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The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has called for the recent review of Australia's tax system not to be a one-off.

László Kovács: committed to tax base harmonization Some member states are blocking plans for a common consolidated corporate tax base in the EU by their unwillingness to show commitment, according to László Kovács, the EU tax commissioner.

David Laro, a judge at the US Tax Court ruled on April 18 that the tax shelters known as the Son of Boss are invalid. Son of Boss refers to shelters such as foreign leveraged investment programmes (FLIPS), offshore portfolio investment strategies (OPIS), bond linked issue premium structures (BLIPS) and market linked deposits (MLDS). The first three structures are at the centre of the government's tax shelter litigation against ex-KPMG employees.

Three advisers - Stephanie Pantelidaki, Martin Zetter and Andrew Boyle - joined the London office of Baker & McKenzie from LECG. Pantelidaki will be an assistant director, Zetter a senior consultant and Boyle an economist. Richard Fletcher made the same move in January.

The new chairman of the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) aims to "speed up the Committee's work on exchange of information and to develop international guidelines for consumption taxes."

Julian Robertson-Kellie and Shiv Mahalingham of Ernst & Young discuss how to combat value leakage that is attributable to inadequate transfer pricing polices for intra-group transactions and whether traditional transfer pricing policy is appropriate today

The EU's policy on transfer pricing documentation requires more information than its Dutch equivalent. Taxpayers should consider the benefits of following the European model, believe Monique van Herksen and Folkert Idsinga of Baker & McKenzie

The South African finance minister, Trevor Manuel, said on April 3 that he would soon name a task force to decide how to best implement a windfall tax on petrochemicals company Sasol. Sasol which was state subsidized, announced an increase in profits of about R2.9 billion ($480 million) because of higher oil prices in the last half of 2005. The windfall tax is popular politically because it will lead to a redistribution of income but tax professionals are concerned about its introduction. Sasol is expected to contest the committee's proposals but it is predicted the authorities will pass a law before the end of 2006.

An opinion from an advocate-general of the European Court of Justice went against provisions of the UK tax system one more time. In the FII (franked investment income) group litigation against the Inland Revenue, which involved BAT group companies, Leendert Geelhoed believed the UK's rules breach EU law because they exempt dividends received by UK resident companies from other UK resident companies from corporate tax, but impose tax on dividends from companies resident in other member states, even when credit has been given for double taxation. The opinion also held that the UK's system of advance corporation tax, which has already been abolished, was discriminatory. The taxpayers were represented by Dorsey & Whitney

Indian tax tribunals have made some key decisions recently in cases dealing with permanent establishment, trusts and the India-UAE tax treaty, reports CA Gupta of Deloitte Haskins & Sells