Transfer Pricing and the Ford Italia Case
/Autore: Piergiogio Valente
The last decade saw a significant increase of transfer pricing controversies as well as assessments issued by the tax authorities by virtue of the application of Article 110, Paragraph 7, of the TUIR. Notwithstanding the increasing trend of proceedings instituted by the authorities, and subsequently subjected to close examination by the Courts and the Supreme Court, a consolidated Court view that may effectively provide interpretative guidelines in the reconstruction of intercompany transactions has yet to be identified. Theories endorsed by Judges on transfer pricing matters were based on the certainty that the arm’s length value must be determined through methods indicated in international guidelines (i.e., OECD Guidelines), while taking into account the fact that national tax rules contained in the TUIR impose the utilisation of the arm’s length value to identify the price within a free competition framework. By virtue of this, case law has often quashed assessments issued by the authorities since they were not deemed consistent with factual circumstances.
