ICAEW makes some suggestions as to the nature of the project
OECD posted a request on its website in July for views on the future work that it ought to carry out on the transfer pricing aspects of intangibles.
ICAEW has now submitted its suggestions in TAXREP 33/10.
The OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines were published back in 1995 and a very great deal has changed since then. Intangibles have become much more important, global brands have emerged and international trade has been transformed.
In our view OECD needs to carry out a detailed analytical study to track what has been happening and ascertain the current state of affairs. In doing so it should look at the work of other international organisations, such as the International Accounting Standards Board, which has published IASB 38 dealing with accounting for intangible assets.
We think there are quite a lot of misconceptions as to what intangibles really are and a good robust study would help to sort out those misunderstandings and prevent unnecessary disputes between business and tax authorities. What business wants is certainty and future work of OECD in this area could provide greater understanding which we hope will lead to the required certainty.
ICAEW hopes to be involved in the emerging work of OECD in this area.