The OECD Guidelines formulated so-called “arm’s length principle”. This is the principle of taxation of interdependent companies.
According to this rule, tax liabilities are calculated on the basis of market prices for transactions between interdependent taxpayers, as if companies were independent (“at arm’s length”). This principle has been adopted as a way to protect the state in obtaining taxes.
W.Cheng and D. Zhang comment on this international legal provision and emphasize that the attempt to regulate profits by specifying the terms and conditions to be achieved between independent enterprises in comparable transactions and under comparable circumstances (i.e., in “comparable noncontrolled transactions”) according to the “arm’s length principle” ensures the compliance with the approach to satisfying TNC members as if they were separate entities, and not inseparable parts of a single unified business. This is due to the fact that in such a case, the attention is focused on the nature of the transaction between these members and under the conditions that differ from those that will be recognized in comparable uncontrolled transactions. Such analysis of controlled and uncontrolled transactions is the core of applying the “arm’s length principle” [8].
It is necessary to note that the “arm’s length principle” can be implemented differently in national legislation. Taking into account this fact, there are several variants used by states. Firstly, this is the approach when this principle is explicitly expressed and normatively defined in the national legislation. Secondly, the principle under consideration may be expressed, but formally undefined in regulatory legal acts. Thirdly, there may be the situation when this principle is not expressed in the legislation, but related legal doctrines are applied. Fourth, some states do not legally enshrine the principle under consideration in law, but at the same time they empower tax authorities to adjust the income (profit) of taxpayers in order to display it correctly [8].