Educational Course Credit — Up to 12 CPE / CLE Credits Available
Conference
Day One
8:00 am – 9:00 am Registration and Breakfast
9:00 – 9:15 am Welcoming Remarks from Bloomberg BNA and Baker & McKenzie
9:15 - 10:30 am Challenges of Operating in Latin America
Russ Young, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Chicago), Moderator
Panelist: Moises Curiel-Garcia, Baker & McKenzie (Mexico City); Carlos Linares-Garcia, Baker & McKenzie (Monterrey); Oscar Molina, General Administrator for Large Taxpayers, SAT, Mexico
In Mexico, which has had a transfer pricing regime in place for years, companies must negotiate conflicts with the U.S. and Mexican rules in areas such as deductions for headquarters services. Other Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Ecuador, only recently adopted regulations to require documentation and provide for APAs. This session will focus on the most important issues faced by U.S. multinationals and practical take-aways for handling such issues in these jurisdictions.
10:30 – 10:45 am REFRESHMENTS
10:45 – 12:15 pm Intangibles Today: Planning and Development in the Face of Significant Global Challenges
John M. Peterson, Jr, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Palo Alto), Moderator
Panelists: Christopher Bello, Chief, Branch 6, Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), IRS; Michael McDonald, Financial Economist, Department of Treasury; Steven Hannes, McDermott Will & Emery LLP; Richard Boykin, Baker & McKenzie Consulting LLC (Washington, DC)
This panel will explore the treatment of intangibles in depth, including:
- attempts by revenue authorities to deem transfers of intangibles (e.g., valuable employees or work force, goodwill, or mere profit expectations) to have occurred under a restructuring
- comparison of the treatment of location savings relating to R&D in the OECD draft or UN Transfer Pricing Manual vs. the traditional arm’s-length standard
- treatment of goodwill and going concern value, including definitional issues, likely impact of pending section 367(d) regulations project, and U.S. legislative proposals
- impact of alternative legal structures on scope and valuation of compensable intangibles
- access to premium market or local user base as an intangible, including customer data and user-generated content
12:15 – 1:45 pm Luncheon & Keynote Address from Samuel Maruca, Transfer Pricing Director, Large Business and International, IRS
1:45 – 3:00 pm Reputational Risk
Leonard B. Terr, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Washington, DC), Moderator
Panelists: Craig Sharon, Principal, Ernst & Young LLP, Washington, DC; David Canale, Ernst & Young LLP; Michael Durst, Commentator; Carolyn Fanaroff, KPMG LLP; Richard M. Goldberg, RG Transfer Pricing Solutions.
“Reputational risk” is a growing concern for companies today. A panel moderated by Leonard Terr of Baker & McKenzie and featuring two former directors of the IRS’s APMA Program--Craig Sharon, now with Bingham McCutchen, and Michael Durst, now a frequent commentator on tax reform—will address the challenges faced by multinational corporations as they strive to be good corporate citizens at a time when even routine transactions are sometimes viewed suspiciously.
3:00 – 3:15 pm REFRESHMENTS
3:15 – 4:30 pm Economics of Transfer Pricing
Holly Glenn, Baker & McKenzie Consulting LLC (Washington, DC), Moderator
Panelists: Bill Morgan, Senior Economist, Transfer Pricing Operations, LB&I, IRS; Donna McComber, Economist, APMA, IRS; Timothy Reichert, Economics Partners, LLC; Phil Carmichael, Baker & McKenzie Consulting LLC (New York); Carl Herbert, Transfer Pricing Manager, Intel Corporation
This panel of experts will discuss cutting-edge issues with two government economists: IRS chief economist Bill Morgan and Donna McComber of the IRS's Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement Program. Topics covered at last year's panel included intangible property valuation, the potential use of comparable uncontrolled transactions for various intercompany transactions, and the treatment of loss-making entities in constructing arm's-length ranges.
4:30 – 4:45 pm REFRESHMENTS
4:45 – 6:00 pm APMA Developments: A Year Later, Do We Have Certainty Sooner?
Melinda Phelan, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Houston), Moderator
Panelists: Richard McAlonan, Director, APMA, IRS; Steven Wrappe, Ernst & Young LLP; Richard Slowinski, Baker & McKenzie (Washington, DC); Timothy M. McDonald, The Procter & Gamble Company, Vice President, Finance and Accounting, Global Taxes
With the move to LB&I, the IRS’s advance pricing agreement function underwent a major overhaul. This session will discuss developments over the past year and the future plans for the APMA program, including potential changes to the process for both APAs and double tax cases.
6:00 – 8:00 pm Bloomberg BNA I Baker & McKenzie Cocktail Reception
Join us for drinks and hors d’oeuvres at Baker & McKenzie’s offices overlooking the White House. Complimentary transportation provided from the Cosmos Club starting at 6:00 pm.
Day Two
8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast
9:00 – 10:00 am Challenges of Operating in the BRIC Countries
Gary Sprague, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Palo Alto), Moderator
Panelists: Vladimir Starkov, NERA Economic Consulting; Clarissa Machado, Baker & McKenzie (Sao Paulo); Shanwu Yuan, Baker & McKenzie (New York); Sanjiv Malhotra, BMR Advisors (India); Claudia Pimentel, Coordinator-General of Taxation of the Federal Revenue of Brazil
Panelists will tackle the challenges of operating in Brazil, where conflicts arise due to the country’s unique formulary approach to transfer pricing; Russia, which introduced comprehensive transfer pricing rules as recently as 2011; India, known for aggressive auditors and copious litigation; and China, where both taxpayers and the State Administration of Taxation must contend with the local tax bureaus and resource constraints.
10:00 – 10:15 am REFRESHMENTS
10:15 – 11:15 am Competent Authority Issues Sponsored by the Tax Management Educational Institute
Carol Dunahoo, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Washington, DC), Moderator
Panelists: Richard McAlonan, Director, APMA, IRS; Chris Raybould, Baker & McKenzie Consulting LLC (Toronto); Josef Hajek, Senior Vice President, Tax & Governmental Affairs, Tupperware Brands Corporation; Norman B. Richter, Vice President Taxes, Baxter International; Mikio Nakaune, Director, Office of Mutual Agreement Procedures, National Tax Agency, Japan
This session will discuss cutting-edge developments and current challenges in the competent authority process and best practices for resolving double tax cases, including how tools such as arbitration are working in the treaty relationships.
Tax Management Educational Institute is devoted solely to the conduct of responsible, professional seminars and conferences of the highest quality dedicated to issues of tax policy and practice and to the funding of related scholarly endeavors.
11:15 - 12:30 pm Latest Developments from the OECD
Mary Bennett, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Washington, DC), Moderator
Panelists: Joseph Andrus, Head of Transfer Pricing Unit, OECD; Caroline Silberztein, Baker & McKenzie (Paris); Carol Doran Klein, Vice President and International Tax Counsel of the US Council on International Business (USCIB)
The conference, which closely follows the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development meeting in Washington, DC, is pleased to include a session devoted to key Working Party No. 6 projects. Joseph Andrus, head of the OECD’s transfer pricing unit, will reveal the organization’s latest thinking on its controversial intangibles discussion draft, drafts on safe harbors and timing issues, and the project on base erosion. The session will discuss key components of these initiatives and what they mean for the future of transfer pricing.
12:30 - 2:00 pm Luncheon: Keynote Address from Michael Danilack, Internal Revenue Service Deputy Commissioner (International)
2:00 - 3:00 pm Hot Litigation Issues
A. Duane Webber, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Washington, DC), Moderator
Speakers: John Magee, Bingham McCutchen LLP; George M. Clarke III, Baker & McKenzie LLP (Washington, DC)
Transfer pricing litigation in the United States is on the rise. Pending Tax Court cases involve a variety of issues and raise various questions including whether: (1) in the context of Section 936 conversion cases, the IRS is re-litigating the old roundtripping case law under 1995 regulations; (2) the IRS can void APAs in connection with shift in general transfer pricing enforcement; (3) the 2003 stock option cost sharing regulations are valid; and (4) the IRS can successfully re-litigate the investor model under the 1995 buy-in regulations.
3:00 pm CLOSE OF CONFERENCE