the story in Regfollower Main corporate income tax rate: On 12 November 2020, the Croatian Government sent four tax reform Bills to the parliament which provide changes in corporate income tax. Accordingly, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with annual revenue of up to HRK 7.5 million are subject to 10% corporate tax rate (previously, the rate was 12%) from 1 January 2021. See the story in Regfollower
Estonia	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 10 November 2020, Estonia’s parliament (Riigikogu) has accepted for consideration Bill No. 286 SE, to amend a Law on the Ratification of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. See the story in Regfollower
Germany	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 6 November 2020, the German upper house of parliament approved the ratification of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI). Germany signed the MLI on 7 June 2017 in Paris. See the story in Regfollower
Ghana	Scope of transfer pricing rules: On 10 August 2020, the Minister of Finance of Ghana submitted new Transfer Pricing (TP) Regulations 2020 (L.I. 2412) before Parliament. The new Regulations repealed the Transfer Pricing Regulations 2012 (L.I. 2188) and incorporate many of the revisions introduced by the July 2017 edition of the OECD’s Transfer Pricing Guidelines. See the story in Regfollower
Indonesia	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 26 November 2020, the Republic of Indonesia deposited a notification confirming the completion of its internal procedures for the entry into effect of the provisions of BEPS MLI. See the story in Regfollower
Ireland	Scope of transfer pricing rules: On 3 November 2020, the Irish Revenue published the Revenue eBrief No. 200/20 and updated the manual on the EU mandatory disclosure of reportable cross-border arrangements (DAC6). The manual sets out general guidance on how the new EU mandatory disclosure regime will operate in Ireland, with a particular focus on the first step. See the story in Regfollower
Italy	Local File/Master File: On 23 November 2020, the Italian tax authority published new guidelines for transfer pricing (TP) documentation that fully replace the previous guidelines of 2010. Accordingly, a group company, or a branch of a foreign entity or an Italian company that owns a foreign branch, must prepare both Master file and Local file. See the story in Regfollower Scope of transfer pricing rules: On 20 November 2020, the Italian Ministry of Finance issued a Decree containing technical rules and procedures for the implementation of the DAC6 reporting requirements introduced by Legislative Decree No. 100 of 30 July 2020. See the story in Regfollower APAs-Fees: On 20 November 2020, the Italian government published an updated version of the draft budget law for 2021, which is currently under discussion within the Italian Parliament. Accordingly, an APA ruling request the companies shall pay a fee of EUR 10,000 to EUR 50,000 to the Italian tax authorities if the total turnover of the group is EUR 100 to 750 million. See the story in Regfollower
Kazakhstan	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 26 November 2020, Kazakhstan deposited notifications on its covered tax agreements under the BEPS MLI. See the story in Regfollower
Lithuania	Low value-adding services: On 19 October 2020, the Ministry of Finance in Lithuania published new transfer pricing documentation requirements. The requirements added a simplified approach to low value-adding intra-group services by allowing taxpayers to apply a mark-up of 5% of the allocated costs without the need to justify it through a benchmarking study. See the story in Regfollower
Malta	Dispute resolution: On 9 November 2020, the Maltese Commissioner for Revenue (CFR) has published new guidance regarding tax dispute resolution mechanisms. See the story in Regfollower Filing deadlines: On 16 November 2020, Malta’s Commissioner for Revenue has notified that the electronic filing deadline for year of assessment 2020 is being further extended to 16 December 2020. See the story in Regfollower
Morocco	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 16 November 2020, the House of Representatives of Morocco approved the law for the ratification of the multilateral convention to implement double taxation agreement (DTA) related measures to BEPS MLI. See the story in Regfollower
Oman	Compliance with BEPS standards: The Multilateral Convention to execute tax agreement related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (MLI) entered into force for Oman on 1 November 2020. See the story in Regfollower
Panama	Compliance with BEPS standards: On 5 November 2020, Panama has deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (Multilateral Convention or MLI). See the story in Regfollower
Singapore	Transfer pricing information return: The companies which faced genuine difficulties in preparing and e-Filing the YA 2020 Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Returns due to the COVID-19 situation, the IRAS would grant them a 1-month extension till 15 Jan 2021 to e-File the YA 2020 CIT Returns. Documentation-Timing and deadlines: The IRAS has also extended the deadline for completing transfer pricing (TP) documentation to 15 January 2021 only for companies that have been granted an extension on filing CIT return for the assessment year 2020. See the story in Regfollower
South Africa	APAs-General rules: On 11 November 2020, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has published discussion paper regarding advance pricing agreements (APAs) in order to obtain comment from interested parties. At present, APAs are not available in South Africa. Comment are invited until 18 December 2020. See the story in Regfollower
Thailand	Comparability Analysis: On 6 November 2020, the Minister of Finance issued Ministerial Regulation No. 369, which requires tax authorities to assess or adjust income and expenses between related parties in order to put them at arm’s length using an internal comparable approach or an external comparable approach. See the story in Regfollower
UAE	CbC reporting requirement-General rule: On 2 November 2020, the Ministry of Finance of the UAE conducted a session on Cabinet Resolution No. 44 of 2020 with respect to CbC reporting requirements. The ultimate parent entity of MNE groups with headquarter in the UAE and consolidated group revenue of more than AED 3.15 billion in the previous year must file the CbC report and notification in the UAE for years beginning on or after 1 January 2019. See the story in Regfollower
UK	APAs-General rule: On 12 November 2020 HMRC published updated statistics relating to transfer pricing and the diverted profits tax for 2019/20 (the year to 31 March 2020). During the year 29 new APA applications were made and four applications were withdrawn. MAP: The statistics relate to MAP cases involving transfer pricing and permanent establishment profit attribution. During the year 80 new MAP cases were admitted. See the story in Regfollower
US	MAP: On 16 November 2020, US and Mexico have agreed to renew the Qualified Maquiladora Approach Agreement (“QMA”) which allows a U.S. taxpayer to avoid double taxation on the contract manufacturing and assembly functions performed by its maquiladora if the Mexican taxpayer enters into a unilateral advance pricing agreement (“APA”). See the story in Regfollower Information exchange-Multilateral: On 4 November 2020, IRS published the updated page on CbC reporting jurisdiction status table. Accordingly, on 6 October 2020, U.S. and Singapore have entered into a CAA for the automatic exchange of CbC reports. See the story in Regfollower Information exchange-Multilateral: On 4 November 2020, IRS published the updated information on CbC reporting jurisdiction status table. Accordingly, on 14 August 2020, U.S. and Germany sign an agreement on exchange of Country-by-Country reports. See the story in Regfollower
Vietnam	Restriction on interest deduction: On 5 November 2020, the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance (MoF) has issued new transfer pricing Decree No. 132/2020/ND-CP. The Decree has increased the cap on deductible interest expenses from 20% of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to 30% of EBITDA. CbC reporting requirement-Threshold: Vietnamese parent companies of a multinational group need to submit a CbC report if the group has consolidated revenues amounting to at least VND 18,000 billion (approximately EUR 730 million) in the applicable tax period and submit reports to the tax authority no later than 12 months after the end of the fiscal year of the parent companies. See the story in Regfollower