The circumstance of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created distortions between markets. Even goods and services that were similar may now have significant differences, a reality that makes comparability for transfer pricing purposes complex and imposes new challenges.
The transfer price is the price agreed between two companies of the same multinational group to transfer goods and services between them.
Under the arm's length principle, a provision that also applies in Panamanian law, for tax purposes transactions between related parties will be valued, taking as a reference the price that would have been agreed with an unrelated or independent party.
Incidentally, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the so-called guide on the application of the arm's length principle in the context of coronavirus, while the Inter-American Centre for Tax Administrations (CIAT) has also generated what it defines as a "cocktail" of more consensual solutions in accordance with the reality of Latin America and the Caribbean, which faces the tax dilemma with fewer resources.
This topic, given its relevance, was analysed from different angles during the International Transfer Pricing Forum, organised by Connectax and Capital Financiero, with the sponsorship of Bureau van Dijk a Moody's Analytics Company.
The following transfer pricing experts participated, under the moderation of Reynaldo Díaz:
Laura Sanint, partner at SanintRivas.
Gonzalo Arias, Director of the Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrations (CIAT).
José Luis Galíndez, partner of Galíndez, Medrano & Asociados.
Luis Carrillo, Director of Bureau van Dijk a Moody's Analytics Company.
Frida Medrano, partner at Galíndez, Medrano & Asociados.