Study on the feasibility of introducing safe harbour provisions in ECOWAS countries : (foreword, abstract and executive summary - the main report itself is only available in French)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the desirability and feasibility of introducing transfer pricing unilateral or bilateral safe harbours in ECOWAS countries. A safe harbour in a transfer pricing regime is an administrative simplification. It is in principle optional. It uses for instance predetermined margin rates to assess arm's length prices, alleviates or removes the documentary obligation, or exempts a category of taxpayers or transactions from the application of ordinary transfer pricing rules. This study presents a synthesis of the responses to a questionnaire. This questionnaire was sent to each of the 15 ECOWAS member states, as well as to several companies, international organisations and organisations of the civil society having a presence or activity in the sub-region. Those responses allowed the gathering of information regarding the macroeconomic, legislative and administrative transfer pricing environment in 11 ECOWAS member states. Drawing from these elements, this study examines from a tax policy and tax administration point of view the pros and cons in relation with the implementation of safe harbour rules in ECOWAS countries. It also makes proposals as to how these safe harbour schemes might be applied taking into account the specificities of ECOWAS countries.