Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price

An era of legal loopholes and opportunities for double non-tax, along with economic, social and political developments in modern history have driven significant changes in the international tax environment facing taxpayers with cross border interests. Transfer pricing and the arm's length calculatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gutsche, Janet
Other Authors: Hattingh, Johann
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Commercial Law 2023
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613203619381248
access_status_str Open Access
author Gutsche, Janet
author2 Hattingh, Johann
author_browse Gutsche, Janet
Hattingh, Johann
author_facet Hattingh, Johann
Gutsche, Janet
author_sort Gutsche, Janet
collection Thesis
description An era of legal loopholes and opportunities for double non-tax, along with economic, social and political developments in modern history have driven significant changes in the international tax environment facing taxpayers with cross border interests. Transfer pricing and the arm's length calculation is central to this issue. The proposition is that corporate tax evasion scandals and demanding government budget deficits have led to global shifts in the international tax environment. This has redefined the future of tax planning and may pose a threat to the rights of ethical and responsible international taxpayers intending to pay, only, their fair share of taxes. The Coca-Cola Company is one of the most prominent and best known international organisations. Its vast and intricate international business structure and transfer pricing challenges are universal, relatively easy to understand, and relatable to other corporate taxpayers. The company has a significant presence in South Africa and 2 out of the 8 subsidiaries that were involved in the transfer pricing cases are African (Lesotho and Egypt).1 These cases that have been proceeding since before 2017 are useful examples for anyone attempting to understand how the arm's length principle will be applied in the modern international tax era. There is insufficient transfer pricing case law, specifically in South Africa, where the prevailing transfer pricing guidelines are contained in a practice note2 that has remained unchanged since its introduction in 1999.3 The lack of precedent makes decisions regarding an appropriate arm's length price uncertain. It is necessary to analyse pertinent foreign case law that may provide guidance on how tax authorities and practitioners in South Africa may apply transfer pricing regulations. The aim is to adopt the case study method to analyse the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases in light of selected shifts in the international tax regime to explore what effect will be had on the determination of an arm's length price going forward.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37260
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:24.523Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Commercial Law
publisherStr Department of Commercial Law
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37260 The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price Gutsche, Janet Hattingh, Johann International Taxation An era of legal loopholes and opportunities for double non-tax, along with economic, social and political developments in modern history have driven significant changes in the international tax environment facing taxpayers with cross border interests. Transfer pricing and the arm's length calculation is central to this issue. The proposition is that corporate tax evasion scandals and demanding government budget deficits have led to global shifts in the international tax environment. This has redefined the future of tax planning and may pose a threat to the rights of ethical and responsible international taxpayers intending to pay, only, their fair share of taxes. The Coca-Cola Company is one of the most prominent and best known international organisations. Its vast and intricate international business structure and transfer pricing challenges are universal, relatively easy to understand, and relatable to other corporate taxpayers. The company has a significant presence in South Africa and 2 out of the 8 subsidiaries that were involved in the transfer pricing cases are African (Lesotho and Egypt).1 These cases that have been proceeding since before 2017 are useful examples for anyone attempting to understand how the arm's length principle will be applied in the modern international tax era. There is insufficient transfer pricing case law, specifically in South Africa, where the prevailing transfer pricing guidelines are contained in a practice note2 that has remained unchanged since its introduction in 1999.3 The lack of precedent makes decisions regarding an appropriate arm's length price uncertain. It is necessary to analyse pertinent foreign case law that may provide guidance on how tax authorities and practitioners in South Africa may apply transfer pricing regulations. The aim is to adopt the case study method to analyse the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases in light of selected shifts in the international tax regime to explore what effect will be had on the determination of an arm's length price going forward. 2023-03-06T09:20:02Z 2023-03-06T09:20:02Z 2022 2023-02-20T12:52:27Z Master Thesis Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37260 eng application/pdf Department of Commercial Law Faculty of Law
spellingShingle International Taxation
Gutsche, Janet
The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price
title_full The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price
title_fullStr The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price
title_full_unstemmed The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price
title_short The effect of the Coca-Cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm's length price
title_sort effect of the coca cola transfer pricing cases and selected shifts in the international tax regime on the determination of an arm s length price
topic International Taxation
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37260
work_keys_str_mv AT gutschejanet theeffectofthecocacolatransferpricingcasesandselectedshiftsintheinternationaltaxregimeonthedeterminationofanarmslengthprice
AT gutschejanet effectofthecocacolatransferpricingcasesandselectedshiftsintheinternationaltaxregimeonthedeterminationofanarmslengthprice