The Baker McKenzie SALT team presented the second session of its monthly webinar series covering coast-to-coast state and local tax developments on August 5, 2020. This month’s SALT Savvy webinar features Baker McKenzie Economist Holly Glenn, who shares her thoughts on the recent transfer pricing developments in Indiana and other states. If you were unable to attend the session, links to the recording and materials are provided below: View the recorded webinar Download the materials
Two states recently unveiled transfer pricing enforcement tactics to, in their view, combat improper intercompany profit shifting.
The Utah Supreme Court handed taxpayers a victory on October 5, 2018 when it issued a unanimous (5-0) decision in the closely-watched Utah State Tax Commission v. See’s Candies, Inc., 2018 UT 57 (Oct. 5, 2018). The Court affirmed the district court’s holding that the Utah State Tax Commission’s (“Commission”) discretionary authority to reallocate a taxpayer’s income under Utah Code Section 59-7-113 (“Section 113”) is limited by the “arm’s-length” standard set forth in the federal…
ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, Hess Corporation, and Shell Oil Company (collectively, the “Oil Companies”) were recently dealt another blow in their ongoing transfer pricing dispute with the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue (“OTR”). The Oil Companies are among several taxpayers that have been fighting the validity of the transfer pricing methodology employed by Chainbridge Software LLC (“Chainbridge”), the OTR’s third-party transfer pricing consultant. Just last year, the Oil Companies unsuccessfully sought to estop the OTR from relitigating the validity of the controversial Chainbridge methodology in light of the OAH’s holding in Microsoft Corp. v. Office of Tax and Revenue (2012) that the Chainbridge methodology was arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable (for prior coverage, see DC Office of Tax and Revenue Set to Relitigate Chainbridge Methodology in Oil Company Cases). In a January 26, 2018 Order, Office of Administrative Hearings (“OAH”) Administrative Law Judge Bernard H. Weberman denied the Oil Companies’ motion for summary judgment, holding that they failed to establish that the transfer pricing method employed by Chainbridge was arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable as a matter of law. Hess Corp., et. al. v. D.C. Office of Tax & Revenue, Case Nos. 2012-OTR-00027, 2011-OTR-00047, 2011-OTR-00049 (Jan. 26, 2018).