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Taxpayers need to treat external auditors with “great respect” despite the authorities having officials with “mixed abilities”, said a panel on effective audit management.

Taxpayers, advisers and regulators gathered at International Tax Review’s Indirect Tax Forum in London today to discuss the role of environmental taxes as an integral aspect of both reducing emissions and improving finances.

David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, is in charge of developing the UK’s tax policy. In an exclusive interview with Salman Shaheen of International Tax Review, Gauke defends this year’s budget and discusses his priorities for the British tax system.

Type of Agreement Country Country Date Signed Double taxation avoidance agreement UK Ethiopia June 9 2011 Double taxation avoidance agreement Luxembourg Tajikistan June 14 2011

The opening panel of International Tax Review’s Indirect Tax Forum 2011 agreed that while the European Commission has more work to do on its plans for VAT reform, it is moving in the right direction.

Companies need to be transparent when dealing with the tax authorities but should not be afraid to challenge the indirect tax positions taken by officials, say two leading indirect tax managers.

The new Finnish government, forged after two months of political wrangling, has promised to cut corporation tax by one percentage point.

Lawyers from Machado Associados reveal that a new Brazilian value added tax agreement is running into constitutional challenges

Type of Deal Value Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) Acquisition $562 million Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc Specifar Pharmaceuticals SA Simmons & Simmons - Darren Oswick, Zoe Feller Acquisition $517 million DG FastChannel Inc MediaMind Technologies Davis Polk & Wardwell - Avishai Schachar, Michael Bretholz Acquisition $255 million Sudzucker AG Mannheim/Ochsenfurt ED&F MAN Simmons & Simmons - Darren Oswick Acquisition $157 million Kerling plc (INEOS) Tessenderlo Group Slaughter and May - Graham Iversen, Ceinwen Rees Acquisition $86 million A&NN Capital Fund Management Limited Waterstones (HMV Group) Simmons & Simmons - Nick Cronkshaw, Zoe Arnautov Acquisition Undisclosed Lactalis Parmalat Bredin Prat Shearman & Sterling Type of Deal Value Issuer/Borrower Lead managers/arrangers Adviser to issuer/borrower (tax) Adviser to lead managers (tax) Senior notes offering $1.5 billion Reliance Holding USA, Inc BofA; Citigroup; RBS Davis Polk & Wardwell - John Paton, Alon Gurfinkel; AZB & Partners SEC-registered offering $854 million Cliffs Natural Resources Inc JP Morgan Securities; Merrill Lynch; Citigroup Jones Day Davis Polk & Wardwell - Neil Barr, Joshua Ruland SEC-registered secondary offering $587 million Molycorp Inc Morgan Stanley; JP Morgan Securities Jones Day Davis Polk & Wardwell - Po Sit, Michael Farber SEC-registered offering $374 million PartnerRe Limited Citigroup; Merrill Lynch; UBS; Wells Fargo Davis Polk & Wardwell - Lucy Farr, Neil Barr, Kay Ng Willkie Farr & Gallagher Notes offering $300 million The Hanover Insurance Group Inc Goldman Sachs & Co; Morgan Stanley & Co; Wells Fargo Securities Ropes & Gray Davis Polk & Wardwell - Michael Farber, Kerry Price SEC-registered offering $150 million Valmont Industries Inc Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc McGrath North Mullin & Kratz Davis Polk & Wardwell - Michael Mollerus, Arie Rubenstein Underwritten rights offering Undisclosed Danske Bank Barclays Bank; BNP Paribas; Morgan Stanley; Nomura Kromann Reumert; White & Case Davis Polk & Wardwell - John Paton, Alon Gurfinkel; Gorrissen Federspiel

In response to the ever-increasing globalisation of the financial services sector and the practical consequences of changes in regulations, KPMG has formed a new team to deal with how these affect transfer pricing and indirect tax.