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The US Senate has approved tax cut legislation crafted by the White House and Congressional Republican leaders.

Pranab Mukherjee outlined plans for a safe harbour back in 2009

The Kraft Cadbury deal was one of the world’s biggest deals in 2010

In a speech to the European Parliament last week, Algirdas Šemeta, European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud, supported the “promising option” of a financial activities tax (FAT). In an exclusive interview, International Tax Review spoke to Commissioner Šemeta about why he favours a FAT at the EU level over a financial transactions tax (FTT), how it might work and the challenges to be overcome.

Himanshu Parekh and Nidhi Maheshwari of KPMG survey some of the recent major developments in the Indian tax system and attempt to understand some of the emerging trends and issues of interest to foreign investors in India.

Type of Deal Value Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) Acquisition $4.9 billion Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd. Davis Polk & Wardwell Acquisition $107 milion Flagland Spain, S.L.; Telefonica de Contenidos, Gestevision Telecinco DTS Distribuidora de Television Digital, S.A. Linklaters, Reed Smith. Uria Menendez - Victor Viana, Luis Suarez de Centi Type of Deal Value Issuer/Borrower Lead managers/arrangers Adviser to issuer/borrower (tax) Adviser to lead managers (tax) Outstanding Notes Offering $3 billion Westpac Banking Corporation J.P. Morgan Securities Davis Polk & Wardwell Senior Notes Offering $2 billion Royal Bank of Scotland RBS Securities Inc. Davis Polk & Wardwell - John D. Paton, Kent Heggerud Linklaters

Type of Agreement Country Country Date Signed Tax Information Exchange Agreement Canada Jersey January 12 2011 Tax Information Exchange Agreement Canada Isle of Man January 17 2011

Recent Indian tax developments in India may push some investors to shelve traditional strategies and consider other alternative locations such as Singapore for holding Indian investments. Ong Sim Ho and Chow Hoe Keong of Drew & Napier discuss that tax treaty abuses and legislative changes have caused reactive changes to the status quo, and these developments will eventually reshape existing investment strategies into India.

Nikhil Mehta of Amarchand & Mangaldas and Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers investigates what the impact of the Vodafone decision will be and whether similar cases will be a thing of the past once the DTC is implemented.

Tax reforms are engulfing the way business is done in India. Sunil Jain of J Sagar & Associates discusses the impact the country’s proposed general anti-avoidance rules will have on companies planning transactions between now and the introduction of the rules in April 2012.