Advanced Transfer Pricing: Financial Transactions, Intangibles and Services

Week 1: Transfer Pricing in a Changing International Environment

Explore the arm’s length principle, recent OECD developments, BEPS and Pillar Two interactions. Participants examine delineation of transactions, risk allocation, transfer pricing methods and emerging trends in audits and litigation.

Week 2: Financial Transactions – Structuring and Pricing Intra-group Financing

Examine OECD Chapter X, debt versus equity, financial risk control and financing alternatives. Learn how multinational groups structure financing and how tax authorities challenge these arrangements.

Week 3: Credit Ratings, Market Data and Loan Pricing

Develop practical skills in credit rating analyses, debt capacity and loan pricing using market data, including implicit support, notching methodologies and CUP analyses.

Week 4: Treasury, Cash Pooling and Financial Support

Study treasury operating models, in-house banks, cash pooling, guarantees, hedging activities and allocation of synergies.

Week 5: Intangibles – Ownership, DEMPE and Returns

Analyse DEMPE functions, hard-to-value intangibles, cost contribution arrangements and current disputes involving intellectual property.

Week 6: Valuation and Business Restructurings

Review valuation methodologies, royalty arrangements, profit split methods and cross-border restructurings.

Week 7: Intra-group Services and Global Operating Models

Explore OECD Chapter VII, management fees, shared service centres, allocation keys and anticipated OECD developments.

Week 8: Transfer Pricing Strategy, Dispute Prevention and Controversy

Examine policy design, APAs, litigation trends and strategies for managing transfer pricing throughout the lifecycle of a business.

Optional Advanced Transfer Pricing Labs

Masterclass 1: Benchmarking Transfer Pricing Transactions Using TP Catalyst

Participants learn how to perform and defend benchmarking studies using TP Catalyst. Topics include tested party selection, search strategies, NACE codes, comparability adjustments, statistical approaches, refresh studies and defence strategies. Practical exercises guide participants through building a complete benchmarking study.

Masterclass 2: Benchmarking Financial Transactions

Focus on loans, guarantees, treasury and cash pooling. Participants apply market data to determine arm’s length pricing using credit ratings, debt capacity analyses, bond and loan comparables, credit spreads and guarantee pricing methodologies. Practical use of Bloomberg, Capital IQ and other financial databases is included.

Masterclass 3: Intangible Valuation, Profit Split and Royalty CUP Analyses

Participants explore royalty benchmarking using external databases, valuation methodologies, relief-from-royalty approaches, profit split methods and hard-to-value intangibles. Practical exercises use external royalty databases to perform CUP analyses and value intellectual property.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply OECD transfer pricing principles to complex transactions
• Structure and price financial transactions
• Evaluate intangible arrangements and valuation methods
• Perform and review benchmarking studies
• Use market data and databases effectively
• Anticipate and manage transfer pricing disputes

This course is mainly taught by Mr Gaspar Lopes Dias, though there will be a number of guest speakers.

Gaspar Lopes Dias is a transfer pricing expert and partner at STI Taxand Cyprus with broad experience across financial operations, business reorganisations and IP structuring, advising multinationals and investment funds in diverse industries. Before joining Taxand Cyprus in 2021, he worked with Baker McKenzie in London, Loyens & Loeff in Luxembourg, and KPMG in Belgium. He holds degrees from Nova University Lisbon, Tilburg University, and the University of Oxford, and is a member of ADIT and IFA.

Philip Baker KC is a practicing barrister and King’s Counsel, practicing from chambers in Field Court, Gray’s Inn.  Additionally, he is Visiting Professor at the Law Faculty of Oxford University and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.

He specialises in international aspects of taxation, which covers both corporate and private client matters. He has advised and represented several governments on tax matters, and appeared as an expert in cases around the world.  He has a particular interest in taxation and the European Convention on Human Rights, is author of a book on Double Taxation Conventions, and editor of the International Tax Law Reports.  He was one of the General Reporters on the Practical Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights for the International Fiscal Association Congress in Basel in 2015, and is one of the directors of the Observatory on Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights.

Guglielmo Maisto founded Maisto e Associati in 1991. He is a Professor of International and Comparative Tax Law at the Università Cattolica di Piacenza. He is Honorary President of the International Fiscal Association (IFA), member of the Practice Council of New York University (NYU) Law’s International Tax Program and member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy. In 2023 he was appointed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance as member of the Technical Committee established for the implementation of the Italian Tax Reform. He is one of the independent persons of standing eligible as a member of the Advisory Commission provided for in the EU Directive on Tax Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the European Union. He was President of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and member of the Board of Trustees of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) in Amsterdam. He acted as a consultant to the Ministry for European Community Affairs and was a member of the EU Joint Transfer Pricing Forum. He is a member of several law societies and of the editorial board of various Italian and foreign tax legal journals. He usually participates as speaker to several annual tax conferences.

Aurelio Massimiano was admitted to the Association of Chartered Accountants in 2002. He obtained an LL.M. Degree in International Tax Law at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. He joined Maisto e Associati in 2005 after having worked with the International Tax Office of the Italian Revenue Agency. He has become partner since 2014. He often speaks at tax conferences and lectures on international tax matters for specialization courses at university level and for various other organizations. He is a member of the board of the Italian Branch of the International Fiscal Association (IFA). His areas of expertise are international taxation and transfer pricing.

Christos Theophilou is an international tax and transfer pricing partner at STI Taxand. Christos is a tax attorney with a strong accounting and international tax background who advises clients on complex international tax and transfer pricing matters, such as cross-border investments, private equity structuring, structured finance, IP structuring and international trade. Christos holds an MSc in Tax Law from Oxford University, a Bachelor's degree in Economics, and an LLB Law degree. He is a Chartered Accountant in England & Wales and has obtained the Advanced Diploma in International Taxation (ADIT) from the UK Chartered Institute of Taxation. Christos is a prolific contributor to various esteemed international tax publications, including IBFD, Tax Notes International, Bloomberg Tax, International Tax Review, Edward Elgar, and IFA. He is co-author of the book, "Pillar Two of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS – A Problem-solving Approach", contributing Chapter 2 Individual GloBE income or loss (Publication Date: September 2024). He is currently a member of the Τax Policy and Strategy committee of ICPAC.  Christos Theophilou also serves as a freelance lecturer for Tolley's (LexisNexis), the IBFD and QMUL, where he lectures on ADIT Paper 1 Principles of International Tax, Transfer Pricing, and Pillar 2. He is a frequent speaker at international tax conferences, sharing his extensive knowledge and insights with the global tax community.