Sag 49398/2023 47473/2023 af Højesterets, 09-01-2025

• Judgement Number: 49398/2023 47473/2023
• Date: 09 January 2025
• Court: Supreme Court (Denmark)

HØJESTERE T S D O M

afsagt torsdag den 9. januar 2025

Sag BS-49398/2023-HJR og BS-47473/2023-HJR

(2. afdeling)

Accenture A/S

(advokat Nikolaj Bjørnholm)

mod

Skatteministeriet

(advokat Steffen Sværke)

I tidligere instans er afsagt dom af Østre Landsrets 18. afdeling den 29. august

2023 (B-0956-16 og BS-52532/2019-OLR).

I pådømmelsen har deltaget fem dommere: Poul Dahl Jensen, Michael Rekling,

Jens Kruse Mikkelsen, Ole Hasselgaard og Julie Arnth Jørgensen.

Påstande

Appellanten, Accenture A/S, har gentaget sin påstand om frifindelse og om, at

selskabets skattepligtige indkomst i indkomståret 2007 nedsættes med 7.027.853

kr.

Accenture A/S har subsidiært nedlagt påstand om, at ansættelsen af selskabets

skattepligtige indkomst for indkomstårene 2005-2011 for så vidt angår medar-

bejderindlån og -udlån hjemvises til fornyet behandling ved Skattestyrelsen.

Accenture A/S har yderligere nedlagt påstand om, at indstævnte, Skatteministe-

riet, skal tilbagebetale 1.000.000 kr., som Accenture har betalt til opfyldelse af

landsrettens omkostningsafgørelse, med procesrente fra den 5. september 2023.

2

Skatteministeriet har påstået stadfæstelse af landsrettens dom og har over for

Accentures betalingspåstand påstået frifindelse.

Supplerende sagsfremstilling

Accenture har fremlagt transfer pricing-dokumentation vedrørende avancetil-

lægget (mark-up) på 30 % nævnt i pkt. 6 i ”The Accenture Organisations Inter-

national Assignment Agreement” (IAA-aftalen) for de omhandlede indkomstår.

Dokumentationen er bortset fra datagrundlaget i det væsentlige enslydende. Af

Accentures transfer pricing-dokumentation for 2006 vedrørende IAA-aftalen

fremgår bl.a.:

“III. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

A. Cross Border Personnel

Accenture clients require information technology and business solu-

tions that are not limited by geographic boundaries. Therefore, the abil-

ity to deliver services to existing and prospective clients on a world-

wide basis is critical to the business success of all Accenture entities.

The proposals presented to prospective clients in any country typically

stress Accenture's ability to assemble a project team in any country or

any client location. A typical cross border engagement involves one or

more functional and industry experts and often requires personnel

from more than one Accenture entity. To facilitate this exchange of per-

sonnel, each Accenture entity has executed the International Assign-

ment Agreement.

Personnel who work on an engagement in another country are com-

monly referred to as "Cross Border Resources." Cross Border Resources

are sent to work on an engagement in another country on a temporary,

short term basis and return to their sending or "Home" country after

their work is completed. Throughout this report, the term "Home Coun-

try" refers to the country that supplies the Cross Border Personnel. Sim-

ilarly, the term "Host Country" refers to the country that borrows Cross

Border Personnel. Use of Cross Border Resources enables the Accenture

organization to balance swings in supply and demand in the different

Accenture entities and has the following additional benefits:

• The cross-border resource can augment local staff with required

skills and/or experience on a client project;

• A core team may work for a multinational client in more than

one country; and

• Occasionally, a person may move cross border to enhance his or

her skills or receive on-the-job training.