Navigating transfer pricing complexity: standardisation, cooperation, and transparency

Jahr: 2026

Typ: Journal Publication

Fachzeitschrift: eJournal of Tax Research

Abstract

This study examines the drivers of perceived corporate transfer pricing complexity. Our analysis is based on survey data from multinational firms in the manufacturing sector. We identify three key strategies expected to reduce transfer pricing complexity and associated compliance costs while enhancing tax compliance: standardising transfer pricing documentation, strengthening cooperation between tax authorities, and increasing transparency through expanded information exchange among tax authorities and between tax authorities and firms. The findings provide evidence-based insights for international tax policy aimed at reducing transfer pricing complexity and associated administrative burdens for both firms and tax administrations.

Veröffentlichungsinformationen

TRR 266 researchers

Kim Alina Schulz Paderborn University

Caren Sureth-Sloane Paderborn University

Prof. Caren Sureth-Sloane is Professor of Business Administration, especially Business Taxation at Paderborn University and is the spokesperson of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency. She studies the effects of taxation on corporate decisions, especially on risky investments, as well as international business taxation and tax complexity. Since 2010, she has been Guest Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and Principal Investigator of the FWF Doctoral Program in International Business Taxation (DIBT). She received offers from the University of Graz, the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Goethe University of Frankfurt, and the University of Cologne. She is a member of the working group “taxes” and “transfer prices” of the Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, of which she has been vice president since 2019. In 2013 Caren Sureth-Sloane was appointed a full member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. She is also a member of the DFG-Senate since 2021. Sureth-Sloane received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Graz in 2021 and an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics at the University of Bremen in 2022.

External researchers

Stefan Greil

Eleonore Kaluza-Thiesen

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Cite this article as

Greil, S., Kaluza-Thiesen, E., Schulz, K. A., & Sureth-Sloane, C. (2026). Navigating transfer pricing complexity: Standardisation, cooperation, and transparency. eJournal of Tax Research, 24(1), 1–37.

Zugehörige Projekte

A05

Accounting for Tax Complexity

+ 8

B01

Investment Effects of Multidimensional Tax Regulation

+ 9