Hello everyone. Welcome to the next edition of the PWC TaxBite podcast. Today we will talk about

COVID and transfer pricing. Two topics linked to each other, but not easy, I think. And that's why I have

invited Jonas, Alexei and Stefan,

all part of our global tax and trans pricing team in Belgium here,

to have a discussion today on the latest developments there.

And there are some interesting documents, I understand,

that have been released in December.

So that will be the starting point for our discussion today.

And perhaps to kick off, Alexei, may I ask you to just introduce and give the latest status here on the COVID and transfer pricing. Thank you, Peter. Indeed, maybe briefly I'll set the

scene. So the OECD released in December a guidance document on the transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And the first thing I'm hearing now from our clients is why so late?

It is true that now managers are very busy and focusing on their closing of the financial year or half year.

And addressing this guidance now is clearly a challenge. But apart from that, I also want to point out several merits in this document.

One, it's a consensus document.

So we should not forget, like, that long time ago,

and I mean before the BEPS era,

the OECD guidelines were also a consensus documents,

and the last version is not representing any more consensus.

So I think it's positive to see the OECD bringing back an unified perspective.

Two, the document has been published in the context of the COVID pandemic,

but the guidance is actually useful for many different types of disruptions in supply chain.

So it's good to have this guidance for the future.

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