U.S. Federal Appeals Court Holds IRS Must Apply Definition of Intangibles under Prior Regulations in Amazon Transfer Pricing Case

On 16 August 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its decision (opinion) on a transfer pricing case concerning whether buy-in payments made in 2005 and 2006 by a Luxembourg subsidiary of Amazon under a cost sharing arrangement should include compensation for residual-business assets, such as the value of workforce in place, going concern value, and goodwill.

One of the main factors of the case was the definition of intangibles under the transfer pricing regulations …