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Ingunn Mollnes Norway's Ministry of Finance released a consultation paper on April 11 2013 that would introduce limits on the deduction of interest on related-party debt. The purpose of the proposal is to restrict earnings stripping via intercompany debt financing. Under the proposal, net interest expense paid to a related party would not be deductible in a year to the extent such expense exceeds 25% of a basis of limitation, a figure similar to EBITDA. The limitation would be calculated separately for each entity. However, the limitation only applies to companies that have net interest costs exceeding NOK1 million ($170,000). The proposal suggests that the rules would apply as from fiscal year 2014.

See who has done the tax work on this month’s biggest deals.

Douglas Sirotta has joined Ernst & Young as a senior tax partner in Seattle. He has advised multinational corporations and entrepreneurial businesses in industries such as software, computer hardware, retail and wholesale, and manufacturing, on domestic and international tax issues, including corporate structuring, tax reporting, compliance, strategic tax planning, ASC 740 (FAS 109), and M&A.

The guidance is welcome, but does not ensure plain-sailing as uncertainty remains China's State Administration of Taxation (SAT) has issued guidance to help taxpayers understand the tax authority's assessment of how secondment arrangements should work.

Susan Repo has joined Tesla Motors, the electric-car maker, as vice president of global tax.

The court said that companies leaving Spain must have more flexibility on when they pay exit tax The European Court of Justice's (ECJ) decision that Spanish companies transferring assets to another EU member state can defer exit tax payment was unsurprising given the court's rulings in National Grid Indus and Portugal v Commission. But advisers say the ECJ is leaving important questions unanswered.

Opposition member of Parliament Catherine McKinnell is the Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. If Labour win the next election, McKinnell could be the UK’s next minister for tax and her ideas on transparency and tackling avoidance in the UK and abroad may take global tax policy in a bold new direction. Salman Shaheen talks to McKinnell about where she believes the government is going wrong and what she would do differently.

The economic downturn combined with pressure to tackle tax evasion and aggressive avoidance has intensified discussions of greater tax policy coordination within the EU. Emma Powell looks at how achievable EU tax harmonisation is and in what way it could impact businesses.

The new double tax treaty between Argentina and Spain has been in place for more than two months, having been signed in March (with retrospective effect to January 1 2013) after the unexpected termination of the old accord. Guillermo Teijeiro, of Teijeiro & Ballone Abogados, looks at why the old treaty was replaced, and analyses the new agreement in the context of Argentina’s wider treaty network.

Jim Fuller