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Roberto del Toro Mario Alberto Gutiérrez The real estate markets in cities and towns all over Mexico have expanded in the last few years. The trend is particularly motivated by the improvements in the country's domestic economy, which has increased the demand for goods and services.

Laurent Grençcon Samanatha Nonnenkamp Specialised Investment Fund regime enters into force The law creating the Specialised Investment Funds (SIFs) and replacing the law on institutional investor funds entered into force on February 13 2007. From a regulatory point of view, SIFs enjoy more flexibility than other Luxembourg undertakings for collective investments. Institutional investors, professional investors and well-informed investors (including high net-worth individuals) can make use of this investment vehicle.

Bob van der Made On February 26 2007, the European Commission announced that it had adopted new EU-wide guidelines on advance pricing agreements (APAs) aimed at avoiding transfer pricing disputes and increasing legal certainty for companies. Resolving international tax disputes has become a major issue for businesses and tax administrations in Europe and they have increased both in number and complexity, and this trend is expected to continue. An APA is an agreement between a tax administration and a taxpayer on how future transactions between associated companies established in two or more EU member states will be taxed.

Leslie Morgan Paul Stepak On February 21 2007, the proposed enhanced gross-up and dividend tax credit for eligible dividends received by a domiciled individual after 2005 from a corporation resident in Canada became law. For a dividend to be considered eligible, the entire payment must be designated as such to each recipient in writing at the time it is paid. At present, there is no ability to designate a dividend after it is paid. While the Canada Revenue Agency has indicated that a number of ways are acceptable for a public corporation to designate an eligible dividend, such as posting a notice on the corporation's web site, issuing a press release or making a statement in corporate quarterly or annual reports, no such leeway is given to a non-public corporation.

Roberto del Toro, David Cuéllar and Francisco José Zamora of PricewaterhouseCoopers explain how anti-abuse measures may affect Mexican investments

Akio Takisaki The new tax treaty between Japan and France was signed on January 12 2007. The new treaty will become effective in 2007 by ratification and be applicable to the following taxes in Japan:

Jeffrey Faber Jeffery Faber has been promoted to Senior Vice President – Finance at Bear Stearns in New York. Faber joined the company in May 2000 and was made controller and principal accounting officer in 2004. He will retain the duties of this role and will in addition oversee the tax and global procurement areas at the firm.

Nélio Weiss Philippe Jeffrey On February 27 2007, President Lula approved law 11.452 that eliminates the levy of the 10% Contribution for Intervention in the Economic Domain (CIDE). Previously paid by legal entities which hold a licence to use or re-sell software.

The Total Tax Contribution survey is an important addition to the debate on the UK tax system, says Philip Broadley of the Hundred Group

Companies already pay top dollar if they think they're buying the next big thing. But Claire Jones finds out that they could face even greater costs if they don't consider intellectual property tax issues