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Customs value and transfer pricing could be likened to Siamese twins - that's how closely linked they are. Let's discuss some practical questions related to the year-end transfer pricing adjustments: … If the price is revised upwards, does the importer have to go to customs and pay additional duties? If the price is revised downwards, is the importer entitled to a refund of duties? If the goods are duty-free and there is no excise duty, but only import VAT (which is deductible in any case)?

Editors’ note: In this second part of the article, the author highlights the similarities and differences between customs valuation and transfer pricing and emphasises that the requirements may … differ for the same goods. He also outlines the solutions used by customs in different countries. For example, the Canada Border Services Agency considers the transfer price to be the ‘uninfluenced’ price paid or payable for imported goods if a written transfer price agreement exists between a vendor and a related purchaser and is in effect at the time of importation.

Editors' note: In November, the European Commission published the news 'New transfer pricing rules to make life easier for businesses in the EU'. The new rules are necessary to address several … challenges, including the competing objectives of customs and tax authorities, which lead to double compliance requirements. The problem is global. According to the Corporate Tax Association of Australia (CTAA), 'it is unacceptable for a business to be required to satisfy two arms of the same government, one demanding a higher price and the other a lower price in respect of the same transaction'. In this first part of the article, the author provides an overview of the rules and methods of customs valuation and transfer pricing.

Transfer pricing is a rule that was designed in international taxation to establish which part of the income within a multinational enterprise needs to be allocated between two companies in the … same group if they have a transaction between them. The rule, in general, is that they need to act as if they were third parties in order to establish the third-party price. Transfer pricing is important for determining the customs value of goods.