Value in the Eye of the Beholder: The Valuation of Intangibles for Transfer Pricing Purposes‪.‬

I. INTRODUCTION Can one put a price on the priceless? (1) The practical answer must be yes since taxpayers are required according to our transfer pricing rules to price (or assign value to) intangibles they transfer to related parties. (2) The thriving valuation industry that focuses on intangibles clearly indicates a belief that this is the case. (3) In fact, many countries, including essentially all of the major economies, adopted transfer pricing legislation similar to that of the United States. (4) Compliance with these rules relies heavily on accurate valuation of the transferred intangibles. This article evaluates to what extent this practice of valuation is accurate, and whether it can support this widespread confidence. In light of this evaluation, the article assesses the desirability of our current transfer pricing regime.