Manual on the Handling of Multilateral Mutual Agreement Procedures and Advance Pricing Arrangements : Enhancing Tax Certainty

Multilateral Mutual Agreement Procedures (MAPs) and Advance Pricing Arrangements (APAs) offer greater tax certainty to both taxpayers and tax administrations where different parts of the same transaction or arrangement involving a multinational enterprise are covered by multiple bilateral tax treaties. However, most jurisdictions have limited experience in coordinating bilateral MAP and APA cases to offer multilateral certainty. In accordance with its commitment to advancing the tax certainty agenda, the FTA MAP Forum, in conjunction with the FTA Large Business International Programme, has developed the Manual on the handling of Multilateral MAPs and APAs (MoMA) which is intended as a guide to multilateral MAP and APA processes from both a legal and procedural perspective. The MoMA provides tax administrations and taxpayers with basic information on the operation of such procedures and suggests different approaches based on the existing practices of jurisdictions, without imposing a set of binding rules. The MoMA allows tax administrations to explore whether implementation of these procedures is appropriate considering the circumstances of their own MAP and APA programmes and to consider whether the guidance therein may be incorporated in their domestic guidance on MAP or APA processes to provide additional clarity.