Haslehner, Werner --- "Transfer pricing rules and State aid law" [2020] ELECD 176; in HJI Panayi, Christiana; Haslehner, Werner; Traversa, Edoardo (eds), "Research Handbook on European Union Taxation Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020) 430

Book Title: Research Handbook on European Union Taxation Law

Editor(s): HJI Panayi, Christiana; Haslehner, Werner; Traversa, Edoardo

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 20

Section Title: Transfer pricing rules and State aid law

Author(s): Haslehner, Werner

Number of pages: 20

Abstract/Description:

In this chapter, Werner Haslehner addresses the interaction of State aid law with transfer pricing rules. A number of high-profile investigations into transfer pricing arrangements approved by Member States’ authorities, including for companies such as Amazon, Apple and Starbucks, has sparked fierce debate over the existence of an EU principle of ‘arm’s length’ taxation and its possible content. The chapter examines this debate and issues pertaining to the relationship between State aid law and double taxation treaties, justifications on the basis of providing double tax relief or protection from tax avoidance and the scope of administrative discretion that State aid law needs to accord in such a highly technical area of national law as transfer pricing.