Current accounts, intragroup services, royalties: does capital proximity undermine the integrity of the financial statements?
In Tunisia, the multiplication of family groups, holding companies and subsidiaries of multinationals has normalised flows between related companies. Intercompany sales, advances in current accounts, recharges of expenses and brand royalties are all cited in this context. These operations drain the groups’ cash resources, but they also expose the financial statements to a risk too often underestimated, namely an accounting image that no longer reflects the economic reality of the transactions.
The regulatory framework
However, the Tunisian accounting framework has not ignored the issue. Accounting Standard NC 39, relating to information on related parties, has required since 1999 the disclosure in the notes of control relationships or notable influence, as well as the nature and amount of significant transactions, irrespective of any size criterion or cross-border character.
On the fiscal side, Article 48 septies of the Personal Income Tax and Corporate Tax Code, introduced by the Finance Law 2019 in the wake of the OECD BEPS project (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), establishes the arm’s length principle for transactions with non-resident related parties.
The Finance Law 2021 clarified the scope of the reporting obligation. In fact, companies whose annual turnover excluding tax reaches or exceeds 200 million dinars, and which conduct with non-resident related parties transactions exceeding 100,000 dinars, must file an annual transfer pricing declaration and establish a Master File and a Local File.
The joint notes from the General Tax Directorate Nos. 11 and 12 of 2020 detailed the recognized methods, comparable to the open market, cost plus, resale price, profit sharing, and the practical modalities of filing.
This framework, technically well developed, nonetheless leaves a substantial gray area. The vast majority of Tunisian groups, structured around family holdings operating exclusively in the local market, fall below the thresholds for transfer pricing declaration. Yet they remain fully subject to the NC 39 information obligation and, under ordinary law, exposed to adjustments for abuse of rights or hidden distributions. It is precisely in this interstice, between the fiscal threshold and the accounting obligation, that the least documented risk resides.
Mapping the accounting risk by type of operation
