FRANCE TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS Contributed by: Caroline Silberztein, Benoît Granel, Jean-Baptiste Tristram and Laura Nguyên-Lapierre, Baker McKenzie
involved in this project include Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden. This project, disclosed in a press release from the Austrian Ministry of Finance on 27 February 2025, aims to provide panels that are perma - nently available to conduct the arbitration phase of MAPs swiftly and efficiently, assisted by a secretariat. There could be at least one panel dedicated to transfer pricing issues, and another to non-transfer pricing issues. It is intended that states will have the option to utilise their stand - ard arbitration procedures rather than referring to the International Tax Dispute Resolution Com - mission if they choose. This commission could also be used for MAPs opened under bilateral tax treaties as well as under the European Arbitration Convention. The working group on this project seeks to con - clude the negotiations of the Convention in 2025. Dispute prevention Progress in APA French APA statistics show an increase in resolved cases in recent years and a decrease in the average time taken to resolve these cases. • In 2024, 28 APAs were signed, similar to the 28 signed in 2023 and significantly higher than the 14 signed in 2022. • On average, the conclusion of an APA took 32 months in 2024, compared to 37 months in 2023 and 41 months in 2022. However, these averages reflect a wide range of situations. Some cases have required up to seven years to reach a resolution, highlighting the variabil - ity and complexity inherent in the process.
Advancements in APA guidelines The draft administrative guidelines outlined above include several updates with respect to APA, such as the requirement for taxpayers to engage with the competent authorities before filing a formal request. This preliminary meeting aims to discuss the appropriateness of an APA, the type and scope of information required for analysing the taxpayer’s transfer pricing policy, the anticipated timeline for the process and any questions related to the procedures for process - ing the request. The draft guidelines also recognise that for cer - tain specific cases, the competent authorities can accept covering past or current fiscal years (roll-back) in the APA, with this roll-back period not exceeding three years. According to the draft guidelines, such roll-back is particularly relevant in cases where a transfer pricing adjustment has been notified by one or both states, allow - ing for the resolution of double taxation without initiating a MAP or covering the interim period between the fiscal years covered by a MAP and the beginning of the APA. It is worth noting that, although the APA pro - cedure is independent of any tax audit pro - cedures (ie, there is “Chinese wall” between tax audit departments and the APA team), the French competent authorities may be required to provide documents to other departments of the French tax authorities (DGFiP) when the tax Another illustration of the notable recent devel - opments is the French competent authorities’ work to develop an APA charter for taxpayers. The APA charter is designed to strengthen the commitments between the taxpayer and the competent authorities in order to optimise the authorities initiate a tax dawn raid. Development of an APA charter
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