OECD: Mutual agreement procedure (MAP) statistics for 2022

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today released the latest mutual agreement procedure (MAP) statistics covering 133 jurisdictions and practically all MAP cases worldwide.

Read the 2022 MAP statistics and the 2022 MAP awards

According to the OECD release, the 2022 MAP statistics reveal the following trends:

• Taxpayers are engaging with MAP more than ever. The number of new MAP cases opened in 2022 increased (almost +3%) (see trends since 2016) compared to 2021. This represents that MAP is back to "business as usual" for many competent authorities (CAs) after a decrease in cases opened in 2021 and it is encouraging to see that taxpayers have increasing faith in MAP owing to greater availability and access, a by-product of the BEPS Action 14 Minimum Standard.
• Fewer MAP cases were closed in 2022. Approximately 4% less MAP cases were closed in 2022 than in 2021, which concerns both transfer pricing cases (-0.5%) and other cases (almost -6.5%) closed. While 2021 was a stellar year for case closures (up +13% from 2020) as many CAs prioritized simpler cases, the 2022 result was a return to baseline for MAP case closures and still represents a significant increase compared to 2020 (nearly +9%) and 2019 (+3.5%).
• Outcomes remain generally positive. Around 73% of the MAPs concluded in 2022 fully resolved the issue both for transfer pricing and other cases. Approximately 2% of MAP cases were closed with no agreement. Both of these numbers remain similar to 2021.
• Average case times start to close in on the 24-month target. On average, MAP cases closed in 2022 took 25.3 months compared to 26 months in 2021, moving one step closer to the target. In particular, transfer pricing cases that took 29 months, down from 32.3 months in 2021, which is the first time this number has been below 30 months. These results are positive and show that even though taxpayers are requesting MAP more than ever, CAs are rising to the challenge through greater resources and better case management. While there is more work to be done, this highlights the significant investment made by jurisdictions into their CA functions in spite of the increasing strain on resources in general.

The MAP awards given in recognition of particular efforts by CAs saw the following winners: 

• Netherlands and New Zealand for the shortest time in closing transfer pricing cases and other cases respectively
• Canada for the smallest proportion of pre-2016 cases in end inventory
• Luxembourg and Norway for the most effective caseload management

The award for the pairs of jurisdictions that dealt the most effectively with their joint caseload went to Denmark-Ireland for transfer pricing cases and to Germany-Ireland for other cases.

Finally, the award for the most improved jurisdiction went to the Netherlands, which closed an additional 102 cases with positive outcomes compared to 2021 with increases for both transfer pricing and other cases.

The OECD also released today Making Dispute Resolution Mechanisms More Effective – Consolidated Information on Mutual Agreement Procedures 2023, the first-ever edition, that provides stakeholders with an overview of published information on MAP in each member jurisdiction of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS, all compiled in one place.