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One of the first lessons taught in accounting is the concept of ‘substance over form,’ which posits that transactions recorded and presented in financial statements must reflect the economic and factual substance over their legal form. It may be said that substance over form precedes double entry bookkeeping; it is the nexus of all financial transactions and serves as a guide for financial reporters in understanding, recording, and reporting thereof. Even in tax cases, equity and law always exalt substance over form. It is the nature of transactions that determines the taxability of transactions.

Bloomberg reports that business restructuring, specifically global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, reached $5.9 trillion in 2021, crushing the previous all-time high of $4.2 trillion set in 2015. In its article, Grant Thornton (GT) LLP said global M&A activity slowed in 2022 at a total value of $3.7 trillion, and most analysts are predicting that we could see a return to pre-2021 activity.

Foreign investors look at the Philippines as one of the most preferred destinations in South Asia for offshore manufacturing due to low labor cost, large and young labor pool, manufacturing capabilities, high English proficiency, and fiscal incentives, to name a few.

There are a variety of reasons why associated enterprises normally enter into commercial transactions with each other.

By definition, a lease is a contract whereby one of the parties (lessor) binds himself to give to another (lessee) the enjoyment or use of a thing for a certain price, and for a period that may be definite or indefinite.

The main objective of a benchmarking analysis in a Transfer Pricing Documentation (TPD) is to determine the arm’s length range of price or return.

In our previous article “BIR transfer pricing audits - the next wave?”, we have looked into Revenue Audit Memorandum Order (RAMO) No. 1-19 which is the current regulation set by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) when it comes to Transfer Pricing (TP) audits. The RAMO explained in detail how will the BIR conduct its audit of related party transactions.

If transfer pricing documentation (TPD) were a movie, the benchmarking analysis would be the plot. A well-crafted plot bears weight on the quality of a movie as much as a well-prepared benchmarking analysis bears weight on the quality of a TPD.