Austria: Transfer pricing guidelines 2021 are finalized
The transfer pricing guidelines 2021 were published on 7 October 2021.
The transfer pricing guidelines 2021 were published on 7 October 2021.
The Austrian transfer pricing guidelines 2021 (verrechnungspreisrichtlinien (VPR) 2021) were published 7 October 2021.
The final version of VPR 2021 (German) [PDF 3.6 MB] generally does not reflect significant changes when compared to the draft version of the guidelines (December 2020), but there are certain “minor revisions,” some of which reflect suggestions made by the Chamber of Tax Advisors and Auditors (Kammer der Steuerberater und Wirtschaftsprüfer geäußerten Anregungen).
The revisions included in the final version concern, among other items, the following:
- A requirement for written agreements between affiliated companies, in particular with regard to group allocation agreements and cost allocation agreements
- Not adopted, a requirement requiring taxpayers to accept retroactive assessments based on knowledge gained afterwards, absent timely agreements
- An amendment to the rule for year-end adjustments
- A change that the median is no longer mandatory, but optional (that is, the taxpayer must provide evidence that a certain comparative value within the range is more reliable than the median to avoid the adjustment to the median)
- Not adopted, a rule when there are inadequate database studies, use of a study for the financial administration in combination with other evidence (e.g., a value creation analysis)
- Intra-group services and stated profit markups for services now more clearly described
- A specific loan offer from a bank based on a detailed credit check can represent an appropriate price comparison
- Measures concerning cash pooling systems added
- New measures regarding the treatment of intra-group leasing and an intra-group posting of workers
- Home office permanent establishment
- Notification requirements in connection with the country-by-country report (notification only required if there are changes compared to the notification from previous year, such as when there is a change to the ultimate parent company or the reporting obligation is no longer accepted)
- Hidden distributions (if a domestic company waives the transfer price claim against the parent company at the time of a transfer price adjustment, this will meet the criteria of a hidden distribution)
Read an October 2021 report (German) prepared by the KPMG member firm in Austria
For more information, contact a tax professional with KPMG’s Global Transfer Pricing Services group:
Werner Rosar | +43 1 31332 3621 | wrosar@kpmg.at
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