The country by country reporting (CBC) in the Netherlands
As from January 1, 2016 specific Transfer Pricing Documentation requirements apply to qualifying Dutch entities, in accordance with Action 13 of the BEPS recommendations of the OECD.
In 2013 the OECD and G20 governments started the BEPS project (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) with the objective to revise the tax rules in such a way as to align them to developments in world economy and to ensure that profits are taxed where the actual economic activities were conducted. As a result, the OECD/G20 BEPS project set out 15 actions in the 2015 BEPS Report to achieve this objective.
Action 13 of this report relates to Country-by-Country ("CbC") reporting and additional transfer pricing documentation (so called Master file and Local file).
Since 2013, almost all OECD member states followed the BEPS recommendations, including the introduction of a CBC reporting mechanism. In the Netherlands this occurred effectively in 2017, with 2016 as the first book year to which the CBC Reporting obligations applied.
Country by Country (CbC) Reporting in the Netherlands
Multinational companies are required to report aggregate information on an annual basis with respect to the gobal allocation of income and taxes paid within the total group together with other indicators of the loclation of economic activity within the Group.
The so-called "country report" needs to be filed annually by the ultimate parent or surrogate parent entity with the tax office in their country or residence and is applicable to a multinational group with group consolidated revenues of more than EUR 750M in the year previous to the year for which the country report needs to be filed. The Dutch tax office (as the country of residence of the reporting entity) will then on its turn forward the country report to other tax offices of the jurisdictions in which the multinational is active.
Within the framework of BEPS 13 it was decided that a notification to the tax office in the various jurisdictions is required to identify the reporting entity. The notification by Dutch group entities should first occurred on the last day of the applicable first book year which was 31 December 2016 (which deadline was ultimately extended up to 1 September 2017).
The country report itself should be filed within 12 months after closing of the book year. So, for book year 2019 the filing deadline for the country report is 31 December 2020.
Additional transfer pricing documentation and reporting
Under the Dutch rules, multinational companies have the legal obligation to have a so-called Master file and Local file documented in its administration and to file it annually, if briefly summarized the multinational group has a consolidated revenue of at least EUR 50M. If the total group revenue is less than EUR 50M no reporting requirements apply.
The Master file provides an overview of the group including the nature of its activities, its general transfer pricing policy and its global allocation of income and expenses.
The Local file provides information that is relevant for the transfer pricing analysis of intercompany transactions entered into by the individual(local) group entities. The master file and local file need to be ready before the tax filing deadline of the relevant taxable year.
The obligation for the CBC reporting includes the obligation to provide information about the companies legal structure, relevant facts and circumstances, financial parameters and the transfer pricing policies and principles applied to intra-group transactions. It does not provide the obligation as such to provide a transfer pricing study, but the information contained in a transfer pricing study may cover at least a part of the information to be provided in the CBC reports.
Both the Notification and the CBC reports need to be filed digitally in a format described by the Dutch authorities.
The board of directors of Dutch entities which do no comply to the Dutch CBC rules can be held personally liable and risk to be fined up to EUR 820,000 or face criminal prosecution with a maximum prison sentence up to four years if there is intent or gross negligence.
We are gladly prepared to assist you with transfer pricing issues and the associated documentation and filing requirements.
If you wish to receive more information, please feel free to contact us via e-mail or call us at our office in Amsterdam +31 (0)20 5709440 or Rotterdam +31 (0)10 2010466.
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