On 11 February 2020, the OECD published its final Transfer Pricing Guidance on Financial Transactions, as an amendment to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines.

NERA experts Amanda Pletz and Ralph Meghames and former Senior Consultant Dr. Georg Dettmann provide comments on the main items discussed in the OECD documents, including:

• Accurate delineation of financial transactions;
• Treasury functions, under which the OECD also covers considerations for intercompany loans and cash pooling arrangements;
• Financial guarantees; and
• Captive insurance.

NERA experts argue that the most important point made in the Guidance is that the OECD requires a comprehensive analysis of the commercial and financial relations among the parties involved in the transaction. In light of the recent guidance, they recommend that taxpayers review and update their existing documentation of financial transactions to ensure it complies with the new guidelines.