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Masaaki Honma, chairman of the influential Tax Commission, has resigned amid revelations that he was living in a heavily subsidised Tokyo apartment reserved for civil servants with his mistress. Honma is succeeded by Yutaka Kosai, formerly a senior adviser at the Japan Center for Economic Research.

Joseph Bachar, finance ministry director general, has temporarily replaced Jackie Matza, the suspended head of the Israeli tax authority. Matza suspended himself after it emerged he was facing tax corruption charges.

In a move to expand its tax controversy practice, McDermott, Will & Emery has raided Miller & Chevalier in Washington, DC.

American businesses are waiting to see whether rumours of changes to the way they are taxed will become reality after the Democratic takeover of the US Congress.

French President Jacques Chirac has suggested that the corporate tax rate could tumble from 33% to 20% in the next five years. He made the comments in his New Year speech. The cut could revive the ailing economy and encourage new investment in the jurisdiction.

Marc Gerson, former majority tax counsel to the Ways and Means Committee of the US House of Representatives, has become a member of the tax department of Miller & Chevalier in Washington, DC. He will also join the tax legislative practice of the firm's government affairs department. Gerson acted as staff liaison to the members of Ways and Means, the Senate Finance Committee, the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Treasury and participated in the framing of all the significant tax legislation of the 109th Congress.

The Venezuelan tax agency (SENIAT) has demanded payment of around $880,000 in back taxes from an oil operation partially controlled by France's Total SA and Norway's Statoil.

Following years of speculation, China looks set to pass a bill unifying the tax codes for foreign and domestic companies in 2007 with a merged code coming into force at the beginning of next year.

Calvetti, Ferguson & Wagner (a public accounting and business advisory firm in Houston, US) has hired Mike Donahue, former tax managing director of KPMG. Before KPMG, Donahue was tax partner at Hein & Associates, where he provided planning and compliance services to clients from various industries including energy and manufacturing. Donahue will lead Calvetti, Ferguson & Wagner's tax practice in his new role as partner, and will enhance the firm's services in the areas of FAS 109, FIN 48 and international taxation, these being fields in which he has particular experience.

A report on interest deductibility has found that UK multinationals would consider a reduction in relief on payments so long as it was matched with an equal cut in the tax levy on interest received.