BDO Spencer Steward Services
Learning, understanding and adding value
The BDO Spencer Steward firms in Southern Africa offer the full range of
accounting, auditing and business advisory services. Our clients come in all
shapes and sizes and each has varying needs for the expertise we offer. We
pride ourselves on taking the time to really get to know our clients and their
businesses. Because understanding what makes you tick ensures we can tailor
solutions to meet your specific needs.
This website highlights just two of the specialist tax services
provided by BDO Spencer Steward locally and by BDO Member Firms
worldwide. For more information on the other services provided by BDO Spencer
Steward please visit www.bdo.co.za.
BDO Spencer Steward provides consulting and support services to
company expatriates posted around the world. Our Expatriate Tax Service
relieves the tax compliance burden through:
- International tax planning
- Globally coordinated tax return preparation
- Global payroll capabilities
- Pre and Post assignment briefings
- Preparation of internal assignment policies
- Constantly updating changes
BDO Spencer Steward's unique Expatriate Extranet Partnership is a
private, secure website which is dedicated to sharing, tracking and
communicating international assignment information and provides company
administrators and expatriates with the core functions of:
- Online information databases of assignment information, permanent
information, contact information and stock options
- Notifications on start / end / change in assignment, on any
milestone and bulk notifications
- Document sharing, including both secure and general documents
- Date tracking of compliance documents, any event with milestones and
expatriate calendars
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Transfer Pricing Services |
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Transfer pricing is the term used to describe the way multinationals
move profits from high to low tax jurisdictions, or shift profits to countries
where they have large assessed losses. South Africa follows the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines on transfer pricing,
which require multinationals to transact with related parties (such as
subsidiaries) at arm's length - in other words, as if the company is dealing
with an independent company.
Establishing whether a transaction was done at arm's length is fraught
with complexity, and usually involves, as a start, comparing it with similar
transactions overseas.
Transfer pricing is important for larger multinationals. Until recently,
it was of limited interest to the middle market companies with international
operations, who may have been asked a few questions by the authorities.
However, times are changing and even the smallest companies with international
operations may find themselves facing questions as to their transfer pricing
practices.
What are the indicators of potential transfer pricing
exposure?
You may be exposed if you:
- sell goods to (or buy from) an overseas subsidiary or parent, without
having a logical, written explanation for how those prices were set;
- sell products to related parties at different prices than to third
parties;
- make losses in one or more of your group companies;
- provide various head office services for your overseas subsidiaries
without charge;
- own intellectual property, such as technology, know-how or trade
names, for which no charge is made to your overseas subsidiaries or parent;
- charge, or pay, a "round sum" amount to cover several different and
ill-defined services;
- make advances to your parent or overseas subsidiaries without market
related interest being charged;
- provide loan guarantees for your foreign parent or subsidiaries
without charge;
- show low margins for your industry;
- have sudden changes in your gross or net margins arising from changes
in pricing
BDO Spencer Steward's Transfer Pricing unit helps clients navigate what
is generally considered to be the hottest international tax issue facing
multinationals.