Facebook and its Transfer Pricing Issues

In addition to Google having European leaders questioning the validity of its transfer pricing models and shifting profits from France, Facebook is also having IRS inquiries about its transfer pricing practices.

As noted in this Reuters' article, the IRS is looking at whether Facebook transferred its intangibles to its Irish subsidiary at too low of a price.  As stated in the Reuter's article, by raising the transfer price of the intangible to the Irish subsidiary, Facebook could have increased taxable profits in the US. The article quotes the complaint which alleges that Facebook may have understated the intangible by billions of dollars.  Facebook was advised in the transaction by Ernst & Young.

Recent news also indicated that Facebook has hired Baker & McKenzie to fight the IRS in this transfer pricing dispute.  As you will recall, Baker & McKenzie just won a major victory against the IRS in the Medtronic case.

In Medtronic, IRS challenged the profit split calculation paid to Medtronic's Puerto Rican subsidiary, by stating that the Puerto Rican subsidiary was nothing more than a contract manufacturer for Medtronic.  Medtronic claimed that its Puerto Rican subsidiary was instrumental in its efforts because it oversaw the quality of Medtronic's products.  The Court determined that IRS's method (valuing the Puerto Rican subsidiary as solely a contract manufacturer) was arbitrary and capricious and therefore IRS abused its discretion. However, the Court didn't stop there, it also stated that Medtronic's proposed model was a better approach (Medtronic chose a comparable transaction involving a competitor and argued that it was actually due a refund), but adjusted the model to better match Medtronic's business.  The Court ended up with the rate the parties had previously agreed to in prior settlements of their transfer pricing dispute.  See these articles: Wall Street Journal and BNA.

While it is refreshing to see that the IRS is challenging US Multinational Corporations at their use of transfer pricing, the question remains whether these challenges will be upheld.  See prior blogs regarding transfer pricing, inversions and earnings stripping.

If you know of a corporation undervaluing assets in its transfer pricing models, contact our firm to discuss filing a tax whistleblower claim.  IRS will pay an award between 15-30% of collected proceeds (tax, penalties, and interest) to whistleblowers who provide substantial and credible information used by the IRS in prosecuting the alleged tax violators.