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This time last year, International Tax Review noted a trend in rising VAT rates around the world. Today that trend continues, but opposition is also increasing with calls for cuts in some countries, and new exemptions in others as governments look to stimulate sectors of their ailing economies. Salman Shaheen investigates.

Elena Kostovska Earlier in 2011, the FYR Macedonian government signed a treaty for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with Norway. Norway has recently (June 2011) ratified the treaty which pertains to taxes on income. The taxes covered include the personal income tax and profit tax in FYR Macedonia as well as the taxes on income, remuneration of non-resident sportsmen and artistes in Norway. For the Norwegian tax framework, the treaty will also cover the resource rent tax on income from the production of hydroelectric power.

Jobst Wilmanns Yu Tao The finance ministry has drafted a bill to amend the transfer pricing provision of the Foreign Tax Act. Its primary aim is to extend the arm's-length pricing requirement to transactions between permanent establishments and between partnerships and partners. This follows the current OECD trend towards equating a PE with a separate entity and represents a radical departure from the traditional German legislative and, in particular, judicial view of a PE as part of the parent vehicle with which it cannot contract.

Janne Juusela The Finnish Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) gave on April 27 2011 a preliminary ruling (KHO:2011:42) based on which a Singaporean subsidiary could not be treated as a controlled-foreign company (CFC) in the taxation of a Finnish company in tax year 2009.

Companies looking to invest in Thailand need to think carefully about how they structure their business. With varying tax burdens and different impacts, Chanvitaya Suvarnapunya and Athistha Chitranukroh of DLA Piper run through the options available to taxpayers and offer insight on how to minimise the tax burden.

A federal court in Australia has ruled that buildings manufacturer James Hardie did not owe capital gains tax as a result of a 1998 restructuring.

The UK Treasury has appointed a permanent chair and tax director to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS). Michael Jack and John Whiting take on the respective roles and will oversee the OTS’ operations at least until the end of this parliament.

The financial transactions tax (FTT), also known as the Tobin tax and the Robin Hood Tax, has been the stuff of legend for decades, discussed eagerly by academics and socialist economists, without ever gaining much traction in the mainstream. The financial maelstrom changed all that and, as José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, comes forward with a proposal for an EU-wide FTT, everyone will be talking about it.

A judgement from the European Court of Human Rights is critical of Russia’s treatment of oil company Yukos, but states that it was not politically motivated and that no misuse of Russian court proceedings has occurred. The implications are not expected to be far-reaching.

Week nine of the Supreme Court hearing saw the Solicitor General complete his arguments by forcefully reiterating that the Cayman Islands structure was an “artificial tax avoidance scheme”.