نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسندگان

1 دانشجوی دکتری حقوق نفت و گاز، دانشکده حقوق، دانشگاه شهید بهشتی، تهران، ایران

2 استاد دانشکده حقوق، دانشگاه شهید بهشتی، تهران، ایران

چکیده

هرچند شرکت‌های چند ملیتی بازیگران مهم تجارت بین‌الملل و یکی از اصلی‌ترین عوامل رشد اقتصاد جهانی به‌شمار می‌روند، اما آثار نامطلوب برخی از اقدامات آنها غیرقابل چشم‌پوشی است. قیمت‌گذاری انتقالی یکی از این اقدامات مخرب است که در آن، شرکت‌های چندملّیتی، با همکاری شرکت‌های فرعی، با داخلی‌سازی معاملات و تعیین قیمت‌های مورد نظر خود، به‌راحتی منابع مالی خود را از قلمروی جغرافیاییِ با نرخ مالیات بر درآمدِ بالا، به قلمروی جغرافیایی دیگر با نرخ مالیات بر درآمدِ پایین، منتقل می‌کنند. نتیجة حاصل از این اقدام، اجتناب از پرداخت مالیات، نقض حقوق رقابت و ازدست‌رفتن منافع مالی دولت‌های میزبان است. صنعت نفت و گاز به دلیل نیاز به سرمایه‌گذاری کلان و فناوری‌‌های مدرن، بسیار به حضور شرکت‌های چندملیتی متّکی بوده و گردش مالی زیاد، انگیزة این شرکت‌ها را در به‌کارگیری مکانیسم قیمت‌گذاری انتقالی افزایش داده است. یافته‌های این پژوهش نشان می‌دهد که به‌کارگیری اصل معاملات مستقل، کارآمد‌ترین ابزار مقابله با قیمت‌گذاری انتقالی به‌شمار آمده و به کارشناسان مالیاتی این اختیار را می‌هد که قیمت معاملة کنترل‌شده را نادیده گرفته و قیمت معاملة کنترل‌نشده را مبنای محاسبة درآمدِ مشمول مالیاتِ شرکت‌ها قرار دهند.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات

عنوان مقاله [English]

Transfer Pricing of Multinational Enterprises in the Oil and Gas Industries and the Method of Coping with It

نویسندگان [English]

  • Hesam Khodayarinejad 1
  • Mehrab Darabpour 2

1 Ph.D. Student in Oil and Gas Law, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehrn, Iran

2 Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehrn, Iran

چکیده [English]

Tax has undeniable role in Provision of the governments general budget and special position in financial regime of all oil and gas contracts. Host states always trying to provide presence and investment conditions of multinational enterprices in oil and gas industry for advancing their economic goals and collecting considerable Income tax. Although multinational enterprises are important actors in the international trade and one of the main factors of global economic growth, the destructive effects of some of their actions are not desireable. The structure of these companies is somehow that parent company controls and manages many subsidiary companies in various countries and advances its besiness goals in any way possible. This structure provides for these companies the possibility of tax avoidance via transfer pricing mechanism. In international oil and gas industry, a significant volume of transactions are between parent company and its subsidiary companies or between subsidiary companies of a parent company. Transfer pricing is a mechanism based on that goods. services, rights and property related to intellectual property, facilities and ... transfer from parent company to subsidiary or between subsidiaries of parent company at a price different from the usual market price. Indeed, the purpose of utilization of this mechanism is internalization of transactions and determining desired prices for the purpose of reducing taxable income and transfer of funds from geographic territory with a high income tax rate to another geographic territory with a low income tax rate. Host countries tax revenues affected by this action of multinational companies. Host countries with the aim of collecting maximum tax revenues determine financial regime of oil and gas contracts, whiles controlled transactions of multinational enterprises obstruct this goal. Transfer pricing violates competition law to the detriment of small companies. Although multinational enterprises with their structure internalize transactions, avoid tax payment and save financial resources resulting from it easily, but small companies do not have such a capability, can not avoide tax liabilities and invest financial resources resulting from it in other sectors. Oil and gas industry due to the need to huge investment and modern technologies is desprately depending on the presence of multinational companies, and a very high turnover of money increase  the motivation of those companies in the utilization of transfer pricing mechanism. Supply of required goods and services from affiliated companies at a price outside the normal market price and providing facilities with an interest rate higher or lower than the usual rate reduce tax income of host states and create many challenges to deal with this problem. Utilization of Arm's-Length principle is the most efficient tool to deal with transfer pricing. Based on this principle, if the price of goods and services exchanged in controlled transaction between two related companies differ from the usual price of those goods and services in uncontrolled transaction between two independent companies, tax experts ignore the price of controlled transaction and base the price of uncontrolled transaction for calculation of taxable income. This principle is universal and the method of its applying has been predicted in the tax laws and regulations of most countries. It is determined, By examining judicial precedent of countries, that tax experts, in calculating the due tax, ignore price announced by tax payer and by applying this principle determine taxable income. Despite all the advantages of the arm's-length principle, the challenges of its application cannot be overlooked. Comparative analysis is the basis of applying this principle and to do this, tax experts should find similar transaction related to same goods or services exchanged in a controlled transaction to compair price. In most cases, desired goods and services are unique and finding a similar transaction is impossible. This research, with the library method and examining judicial precedent, explains the transfer pricing of multinational companies with the special attention to the international oil and gas industries to find out that how these companies, by internalization of transactions and determination of their desired price, avoid paying tax to host governments. In the following, coping with transfer pricing by applying arm's-length principle, methods of applying this principle and Iran's legal status in dealing with this problem will be reviewed to find out that which legal instruments Iranian National Tax Administration has to deal with transfer pricing.
 

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Transfer Pricing
  • Tax Avoidance
  • Oil and Gas Industries
  • Arm's Length Principle
  • Multinational Enterprises
 
فارسی
آیین‌نامه اجرایی قانون اجازه ثبت شعبه یا نمایندگی شرکت‌های خارجی مصوب 11 / 01 / 1378 هیئت وزیران.
آیین‌نامه اجرایی ماده 107 اصلاحی قانون مالیات‌های مستقیم مصوب 12 / 03 / 1395.
بخشنامه شماره 18921 / 1623 / 232 مورخه 29 / 05 / 1385 سازمان امور مالیاتی در رابطه با رسیدگی به پرونده مالیاتی شعب و نمایندگی‌های شرکت‌های خارجی در ایران.
تصویب‌نامه شرایط عمومی، ساختار و الگوی قراردادهای بالادستی نفت و گاز مورخه 13 / 05 / 1395.
شیروی، عبدالحسین. حقوق نفت و گاز، چاپ سوم (تهران:  نشر میزان، 1395).
قانون اجازه ثبت شعبه یا نمایندگی شرکت‌های خارجی مصوب 21 / 08 / 1376.
قانون مالیات‌های مستقیم مصوب 03 / 12 / 1366 با اصلاحات مورخه 31 / 04 / 1394.
 
References
Afik, Z., Lahav, Y. “Practical Valuation of Risk Transfer in Advance Pricing Agreements”, Journal of Tax Administration, 4:1, (2018).
Andres, Ariel, and Sanchez Rojas. Deconstruct to Reconstruct: How To Tax Digital Economy Companies. Colombia: Universidad de los Andes, (2020).
Baistrocchi, E (1). “The International Tax Regime and The BRIC World: Elements For a Theory”, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 32:4, (2013).
Baistrocchi, E (2). “The Transfer Pricing Problem: A Global Proposal For Simplification”, American Bar Association, 59:4, (2006).
Benshalom, I. “Rethinking The Source of The Arm's-Length Transfer Pricing Problem”, Virginia Tax Review, 32:3, (2013).
Brauner, Y. “Value in The Eye of The Beholder: The Valuation of Intangibles For Transfer Pricing Purposes”, Virginia Tax Review, 28:79, (2008).
Couzin, R. “Policy Forum: The End of Transfer Pricing”, Canadian Tax Journal, 61:1, (2013).
Csurulya, C. “The Future of Transfer Pricing In European Union's Tax Law”, Cluj Tax Forum Journal, 2021:2, (2021).
De Colle, S., Marie Bennett, A. “State Induced, Strategic, or Toxic? An Ethical Analysis of Tax Avoidance Practices”, Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 33:1, (2014).
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Websites
UNCTAD. 2014. Urgent Global Action Needed to Tackle Tax Avoidance. Retrived From: https://unctad.org/news/urgent-global-action-needed-tackle-tax-avoidance. Last Access 20th March 2023.
Cases
Australia vs Chevron, 21 April 2017, Federal Court 2017 FCAFC 62
Central De Gas De Chihuahua, SA v. United States, 790 F. Supp. 1302 (W.D. Tex. 1992)
Korea vs “K-GAS Corp”, November 2021, Daegu District Court, Case No 2019구합22561
Norway vs. Exxonmobil Production Norway Inc., January 2018, Lagsmanret no LB-2016-160306
Norway vs Fortis Petroleum Norway AS, March 2022, Court of Appeal, Case No LB-2021-26379
Norway vs Saipem Drilling Norway AS, August 2019, Borgarting lagmannsrett, Case No LB-2018-55099 – UTV-2019-698
Romania vs “GAS distributor” SC A, December 2020, Court of Appeal, Case No 238/12.03.2020
Sweden vs Svenske Shell AB, October 1991, Supreme Administrative Court, Case no RÅ 1991 ref. 107
Ukrain vs Rivneazot, September 2019, Supreme Administrative Court, Case No 817/1737/17
Translated References into English
Executive regulations of Law Permitting Registration of Branches or Representative Offices of Foreign Companies approved on March 31, 1998 by Board of Ministers [In Persian]
Executive regulations of revised article 107 of Direct Taxes Act approved on June 1, 2016. [In Persian]
Circular No. 18921 / 1623 / 232 dated August 20, 2016 of National Tax Administration regarding handling the tax file of branches and agencies of foreign companies in Iran. [In Persian]
The General Conditions, Structure and the Model of Upstream Oil and Gas Contracts dated August 3, 2016. [In Persian]
Shiravi, Abdol Hossein. Oil and Gas Law. Third edition, (Tehran: Mizan Publishing, 2016). [In Persian]
Law Permitting Registration of Branches or Representative Offices of Foreign Companies approved on November 12, 1997. [In Persian]
Direct Taxes Act approved on February 22, 1988 with revisions dated July 22, 2015. [In Persian]