The MAP APA will be in the form of a written document and the content, layout etc. will be decided by the participating competent authorities. In order to achieve the objective of providing a clear record of the mutual agreement and for the agreement to be effectively implemented, the mutual agreement should contain the following minimum information or should refer to where this information is provided in the MAP APA proposal documentation:
a) The names and addresses of the enterprises that are covered by the arrangement;
b) The transactions, agreements or arrangements, tax years or accounting periods covered;
c) A description of the agreed methodology and other related matters such as agreed comparables or a range of expected results;
d) A definition of relevant terms which form the basis of applying and calculating the methodology (e.g. sales, cost of sales, gross profit, etc.);
e) Critical assumptions upon which the methodology is based, the breach of which would trigger renegotiation of the agreement;
f) Any agreed procedures to deal with changes in the factual circumstances which fall short of necessitating the renegotiation of the agreement;
g) If applicable, the agreed tax treatment of ancillary issues;
h) The terms and conditions that must be fulfilled by the taxpayer in order for the mutual agreement to remain valid together with procedures to ensure that the taxpayer is fulfilling those terms and conditions;
i) Details of the taxpayer’s obligations to the tax administrations as a result of the domestic implementation of the MAP APA (e.g. annual reports, record keeping, notification of changes in critical assumptions etc.); and
j) Confirmation that, in order to secure the confidence of taxpayers and competent authorities in a MAP APA process in which information is exchanged freely, all information submitted by a taxpayer in a MAP APA case (including the identity of the taxpayer) will be protected from disclosure to the fullest extent possible under the domestic laws of the respective jurisdictions and all information exchanged between the competent authorities involved in such a case will be protected in accordance with the relevant bilateral tax treaty and applicable domestic laws.