Thommessen’s dedicated transfer pricing team has broad expertise in tax law, corporate law, and dispute resolution. The team has extensive experience from transactional work, negotiations with tax authorities, appeals and litigation, and ongoing advisory work – all of which are key to successful handling of transfer pricing matters.
Transfer pricing is particularly important for international corporate groups, but also for Norwegian groups with business areas subject to differing tax rates. This includes companies subject to resource rent tax, particularly within petroleum and aquaculture.
The legal framework governing transfer pricing has become increasingly complex. Section 13-1 of the Norwegian Tax Act is the key provision, granting the tax authorities the right to adjust prices in intra-group transactions. This provision is supplemented by the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines. These guidelines are complex and often give rise to disputes with the tax authorities. In addition, companies are subject to extensive documentation requirements to demonstrate that their prices and terms are in line with the arm’s length principle. The documentation must explain the basis for the pricing applied, and robust documentation with thorough assessments is essential to avoid disputes with the tax authorities.
Thommessen assists a wide range of Norwegian and international corporate groups with transfer pricing matters. We have extensive experience advising during audits of transfer pricing by the Norwegian tax office, including tax inspections, appeal processes, settlement negotiations and Mutual Agreement Procedures. We also litigate transfer pricing disputes before the courts, and have represented companies such as Vår Energi ASA, Accenture, Stanley Black & Decker, Dell, Alcoa Inc., and PGNiG Upstream Norway AS, among others, in Norwegian courts.
However, many transfer pricing cases are not well suited for court proceedings. We therefore place particular emphasis on strategic discussions with our clients early in the process to determine how the case can best be handled to achieve the most correct result without going to court. We also frequently assist with the assessment of transfer pricing documentation and compliance with documentation requirements, as well as the drafting and review of intra-group agreements.