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November 27, 2023
2023-1960

OECD's 2022 mutual agreement procedure statistics show US decreasing MAP case inventories, increasing time to close

  • Statistics from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Mutual Agreement Procedures (MAP) for 2022 show that the US takes an average of about 31 months to close transfer pricing cases and about 22 months to close other cases.
  • Globally, the inventory of open cases increased almost 3% in 2022, with more cases opening and fewer cases closing than in 2021.

On November 14, 2023, the OECD released statistics on MAP showing that the US MAP program's inventory decreased by 4% in 2022. In addition, the US MAP program closed more cases (that were started on or after January 1, 2016) than it opened in 2022.

The 2022 statistics were released at the OECD's fifth Tax Certainty Day.1 During the event, the OECD also released the 2022 MAP awards.

Along with the US statistics, the 2022 statistics include information from 133 other members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Inclusive Framework). The 2022 data covers almost all MAP cases worldwide. Separate statistics are provided for transfer pricing cases and "other" cases (i.e., non-transfer pricing cases) for 2022 on the:

  • Opening and ending inventory of MAP cases
  • Number of new MAP cases started, completed, closed or withdrawn
  • Average cycle time for MAP cases completed, closed or withdrawn

The 2022 MAP statistics also include the number of MAP cases that each jurisdiction has with each of its treaty partners. Moreover, each reporting jurisdiction's performance against key indicators for each type of case can be compared through an interactive tool.

At the event, the OECD announced the 2022 MAP awards, recognizing the particular efforts of competent authorities across a range of metrics.

2022 MAP statistics

The MAP statistics distinguish between transfer pricing and "other" cases. A transfer pricing MAP case relates to either attributing profits to a permanent establishment or determining profits between associated enterprises. Any MAP case that is not a transfer pricing MAP case is considered an "other" MAP case. In the MAP statistics reporting framework, cases received before January 1, 2016, are distinguished from cases received on or after that date. For the jurisdictions that joined the Inclusive Framework after December 31, 2016, the MAP statistics distinguish between cases received before January 1 of the year the jurisdiction joined the Inclusive Framework and cases received on or after that date.

The interactive tool allows users to compare the covered jurisdictions' performance in 2022 for both types of cases. The comparison is based on seven key indicators:

  • Starting inventory
  • Cases started
  • Cases closed
  • Ending inventory
  • Time (in months)
  • Closing ratio
  • Portion of pre-2016 (or pre-Inclusive Framework membership) cases in ending inventory

Users may customize their search by filtering among the indicators and selecting groups of jurisdictions.

The US MAP Program2

The US MAP program's inventory decreased in 2022. Almost half of the cases started before January 1, 2016, were closed in 2022: out of 109 open cases, 23 transfer pricing cases and 24 other cases were closed, leaving only 62 cases still open. For cases started on or after January 1, 2016, the US MAP program opened more transfer pricing cases than it closed in 2022 but closed more other cases than it opened: 106 transfer pricing cases and 101 other cases were closed, while 145 transfer pricing and 80 other cases were opened in 2022.

The US MAP program's inventory decreased slightly, from 687 open cases at the beginning of 2022 to 658 open cases at the end of 2022. For cases opened on or after January 1, 2016, transfer pricing cases were closed in an average of about 31 months, while other cases took an average of approximately 22 months from beginning to end.

Of the post-2015 transfer pricing cases open at the beginning of 2022, the highest number (161) by far was between the US and India. Canada and India had 35 or more open post-2015 other cases with the US at the beginning of 2022.

MAP statistics for all countries

  • Approximately 4% less MAP cases were closed in 2022 than in 2021 (transfer pricing cases (-0.5%) and other cases (-6.5%)). The 2022 year was a return to baseline for MAP case closures and was a significant increase from 2020 (almost +9%) and 2019 (+3.5%).
  • The number of new MAP cases opened in 2022 increased (almost +3%) compared to 2021.
  • MAP continues to be effective. Approximately 73% of both transfer pricing and other cases concluded in 2022 with their issues fully resolved (similar to 75% for transfer pricing cases and other cases in 2021). Approximately 2% of MAP cases were closed with no agreement in 2022, which is the same as 2021.
  • On average, the MAP cases closed in 2022 took 29 months for transfer pricing cases (a reduction from 32 months in 2021) and approximately 25.3 months for all cases (compared to 26 months in 2021).

2022 MAP awards

The OECD recognized the efforts of the following competent authorities:

  • Netherlands, for the shortest time in closing transfer pricing cases and New Zealand, for the shortest time in closing other cases
  • Canada, for the smallest proportion of pre-2016 cases in inventory
  • Luxembourg and Norway, for the most effective caseload management
  • Denmark and Ireland, for transfer pricing cases, and Germany and Ireland, for other cases, for the pairs of jurisdictions that dealt the most effectively with their joint caseload
  • Netherlands, for the most improved jurisdiction, which closed an additional 102 cases with positive outcomes compared to 2021, with increases for both transfer pricing and other cases

Implications

The overall increase in MAP cases is likely due to an increase in global tax disputes and a more accessible MAP process resulting in more taxpayers seeking relief. The 2022 statistics demonstrate that MAP remains an effective way to eliminate double taxation and taxation not in accordance with a treaty. That said, processing times are still well above many tax authorities' 24-month completion goal. For example, the US MAP program took 31 months, on average, to resolve its transfer pricing cases. MAP processing times in some jurisdictions have been significantly improved by the use of mandatory binding arbitration, which can be an effective tool to help improve case-processing times.

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Contact Information
For additional information concerning this Alert, please contact:
 
National Tax Department, International Tax and Transactions Services, Transfer Pricing
   • Ryan J. Kelly, Americas ITTS Tax Controversy Leader (Ryan.J.Kelly@ey.com)
   • Hiro Furuya (Hiroaki.Furuya@ey.com)
   • Ameet Kapoor (Ameet.Kapoor1@ey.com)
   • Carlos M. Mallo (Carlos.Mallo@ey.com)
   • Marla McClure (Marla.McClure@ey.com)
   • Donna McComber (Donna.McComber@ey.com)
   • Mike McDonald (Michael.McDonald4@ey.com)
   • Tom Ralph (Thomas.Ralph@ey.com)
   • Craig Sharon (Craig.Sharon@ey.com)
   • Kent Stackhouse (Kent.Stackhouse@ey.com)
   • Heather Gorman (Heather.Gorman@ey.com)
   • Giulia Di Stefano (Giulia.Di.Stefano@ey.com)
   • Carolina Figueroa (Carolina.Figueroa@ey.com)
   • Mitch Gibson (Mitch.Gibson@ey.com)

Published by NTD’s Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Maureen Sanelli, legal editor

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ENDNOTES

1 The replay is available here.

2 All information was taken from statistics released by OECD, which are available here.

 
 

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