Across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic put 2020 into a tailspin. Hospitals were overwhelmed, schools and office buildings stood empty, and executives implemented all kinds of outside-the-box measures to keep their companies afloat. What a year.

Things weren't any easier in corporate tax departments, as tax professionals at multinational companies faced their own challenges, particularly in the transfer pricing arena. With tax scrutiny growing rapidly over the past decade, tax, finance, and treasury teams are currently navigating a transfer pricing compliance minefield. And here's the catch: It's about to get worse.

Thanks to revenue deficits stemming from government-relief programs and a universal decline in taxable income—which governments will have to recoup—taxpayers can expect tax administrations to exercise a whole new level of vigilance.