Overview of the transfer pricing (TP) rules in Uzbekistan

23 March 2023
Tax Messenger
Section VI "Tax Control in Relation to Transfer Pricing" of the Tax Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter, "the TP rules") came into force on 1 January 2022. The TP rules define the term "Controlled Transactions" and regulate the processes of the preparation of TP documentation, the submission of a Notification of Controlled Transactions (hereinafter, "Notification"), the conclusion of advance pricing agreements (hereinafter, "APAs"), the conduct of TP audits, and so on.

The State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter, "the Tax Authorities") has the right to request TP documentation from taxpayers in relation to tax periods commencing from 2022[1].

Presented below is an overview of the key provisions of the TP rules, which are broadly consistent with the main international TP principles laid down in the Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ("the OECD Guidelines").

Please note that our comments are based exclusively on our interpretation of the provisions of the TP rules, information available to us immediately after the entry into force of the TP rules and our experience and knowledge of international TP principles.
General provisions

Transfer pricing refers to the creation of commercial and/or financial conditions and/or results of activities of related parties that differ from the conditions and results that would be obtained by independent persons in comparable economic conditions.

Any income that could have been received by one of the parties to a transaction but was not received by it as a result of transfer pricing must be recognised by that party to the transaction.

Controlled transactions include not only transactions between related persons but also certain kinds of transactions between unrelated persons.

TP audits by tax authorities may check the proper calculation and payment of the following taxes:

  • Profits tax
  • Personal income tax
  • Subsurface use tax
  • Value added tax and
  • Excise tax.
Read more
Related persons

According to Article 37 of the Uzbek Tax Code, related persons are generally defined as persons who, by virtue of the relationship between them, are able to influence:

  • The conditions of transactions concluded
  • The results of transactions and
  • The economic results of activities.

The TP rules set out 11 formal criteria based on which companies and individuals may be considered as related persons.

The main criterion is ownership interest, where one legal entity directly and/or indirectly owns an interest in another legal entity and that interest amounts to more than 20%.

The TP rules also establish that, where there is evidence of influence on the economic activities of legal entities or individuals, a court may also declare them to be related persons without applying the 11 formal criteria.

Controlled transactions

The TP rules specify the following two kinds of controlled transactions:

  • Controlled transactions between related persons and
  • Cross-border controlled transactions.

Cross-border controlled transactions include transactions between:

  1. Related persons (without restrictions)
  2. Unrelated persons:
  • Involved in foreign trade in globally traded commodities falling in one or more of the following commodity groups[2]: Non-ferrous metals, Precious metals, Mineral fertilisers, Hydrocarbons and petroleum products and Cotton fibre and cotton yarn.
  • One of which is located in an offshore jurisdiction[3].

Controlled transactions between related persons that do not fall within the category of cross-border transactions include transactions between tax residents of Uzbekistan where at one of the following conditions is met:

  1. Income[4] from transactions (the sum of transaction prices) for the calendar year exceeds 5 billion soms[5]; Income[6] from transactions for the calendar year exceeds 500 million soms[7] and one party to the transaction:
  • applies a special tax regime or is a participant in a special economic zone, while the other parties to the transaction include a person that does not apply special tax regimes; or
  • is exempt from paying profits tax or applies a reduced tax rate or other tax reliefs, while the other parties to the transactions include a person that is not exempt from paying that tax and does not apply reliefs; or
  • has extracted a tradable item that is a mineral if an ad valorem rate of subsurface use tax is set for that mineral.

A chain or set of transactions involving the sale of goods/services that take place with the involvement (or mediation) of persons not related to the first seller or the last buyer of those goods/services will also be treated as a transaction between related persons if that seller and that buyer are related persons. In such cases, the existence of the third parties[8] with whose involvement (mediation) that chain or set of transactions takes place is disregarded.

The tax authorities may also apply to a court for a transaction to be declared controlled if there are reasonable grounds to believe that it forms part of a group of similar transactions concluded with the object of preventing the transaction from meeting the criteria of a controlled transaction.

TP methods

The TP rules provide for the use of five TP methods which are widely used in international practice.

The TP rules set the following order for the use of TP methods (a combination of the methods is also admissible):

  1. The comparable uncontrolled price (CUP) method;
  2. The resale price method;
  3. The cost plus method;
  4. The comparable profits method; and
  5. The profit split method.

The CUP method has priority. If the CUP method cannot be used or using it would not enable a reasonable conclusion to be drawn about whether or not a controlled transaction is priced at market level, it is necessary to use whichever of the 5 methods best enables a reasonable conclusion to be drawn about whether or not the transaction price is consistent with market prices.

Market price / profit margin range

The market price / profit margin range is calculated using a statistical approach similar to the approach used in most OECD countries.

At least one comparable transaction is needed when using the CUP method to determine the market price range, while there should ideally be at least four comparable organisations when using the resale price, cost plus and comparable profits methods to determine the market profit margin range.
Where fewer than four comparable organisations are available, it is permissible to widen the search boundaries for the identification of functionally comparable companies. In addition, the ownership interest threshold may be raised from 25% to 50% in order to facilitate the search for further comparable companies.

Where the price of a controlled transaction is below the lowest value or above the highest value of prices / profit margins, that price will be deemed not within the market range. In this case a price equal to the average value of the market price / profit market range will be taken for taxation purposes.

It is also possible to make adjustments to profit margin figures to take account of differences in levels of receivables, payables and inventories between comparable companies and the taxpayer.

Taxpayers have the right to adjust their tax obligations independently where prices used in a controlled transaction differed from market prices. Making this adjustment must not cause the amount of tax payable to the budget to be reduced or the amount of losses to be increased.

However, the TP rules do not allow taxpayers to adjust prices or mark-ups themselves where the taxpayer’s profit margin is found to be outside the market profit margin range. This may prove a significant limitation for taxpayers that use the comparable profits or resale price methods and may result in double taxation for those multinational companies that would be forced to make such adjustments in other jurisdictions.

Information sources

Both tax authorities and taxpayers must use only publicly accessible information sources in assessing whether transactions are priced at market level.

Information constituting tax secrets and other information that is restricted from disclosure in accordance with Uzbek law (other than information about the taxpayer being inspected) cannot be used in assessing whether prices are at market level.

The following information sources may be used for these purposes:

  1. Information on prices and quotations on exchanges of the Republic of Uzbekistan and foreign exchanges;
  2. Customs statistics relating to the foreign trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan which is published or presented upon request by the State Customs Committee of the Republic Uzbekistan;
  3. Information on prices and exchange quotations obtained from the following information sources: Authorised bodies, Official information sources of foreign states or international organisations or Published and/or publicly accessible information sources and information systems.
  4. Data published by price reporting agencies;
  5. Information on transactions concluded by the taxpayer.

If the above information is unavailable/insufficient, the following information may be used:

  1. Information on prices (price fluctuation limits) and quotations contained in published and/or publicly accessible information sources and information systems;
  2. Information obtained from financial and statistical reports of legal entities, including information published in publicly accessible information sources of the Republic of Uzbekistan or foreign states and/or contained in publicly accessible information systems and on official websites of legal entities of the Republic of Uzbekistan and/or foreign legal entities. Data of foreign organisations may be used only if it is not possible to use data of legal entities of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
  3. Information on the market value of appraised assets as determined as a result of an independent valuation;
  4. Other information that may be used to determine the market price and profit margin range in accordance with the permitted TP methods.
Notification

Taxpayers are obliged to submit information on controlled transactions concluded by them to the Tax Authorities. That information must be submitted to the Tax Authorities no later than the deadline for filing annual financial statements for the calendar year in which the controlled transactions took place — usually by 15 February[9].

Information on controlled transactions must include the subject of the transaction, the parties to the transaction and the amount of income (expenses) received (incurred) as a result of the controlled transaction.

The form of the Notification and the procedure for completing and submitting it are approved in Appendix 2 to Decree No. 111 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 10.03.2022.

The Notification is submitted to the Tax Authorities by completing the relevant form on the official website of the Tax Authorities manually or by uploading a pre-completed notification file MS Excel format.

TP documentation requirements

In accordance with the TP rules, taxpayers are obliged to prepare in a form of their choosing documentation explaining the rationale behind the pricing method used in controlled transactions. The documentation may be prepared in Uzbek or in Russian and Uzbek.

The documents in question must be submitted by the taxpayer to the tax authorities within 30 calendar days of receiving a request. However, that request may be made no earlier than 1 June of the year following the calendar year in which the controlled transactions took place.

For all transactions with related persons, taxpayers must prepare documentation in the form traditionally used in states with developed TP regimes, which must include:

  • A functional analysis of the parties to the controlled transaction (where such analysis is carried out by the taxpayer);
  • Information on the taxpayer’s organisational structure;
  • A description of the terms of the transaction;
  • Reasoning for the choice of TP method and information sources;
  • The taxpayer’s calculation of the market price range and adjustments to the tax base.

Documentation will not be requested, but may be submitted by taxpayers voluntarily, for transactions:

  • That are not controlled;
  • In which prices correspond to regulated prices or requirements imposed by anti-monopoly authorities (taking into account the specific rules regarding such transactions established by the TP rules);
  • Involving securities and financial futures instruments; and
  • In relation to which an APA has been concluded.

APAs

The TP rules now include provisions on APAs. Starting from 1 January 2022, a taxpayer may file an APA application setting out the procedure for the application of prices or pricing methods in a controlled transaction. It is also explained that the right to conclude APAs is conferred on taxpayers classified as major taxpayers.

An APA application must be considered within not more than nine months. Agreements will be concluded for up to 3 years, extendable for a further 2 years.

The TP rules also allow the conclusion of a bilateral APA with the involvement of a tax authority of a foreign state in relation to a cross-border transaction[10] if one of the parties to the transaction is a tax resident of a foreign state with which a double taxation treaty has been signed.

An APA will take effect from 1 January of the year following the year in which it is signed (unless otherwise provided in the agreement). However, it may be extended to cover the period from the first day of the calendar year in which the taxpayer filed the APA application with the Tax Authorities until the effective date of the agreement.

TP audits

During a TP audit the Tax Authorities have the right to request information from all the parties to a transaction, not only the entity being audited.

A decision to carry out a TP audit may be issued no later than 4 years from the date of receipt of a Notification or a notice from a territorial tax authority if:

  1. In the course of carrying out a tax audit or tax monitoring, controlled transactions are found to have taken place that were not included in the Notification, or
  2. A controlled transaction is identified as a result of a tax audit.
In this regard, TP audits may examine controlled transactions carried out over a period not exceeding the 5 calendar years preceding the year in which the decision to carry out the audit is made.

A TP audit must be carried out within a period not exceeding 6 months; however, in exceptional cases that period may be extended to 12 months by decision of the head (deputy head) of a Tax Authority.

Where there is a need for information to be obtained from foreign tax authorities, for expert examinations to be carried out and/or for documents submitted by a taxpayer in a foreign language to be translated into Uzbek or Russian, the period allowed to carry out an audit may be extended by:

  • A period not exceeding 6 months and
  • A further 3 months if the Tax Authority was unable to obtain requested information from foreign tax authorities within the 6-month period.

Penalty sanctions


According to Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the non-payment or underpayment of tax owing to deliberate undercharging in controlled transactions results in the imposition of a fine equal to 40% of unpaid tax.


No fines are prescribed for the non-submission of a Notification or TP documentation.


Permanent establishment


The TP rules also provide for TP audits to be carried out in relation to foreign legal entities whose activities in the Republic of Uzbekistan give rise to a permanent establishment.


In conclusion


The TP rules as currently worded lack details regarding certain matters, such as:


  • The ability for compensating adjustments to be made by a party to a transaction in relation to which an adjustment of the tax base has already been made by the other party
  • The formula for calculating the "average" value of the market price/profit margin range for the purpose of subsequently determining a price that is consistent with the market level for taxation purposes
  • Provisions exempting a taxpayer from fines
  • The need for documentation to be prepared by members of multinational enterprise groups (MNEs):
  1. Notification of membership of an MNE
  2. Country-by-country information for an MNE, including Global documentation (Master File), National documentation of an MNE member (Local File) and Country-by-country report of an MNE.
  • The approach to analysing transactions involving intangibles under the DEMPE framework[11] and
  • The procedure for concluding bilateral APAs.

Since Uzbekistan joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in 2022[12], and will therefore take part in all the Forum’s initiatives, we think the TP rules will most likely be updated in accordance with the OECD Guidelines.


How can B1 help?


In light of the TP rules in Uzbekistan B1 is ready to provide the following support:


  • Analysing current transactions involving companies in Uzbekistan and reviewing and assessing TP risks;
  • Developing and implementing TP policies and models with the involvement of companies from Uzbekistan;
  • Preparing templates of TP documentation;
  • Preparing Notifications;
  • Carrying out benchmarking studies of prices/profit margins in relation to Controlled Transactions;
  • Transfer pricing advice and planning for new transactions involving companies from Uzbekistan;
  • Assistance in concluding APAs.

Authors:
  • Ruslan Radzhabov
    Partner
  • Vasilii Anishchenko
    Associate Partner
  • Yuriy Mikhailov
    Director
  • Olga Lapitskaya
    Assistant Manager
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