The year 2025 marks a key stage for transfer pricing (TP) management in Latin America, especially in Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay, where regulatory reforms, international alignment, and increasing tax scrutiny converge. The following are recent regulatory changes and key trends to consider.
Brazil: Full alignment with the OECD and new operational challenges
Regulatory transformation:
The big news in Brazil is the entry into force of Law 14.596/2023, which makes the application of TP rules aligned with the OECD Guidelines fully mandatory from January 1, 2024, leaving behind the old system of fixed margins and previous methods.
Key points of the reform:
- Arm’s length principle: The new regime requires that transactions between related parties reflect market conditions (arm’s length), covering goods, services, intangibles, and loan interest.
- New methods: Incorporation of internationally recognized methods, such as Independent Comparable Price, Resale Price, and others.
- Strengthened documentation: Registration and reporting of intercompany contracts, robust economic analysis, and detailed justification of the selection of methods are required.
- Special attention to commodities: Commodity export and import transactions require detailed price analysis and transparency for each transaction and contract, including long-term agreements, demonstrating that the contractual terms are in line with market practices on the date of signing. [5]
- Deadlines and obligations: The Global File and Local File must be submitted at the end of the year (December 2025 for 2024 operations).
Practical implications:
Multinational companies must adapt internal models, processes, and systems, carefully reviewing operations with intangibles, high-value services, and commodity transactions. Increased audits and regulatory uncertainty make it essential to strengthen technical documentation and consult with experts.
Colombia: Regulatory maturity and focus on new obligations
Stability with adjustments:
Colombia has had PT regulations since 2002, integrated into the Tax Statute and aligned with OECD standards and BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) actions. By 2025, compliance will have become more sophisticated, with greater documentation obligations and advanced analytical approaches.
Key aspects:
- Applicability: The TP regime applies to income tax payers who carry out transactions with foreign related parties or to and from free trade zones, but not to strictly local transactions.
- Requirements:
- Informative declaration for those who exceed asset or income limits (100,000 and 61,000 UVTs, respectively).
- Local and master study (“Local File,” “Master File”) with a detailed description of functions, risks, assets, comparative and economic analysis. For the local report, 45,000 UVTs must be exceeded per type of transaction, and in the case of expense transactions that have been taken as a cost or deduction in the 2024 income or subsequent periods. About the master report, two conditions must be met: the taxpayer must submit the local report and belong to a multinational group.
- Country-by-country reporting for multinationals with global revenues exceeding 81 million UVTs.
- Selection of methods: Flexibility to choose the most appropriate method according to the nature of the transaction, with a clear preference for justifying each selection economically and functionally.
- Auditing: Significant increase in tax control and documentation review, focusing primarily on transactions involving intangibles, intra-group services, and corporate restructuring. Special emphasis is placed on cross-checking with other obligations, such as exogenous information and withholding tax returns, in sectors such as automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and service providers.
Trends for 2025:
The DIAN promotes strict alignment with economic substance, encourages transparency, and strengthens international cooperation in transfer pricing audits.
Uruguay: Regulatory consolidation and documentary reinforcement
Robust regulation:
Uruguay adopted a formal transfer pricing regime in 2007, which was further strengthened with significant changes in 2017 in line with the BEPS plan (OECD Action 13). In 2025, the emphasis remains on documentation, control, and timely reporting.
Distinctive features:
- Arm’s length principle: All transactions with related parties abroad or residents of low-tax countries must comply with market conditions.
- Authorized methods: Five methodologies are recognized (Comparable Price, Resale Price, Cost Plus Profit, Profit Split, Net Transaction Margin).
- Documentation requirements:
- Local report, master report, and country-by-country report for large taxpayers and those exceeding UI 50,000,000 in related-party transactions.
- Affidavit and submission of documentation within the deadlines set by the DGI (nine months after the fiscal year-end).
- Auditing: Trend toward greater control over transactions with offshore countries, intangible services, and abusive use of free trade zones.
Current focus:
By 2025, Uruguayan regulations are expected to continue to be adjusted for greater international convergence and the sophistication of economic and functional analysis tools.
Conclusions and recommendations
- International alignment: The three countries are consolidating or deepening the integration of their regulations with OECD principles, promoting transparency and tax fairness.
- Risk management: Companies face increasing demands for substantive documentation and must carefully evaluate methodologies, justify their decisions, and maintain robust evidence to respond to potential audits.
- Technology and digitization: Digital compliance platforms, automated comparative analysis, and electronic information monitoring are being promoted.
- Training and updating: The highly dynamic environment requires regular training of internal teams, as well as the support of advisors specializing in international tax matters.
By 2025, effective transfer pricing management in Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay will require a proactive approach, specialized resources, and a strategy aligned with global best practices. Investments in compliance and prevention will be key to mitigating tax risks, avoiding penalties, and optimizing cross-border business management.