Part I. The APMA Program – Structure, Composition, and Operation

[Pub. L. 106–170 § 521(b)(2)(A)]

In February of 2012, the former APA Program was moved from the Office of Chief Counsel to the Office of Transfer Pricing Operations within the Large Business and International Division of the IRS and combined with the U.S. Competent Authority staff responsible for transfer pricing cases, thereby forming the APMA Program.

After the formation of the APMA Program, the team that developed the IRS position in a bilateral or multilateral case and finalized the APA with the taxpayer also became responsible for discussing the case and obtaining an agreement with the treaty partner. This compression of functions into a single APA team has helped to eliminate inefficiencies and has decreased the amount of time it takes to reach resolution once a case is set for discussion with the treaty partner.

As of December 30, 2016, the APMA Program was comprised of 62 team leaders, 20 economists, and 10 senior managers organized into 10 groups (7 team leader groups and 3 economist groups). Each team leader group has responsibility for cases involving certain countries with one of the economist groups also taking responsibility of a country. Because of the large volume of cases with certain treaty partners, some countries are the responsibility of more than one group. The APMA Program’s main office is located in Washington, DC, and it also has a significant presence in San Francisco and the Los Angeles area.

On August 31, 2015, new revenue procedures governing MAP and APA applications were published in 2015–35 I.R.B. on pages 236 and 263, respectively. Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc.) 2015–41 provides guidance and instructions on filing APA requests as well as guidance and information on the administration of APAs. Rev. Proc. 2015–41 updates and supersedes Rev. Proc. 2006–9, 2006–1 C.B. 278, as modified by Rev. Proc. 2008–31, 2008–1 C.B. 1133, which is also superseded. Rev. Proc. 2015–40 provides procedures and guidance on requesting assistance from the U.S. Competent Authority where the taxpayer believes that the actions of the United States or a treaty country result or will result in the taxpayer being subject to taxation not in accordance with the applicable U.S. tax treaty. Rev. Proc. 2015–40 updates and supersedes Rev. Proc. 2006–54, 2006–2 C.B. 1035.

The model APA agreement, which was last significantly revised in 2009, is currently under review for future changes. The 2009 model appears in this report as Appendix 1. A list of primary APMA contacts is available at https://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/apmacontacts.

Bulletin No. 2017–15 1077 April 10, 2017