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Algirdas Šemeta, European Commissioner for Taxation, Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud, introduces the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (2011/16/EU) to increase transparency, improve information exchange and tighten cross-border cooperation, which he says are fundamental tools for fighting tax evasion.

The UK is at the centre of a global debate on tax avoidance and the government is being pressed from all sides to make changes to the tax system. One significant change has been the announcement, in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, that the corporate tax rate will fall to 21% instead of 22% by 2015. But, amid complaints that multinationals are not paying enough tax in the UK, is this the right way for the government to go? Or is the UK becoming a tax haven for multinationals? Sophie Ashley talks to international tax practitioners about how the UK is shaping up and whether the government needs to change the law, rather than introduce different incentives, when it comes to multinationals’ operations.

Managing tax risk is higher on the agenda for multinationals than ever before. One only needs to tot up the damning tax-related headlines in the mainstream press last year to see why. Lesley Holstead, who has spent much of her career helping multinationals manage tax risk, shares her experience in creating a successful strategy.

In practice, it is hard to determine whether a repair of movable tangible property is deemed to be a supply of goods, including installation, or a supply of services. Thus the Federal Ministry of Finance implemented a value ratio for the differentiation in its circular dated December 12 2012. However, caution is advised when applying this regulation, argue Thomas Küffner and Ronny Langer of küffner maunz langer zugmaier. It appears to be rather simple but is not applicable in every case.

Jacob Lew President Obama has nominated White House chief of staff Jacob Lew as the man to take over from outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, who had also been planning to leave his post around this time, will remain in the role to facilitate the transition.

Joshua Williams has become a tax partner in the New York office of Akin Gump.

Tim Martino Baker Tilly Pitcher Partners has hired Tim Martino as a manager in the firm's tax services division in Perth, Australia. He leaves a tax management role at Ernst & Young. Martino has experience in both national and international tax advisory, as well as in broader commercial management, financial advisory and corporate reorganisation. He focuses on GST issues for a wide range of industries, including focusing on property, resource and cross-border operations, though he also deals with other indirect taxes, including customs duties, fuel tax credits and payroll taxes.

VDB Loi has hired Graham Garven to lead its tax team in Jakarta. He joins from KPMG where he was a partner and head of the firm's transfer pricing practice.

Dajana Topic Free trade zones are part of the customs territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) managed by the founder of the free zone. The users of free zones do not pay taxes and contributions, with the exception of those related to salaries and wages. Investors are free to invest capital in the free zone, transfer their profit and re-transfer capital with no charge.

Benjamin Twardosz Austria's substantial network of double taxation treaties offers advantages to foreign investors that choose to invest through Austria, when compared with other holding jurisdictions. Examples of such treaties are those with Brazil, Kazakhstan and Turkey. To illustrate, taking the case of Turkey, dividends paid to foreign shareholders on Turkish equity investments are subject to domestic withholding of 15% which, when combined with the domestic corporate income tax rate of 20%, may aggregate to a considerable 32% tax burden.