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The Swiss parliament yesterday amended its tax treaty with the US allowing the IRS to easily identify US taxpayers with undeclared Swiss accounts.

The Hong Kong tax authorities have issued their first-ever advance ruling in a transfer pricing case, less than a month before a formal advance pricing agreement programme is introduced.

Current and new members of chambers will be part of the new tax and finance alternative disputes resolution panel which Pump Court Tax Chambers in London is launching.

Antti Lehtimaja will become a partner of Krogerus, the Finnish law firm, on April 1 2012. He has been head of tax since autumn 2010 and is a specialist on tax and structuring issues in private equity and venture capital.

Type of Agreement Country Country Date Signed Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement Hong Kong Jersey February 27 2012

Costa Rica has become the first Central American country to sign the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

The world’s largest advertising and marketing group, WPP, has announced that it is planning to move its headquarters back to the UK, after the government committed to reforming the country’s controlled foreign company (CFC) rules.

Damon Wright has joined MHA MacIntyre Hudson, an accounting firm in the UK, as director of VAT services. Formerly with Grant Thornton, he has 20 years experience in indirect tax and VAT, including a spell as an HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) senior VAT inspector.

Type of Deal Value Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) Acquisition $828 million Kirkbi A/S Dong Energy Hengeler Mueller Acquisition $334 million AMD SeaMicro Fenwick & West - Larissa Neumann Acquisition $309.5 million Fiera Natcan Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt McCarthy Tétrault Acquisition $271 million Cisco Lightwire Fenwick & West - Matthew Noerper Acquisition $146.3 million ShoreTel M5 Networks Fenwick & West - Ron Schrotenboer Acquisition $140.5 million Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Bank of Cyprus Freehills King & Wood Mallesons Acquisition Undisclosed SanDisk FlashSoft Fenwick & West - Natalie Pardo De Zela Type of Deal Value Issuer/Borrower Lead managers/arrangers Adviser to issuer/borrower (tax) Adviser to lead managers (tax) Registered Notes Offering $3 billion ArcelorMittal J.P. Morgan / Citigroup / Merrill Lynch Davis Polk & Wardwell - John Paton, Sarah Joy Notes Offering $750 million Korea Development Bank BNP Paribas / Citigroup / Deutsche / J.P. Morgan / KDB Asia / RBS Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton / Lee & Ko Davis Polk & Wardwell - John Paton, Sarah Joy Note Issue $650 million AGL Deutsche Bank / ANZ / NAB / Commonwealth BoA Freehills King & Wood Mallesons Notes Offering $300 million CSX J.P. Morgan / UBS Davis Polk & Wardwell - Rachel Kleinberg, Una Au Shearman & Sterling SEC-registered offering $250 million Westar Energy Barclays / Mitsubishi UFJ / Wells Fargo Davis Polk & Wardwell - Po Sit, Yuliya Epifantseva Dewey & LeBoeuf

It is no secret that the Greek tax authorities are not exactly up to scratch. Inefficient tax collection and a lack of knowledge in specialist areas such as transfer pricing are just two of the problems preventing the government raising the tax revenue it so badly needs.