After its resounding victory in Chevron, the ATO's resounding loss at first instance in Glencore has re-focussed attention on the legal and practical difficulties of applying Australia's transfer pricing laws. With the ATO's appeal scheduled to be heard in August, this session reminded attendees of the complex facts and issues in the case and critically examine the competing positions of the parties on appeal with reference to the case's potential wider implications.
Topics included: reconciling Chevron with Glencore, the concept of comparability, the concept of reconstruction, and the relationship between conditions and commercial and financial relations. These were discussed with reference to the legislation and the policy underpinning it, as well as what the appeal might mean in practice for transfer pricing practitioners.