IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_5340.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Pricing the Transfer of Intellectual Property as a Problem of Second-Best Tax Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Wolfram F. Richter
  • Markus Breuer

Abstract

The adequate pricing of intellectual property (“IP”) for tax reporting is a largely unsettled issue. Transactional profit-based methods are on the rise although only rated as “methods of last resort” by the OECD. This paper focuses on regulated profit splitting and compares this transfer pricing rule with one allowing multinationals to price IP freely subject to the constraint that the price used for tax reporting is also used internally. The standard of comparison is global efficiency in R&D. The model is one of second best. It allows for internationally differentiated tax rates and non-deductible effort costs in the production of know-how.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfram F. Richter & Markus Breuer, 2015. "Pricing the Transfer of Intellectual Property as a Problem of Second-Best Tax Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 5340, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp5340.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karkinsky, Tom & Riedel, Nadine, 2012. "Corporate taxation and the choice of patent location within multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 176-185.
    2. Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Overesch, Michael, 2013. "Multinationals' profit response to tax differentials: Effect size and shifting channels," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-045, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Wellisch Dietmar, 2003. "Internationale Verrechnungspreismethoden, Neutralität und die Gewinne multinationaler Unternehmen / Transfer Pricing, Neutrality, and the Profits of Multinational Firms," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 223(3), pages 332-359, June.
    4. Lisa Evers & Helen Miller & Christoph Spengel, 2015. "Intellectual property box regimes: effective tax rates and tax policy considerations," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(3), pages 502-530, June.
    5. Jack Hirshleifer, 1956. "On the Economics of Transfer Pricing," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29, pages 172-172.
    6. Marshall Reinsdorf & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2009. "International Trade in Services and Intangibles in the Era of Globalization," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number rein09-1.
    7. John Mutti & Harry Grubert, 2009. "The Effect of Taxes on Royalties and the Migration of Intangible Assets Abroad," NBER Chapters, in: International Trade in Services and Intangibles in the Era of Globalization, pages 111-137, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2014. "What Do We Know about Base Erosion and Profit Shifting? A Review of the Empirical Literature," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 35, pages 421-448, December.
    9. Rachel Griffith & Helen Miller, 2014. "Taxable Corporate Profits," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 35, pages 535-557, December.
    10. Fuest, Clemens & Spengel, Christoph & Finke, Katharina & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Nusser, Hannah, 2013. "Profit shifting and 'aggressive' tax planning by multinational firms: Issues and options for reform," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-078, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Grubert, Harry, 2003. "Intangible Income, Intercompany Transactions, Income Shifting, and the Choice of Location," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 56(1), pages 221-242, March.
    12. Wellisch Dietmar, 2003. "Internationale Verrechnungspreismethoden, Neutralität und die Gewinne multinationaler Unternehmen / Transfer Pricing, Neutrality, and the Profits of Multinational Firms," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 223(4), pages 464-478, August.
    13. Søren Bo Nielsen, 2014. "Transfer Pricing: Roles and Regimes," CESifo Working Paper Series 4694, CESifo.
    14. John H. Dunning, 1977. "Trade, Location of Economic Activity and the MNE: A Search for an Eclectic Approach," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Bertil Ohlin & Per-Ove Hesselborn & Per Magnus Wijkman (ed.), The International Allocation of Economic Activity, chapter 12, pages 395-418, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production II: Tax Rules," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 261-278, June.
    16. Griffith, Rachel & O'Connell, Martin & Miller, Helen, 2011. "Corporate taxes and the location of intellectual property," CEPR Discussion Papers 8424, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production: I--Production Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 8-27, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wolfram F. Richter, 2017. "Taxing Intellectual Property in the Global Economy: A Plea for Regulated and Internationally Coordinated Profit Splitting," CESifo Working Paper Series 6564, CESifo.
    2. Richter, Wolfram F. & Breuer, Markus, 2016. "Pricing the Transfer of Intellectual Property: A Plea for Regulated and Internationally Coordinated Profit Splitting," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145621, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Griffith, Rachel & Miller, Helen & O'Connell, Martin, 2014. "Ownership of intellectual property and corporate taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 12-23.
    4. Lisa Evers & Helen Miller & Christoph Spengel, 2015. "Intellectual property box regimes: effective tax rates and tax policy considerations," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(3), pages 502-530, June.
    5. Ulrich Schreiber, 2015. "Investitionseffekte des BEPS Aktionsplans der OECD," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 67(1), pages 102-127, February.
    6. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2014. "What Do We Know about Base Erosion and Profit Shifting? A Review of the Empirical Literature," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 35, pages 421-448, December.
    7. Bodo Knoll & Nadine Riedel, 2015. "Transfer Pricing Laws," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(4), pages 22-26, 01.
    8. Pranvera Shehaj & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2024. "Corporate income tax, IP boxes and the location of R&D," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(1), pages 203-242, February.
    9. Bofinger, Peter & Schnabel, Isabel & Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Wieland, Volker, 2014. "Mehr Vertrauen in Marktprozesse. Jahresgutachten 2014/15 [More confidence in market processes. Annual Report 2014/15]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201415, February.
    10. Kayis-Kumar, Ann, 2015. "Thin capitalisation rules: A second-best solution to the cross-border debt bias?," MPRA Paper 72031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2020. "Tax Policy for Innovation," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation and Public Policy, pages 151-188, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Evers, Maria Theresia & Meier, Ina & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "Country-by-country reporting: Tension between transparency and tax planning," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-008, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Gaessler, Fabian & Hall, Bronwyn H. & Harhoff, Dietmar, 2021. "Should there be lower taxes on patent income?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    14. Cyril Chalendard, 2016. "Shifting-Profits through Tax Loopholes. Evidence from Ecuador," CESifo Working Paper Series 6240, CESifo.
    15. Cooper, Maggie & Nguyen, Quyen T.K., 2020. "Multinational enterprises and corporate tax planning: A review of literature and suggestions for a future research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    16. Kari Seppo, 2015. "Corporate tax in an international environment – Problems and possible remedies," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2015(1), pages 1-16, September.
    17. Bodo Knoll & Nadine Riedel, 2015. "Transfer Pricing Laws," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(04), pages 22-26, January.
    18. Holzmann, Carolin Maria, 2016. "Transfer pricing as tax avoidance under different legislative schemes," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145929, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2015:i:4:p:19149986 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Finke, Katharina & Fuest, Clemens & Nusser, Hannah & Spengel, Christoph, 2014. "Extending taxation of interest and royalty income at source: An option to limit base erosion and profit shifting?," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-073, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    21. Wolfram F. Richter, 2022. "Taxing Multinational Enterprises: A Theory-Based Approach to Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series 10119, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    transfer pricing rule; intellectual property; profit split method; allocational efficiency; second-best policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.