Michael Durst endorses draft OECD suggestion of utilizing safe harbour transfer-pricing rules to avoid "donnybrooks of detailed factual analysis"

Michael Durst, a former director of the IRS APA program, has endorsed a suggestion, in a recent discussion draft respecting proposed changes to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, that countries consider plaicing presumptive weight behind safe harbour ranges of arm’s-length margins and markups for benchmarking the incomes of relatively uncomplicated business operations.  He states:

Long-standing experience has now made clear that requiring tax administrations to engage with taxpayers in case-by-case donnybrooks of detailed factual analysis, without the guidance of clear presumptions of some kind, simply is not realistic; requiring this approach has proven to be a recipe for tax anarchy rather than tax enforcement.

Neal Armstrong.  Summary of Michael C. Durst, "The OECD Discussion Draft on Safe Harbors – And Next Steps," Tax Notes International, 13 August 2012, p. 647, under Treaties - Art. 9.