AGC Glass Europe has achieved strong international growth in the last decades. Head of Tax Arnaud Thienpont makes sure that this manufacturer of glass, for cars, construction and more, does everything according to the book. For advice on fiscal legislation – and transfer pricing in particular – Arnaud depends on Grant Thornton. “An external expert who knows your business inside out gives tremendous comfort.”
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Armed with five years of experience, Arnaud joined AGC in the late nineties when it was still called Glaverbel. “The company, which began in Belgium, had just taken its first steps beyond the Benelux with takeovers in locations including Central and Eastern Europe, Spain, Italy and France”, recalls Arnaud. “So the need arose for employees to steer this internationalisation successfully.”
“AGC employed two fiscal experts, and I was one of them. During the early years, I focused mainly on Belgian and European legislation. But since becoming Head of Tax in 2012 I have also been responsible for Brazil, the Middle-East and Africa. After all, we have also made some acquisitions there in the meantime.”
“My main responsibility has not actually altered much for 25 years: making sure that our fiscal policy stays in line with our constantly evolving business structure. Each takeover leads to internal restructuring and changes in our business model. They always have a significant fiscal impact.”
So, Arnaud has a lot on his plate. In order to digest it all he ensures he has good support. “There are four colleagues in my team at AGC”, he explains. “In the countries where we have a lot of activity, or where the fiscal legislation is most complex, we work together with internal or external fiscal experts. I monitor the full picture from Belgium.”
“When it comes to the ‘simpler’ fiscality in Belgium, my team and I have plenty of in-house knowledge. That’s why I only call on external people when they are an authority in a highly technical domain and to add real value with their expertise if we have a specific question in a particular case.”
Transfer pricing – rules relating to price setting and profit allocation for multinationals – is one such technical domain. Ever since his early days at AGC, Arnaud has counted on Grant Thornton for these matters, and more specifically on Leslie Van den Branden. “At the end of the nineties, transfer pricing was not top of our list of priorities”, says Arnaud. “I asked Leslie to guide us as an external expert in this complex material.”
“25 years later, Leslie knows our organisation like the back of his hand. This knowledge is really important when you want to get a good hold on your transfer pricing policy. He implements new rules to perfection, without me having to repeat everything each time, and his advice is always to the point. That gives us great comfort.”
Transfer pricing: a matter of strategyYears ago, Leslie contributed to the early development of the transfer pricing rules in our country and was involved in founding the transfer pricing service at Grant Thornton. So, no wonder that Arnaud views him as a true expert in the field. “Your transfer pricing policy is closely related to your business strategy”, says Leslie. “So, we immerse ourselves completely in that strategy in order to make the best transfer pricing decisions.” “Take, for example, the new Pillar 2 rules, a minimum tax for multinationals such as AGC. They have serious consequences for your transfer pricing policy and your general business strategy. For every customer affected by these new regulations we are now also conducting an in-depth exercise to make the implementation run as smoothly as possible.” Is your business active internationally? |
Recently, much has been happening in the international fiscal domain. “For a long time, almost nothing changed in fiscal legislation”, explains Arnaud. “However, in the last ten years, all kinds of new rules have been launched or are in the pipeline, such as Pillar 1 and 2, along with many other guidelines that will keep us very busy in the coming years.”
“Many of these new rules are focused on the growing demand for transparency. This makes it increasingly difficult for multinationals to be compliant in fiscal reporting everywhere and all the time. Indeed, in Europe these rules differ to those in Japan, for example. In this context, advice from experts who know your organisation inside out is even more valuable.”
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