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Companies often second their employees to other firms in their group abroad but this can create a permanent establishment (PE) risk; something that can take up an unreasonable amount of time for a tax director if not handled properly. Sophie Ashley speaks to taxpayers and their advisers about how best to manage the situation to avoid creating a PE.

Sean Foley and Landon McGrew, KPMG The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held in Rodriguez v. Commissioner, 13 No. 12-60533 (July 2013), that income inclusions under Subpart F of the Internal Revenue Code do not constitute qualified dividend income within the meaning of section 1(h)(11). As a result, the taxpayers in that case were required to pay US tax on their subpart F income inclusions at the higher ordinary income rate of 35%%, rather than the preferential qualified dividend income rate of 15%.

The tax landscape in Brazil is notoriously difficult to navigate. Whether it is the number of tax obligations that must be met, the number of tax returns that must be filed, or the commonplace deviance from international norms, corporate taxpayers have a lot to contend with. The manner in which tax authorities interact with taxpayers is therefore important in either facilitating or further hindering taxpayers in their efforts to comply. Matthew Gilleard talks to taxpayers from various industries to assess their existing relationships with the tax authorities and hear their ideas for how these can be improved.

Hogan Lovells has announced that Gérard Neiens, from Allen & Overy, will join its new Luxembourg office as a tax partner.

Devereux Chambers has added Jolyon Maugham from 11 New Square to its pool of specialist tax counsel.

The Robin Hood Tax campaign group says the FTT will still be successful The EU member states introducing the financial transaction tax (FTT) may be forced to water down the European Commission's proposal if they want to make it stick, after the EU Council's legal service said part of the residence principle of the tax is incompatible with European law.

Erik Hultman and Niklas Cornelius, EY The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has in repeated rulings established that it is contrary to the free movement of capital as stipulated in article 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and article 40 of the EEA to levy withholding tax on dividends when dividend income received by a domestic comparable person/entity is not subject to a corresponding tax burden.

Ferdinando Mercuri and Céline Dupasquier, Deloitte After two decisions in favour of tax payers with regards to withholding tax (WHT) refund in cases close to "dividend stripping scheme", the Federal Administrative Court (FAC) took an opposite decision on March 13 2013 and refused the refund of the WHT levied on dividends distributed by a Swiss company to a Swiss bank.

Global law firm Shearman & Sterling has entered into a "best-friends" cooperative agreement with Italian specialist tax firm Tremonti Vitali Romagnoli Piccardi e Associati which sees the firms formalise their collaborative offerings.

Thuan Pham, VDB Loi The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam has recently released for public comment a new draft circular that provides general guidance on the implementation of tax treaty clauses. In particular, it clarifies how to identify whether an entity is considered to be holding mostly immovable property when determining taxing rights on a non-resident's gain from a share transfer of such entity.