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Transfer Pricing Disputes in Cambodia – Are You Doing Enough to Defend Your Company? (Live Webinar)

Four years on from the introduction of transfer pricing (“TP”) guidelines in Cambodia, many Cambodian taxpayers continue to leave themselves exposed to potentially large tax reassessments by not proactively taking simple, cost-effective steps to enhance their defensible documentation. Furthermore, many Cambodian taxpayers engage tax advisers with limited or no TP experience in Cambodia when they are audited by the General Department of Taxation (“GDT”), increasing the likelihood of having to pay an excessive tax reassessment, due to their advisers not providing a tailored strategic approach specific to TP audits in Cambodia.

With this webinar, VDB Loi moves the conversation on TP in Cambodia forward, by using real case studies to demonstrate what many taxpayers continue to do wrong, the GDT’s enforcement approach, and how our specialist TP team, in conjunction with our renowned Tax Disputes team, helps clients obtain the fairest result possible during a TP audit, including multimillion dollar reductions from initial reassessments. Overall, we will highlight high risk areas, how risk can be reduced, issues that may be indefensible, issues where you can win, and why a strategic practical approach based primarily on the Cambodian TP guidelines and GDT enforcement trends is of the upmost importance.

Highlights

• Case Study 1: Management and Technical Service Fees – Case study of issues arising for a taxpayer whose head office had an outdated methodology for calculating management and technical service fees, and who also had not updated the original management and technical services agreement in over five years, thus making their defensible supporting documentation outdated also: We’ll cover what they should have done originally, the TP audit strategy that was implemented, what the initial tax reassessment was, and how the TP audit dispute concluded.

• Case study 2: Grey areas around loan interest rates – Case study of a financial institution with multiple related party debt transaction types, including inbound and outbound debt transactions: We’ll discuss what the taxpayer did, what the GDT challenged, the grey area on corresponding adjustments and its importance, and how the TP audit was resolved without any tax reassessment being due.

• Case Study 3: Whole of entity margin benchmarking – Case study of a taxpayer having an excessive margin deemed: We’ll cover why proper local file TP documentation is so important, why the taxpayer did not have it, how we helped to reactively defend the client and reduce avoidable tax leakage, what it cost the CFO, and what the taxpayer has done to rectify the situation for future years.

• Case Study 4: Network fee/commission rates – Case study of a logistics company where the network/commission fees charged to it by its related parties is being challenged by the GDT: We’ll discuss the importance of internal comparables and benchmarking, the GDT’s position, and the TP audit strategy approach undertaken.

• Case Study 5: Theoretical case study on conversion from FOB model factory to CMT model factory: We’ll cover the potential of a TP indemnity charge upon conversion, supporting documentation, important updates to your local file TP documentation, potential issues that may be faced in a TP audit, and how these can be proactively mitigated.

Program

TimeProgram
9:30am – 10:15amFirst 3 case studies
10:15am -10:30amModerated panel discussion on the first 3 case studies
10:30am – 10:45amBreak
10:45am – 11:15amFinal 2 case studies
11:15am – 11:30amModerated panel discussion on the final 2 case studies and any other questions.

Speakers

Kieron Gaffney
Director
VDB Loi

Kieron is an ACCA-qualified, international tax professional with 10 years of experience, including four years in Cambodia. Recognized as the leading transfer pricing specialist actually located in Cambodia, Kieron established and led KPMG’s transfer pricing practice in Cambodia. He has completed thousands of transfer pricing projects, including over 250 in Cambodia, such as preparing transfer pricing documentation in Cambodia and Vietnam for a Japanese-based banking group and saving millions of dollars in tax assessments on a Cambodian transfer pricing audit for a petroleum company. Kieron also has extensive and wide-ranging experience in M&As, IPO readiness exercises, cross-border transaction structuring, and tax regime advocacy across a range of industry sectors, with a particular focus on the energy, banking, real estate, and manufacturing sectors.

Sivila Khim
Partner
VDB Loi

An ACCA-qualified adviser, Sivila is an expert in Cambodian taxation with over 10 years of tax consulting experience, including several years with Big 4 firm KPMG.

At VDB Loi, he advises on tax structuring, disputes, and controversy, and conducts tax due diligence for clients across a range of industry sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, real estate, and garment manufacturing.

Sivila is also an associate member of the Kampuchea Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Auditors (KICPAA).

Sodeth Heng
Partner
VDB Loi

Sodeth is a Partner with more than 10 years of experience in tax consulting, tax audits, and corporate services, including with Big 4 firm KPMG. He manages VDB Loi’s tax disputes and controversy team, assisting clients to achieve successful outcomes to their tax audits and disputes. Sodeth has particular expertise in the manufacturing, telecom, financial services, and hospitality industries. 

Register for the Event

EVENT DETAILS

DATE:
November 4, 2021
TIME:
9:30am to 11:30am Phnom Penh Time
VENUE:
Online Webinar Event