President Obama yesterday used his State of the Union address to stress the need for tax reform, claiming “My message is simple...Send me those tax reforms, and I’ll sign them right away”.
During 2011, the US did not enter into any new treaties or protocols. However, 2012 looks set to be very different, with negotiations aimed at new agreements expected to continue with Chile, Hungary, Luxembourg and Switzerland, among others.
With the consultation on the future of the UK’s controlled foreign company (CFC) regime coming to an end, the planned liberalisation is already starting to pay dividends.
State treasuries in Australia have claimed that the nation’s planned carbon tax will have disastrous effects on state finances, by increasing costs and reducing the profits of government-owned electricity utilities that pay dividends to the state.
The Danish tax authority has lost another withholding tax case on the beneficial ownership of dividend payments amounting to DKr658 million ($114 million). However, in a decision that should encourage taxpayers, caution is still needed as the legal position on dividend distributions will not be clarified until the Supreme Court hears the case.
