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The Tax Amendment Act 2005 (Abgabenänderungsgesetz 2005), which came into effect in January 2006, has brought about several changes in the Austrian income tax system. Some of them are highlighted below.

Changes to the French tax system in 2005 have significant implications for taxpayers concerning thin capitalization, VAT, shares acquisition and disputes, according to Ambroise Bricet, Sophie Chevance & Mathieu Gautier of Taj

The new Securities Law, which entered into force on October 24 2005, introduces certain changes into a number of binding regulations, including both the personal and corporate income tax acts, which can be beneficial for taxpayers in 2006.

Vispi Patel of RSM reports on this year's Indian Budget, which took away a key tax exemption for infrastructure investors and introduced modifications to fringe benefits and services taxes, while leaving income tax rates unchanged

By Jack Cummings and Kevin Rowe, Alston & Bird

By Narendra Rohira and Jayesh Sanghvi, Ernst & Young

By Eduardo Abad and Ramón Tejada, Garrigues

Type of deal Valuer Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) M&A €250million ($299million) Swisscom (Switzerland) Antenna Hungária (Hungary) Allen & Overy Levente Torma (Hungary) Acquisition attempt £1.8billion ($3.1billion) Nippon Sheet Glass (Japan) Pilkington (UK) Allen & Overy Brenda Coleman, Lydia Challen (UK) Slaughter and May Richard Carson, Fiona Jivraj (UK) M&A $7.3billion National Grid (US) KeySpan (US) Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom US Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Charles Rappaport, Rachel Birnbaum (US) Acquisition attempt $1.7billion Xstrata (Switzerland) Cerréjon/ Glencore (Columbia/Switzerland) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer In-house counsel Richard Marshall (Switzerland) and Parra Rodríguez & Cavalier (Columbia) M&A $2.7billion BASF (Germany) Degussa (Germany) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Hans-Jörg Ziegenhain (with Hengeler Mueller since March 1 2006) (Germany) M&A AUD248.4million ($184.8million) Pacific Equity Partners (Australia) Vision Fire & Security (Australia) Freehills Australia Ashurst UK PricewaterhouseCoopers M&A $67.1billion AT&T (US) BellSouth (US) Sullivan & Cromwell US Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson Alan Kaden, Michael Alter (US) M&A £8billion ($13.9billion) Linde (Germany) BOC (UK) Slaughter and May Sara Luder, Clare Richardson (UK) Hengeler Mueller Germany Shearman & Sterling US M&A €572million ($685million) Foodco Pastries, Medimosal (Spain) TelePizza (Carbal, Permira) (Spain) Uría Menéndez Spain Baker & McKenzie Spain Linklaters Spain M&A £205million ($356million) Blackstone/ Forest Bidco (US) Center Parcs (UK) Ashurst UK Simmons & Simmons UK M&A €3.1billion ($3.7billion) Eurazeo (France) Europcar (Germany) Bredin Prat France, Slaughter and May Richard Cason (UK), Hengeler Mueller Germany, Bonelli Erede Pappalardo Italy, Uría Menéndez Juan Antonio Férnandez-Velilla (Spain) Clifford Chance M&A $14.6billion Capital One (US) North Fork (US) Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton US Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz US M&A €826million ($990million) Aleris International (US) Corus Group Aluminium (UK) Slaughter and May Graham Airs, Feiza Jivrai (UK) M&A €1.2billion ($1.4billion) Blackstone/ Lion Capital (US) Cadbury Schweppes (UK) Uría Menéndez Spain Slaughter and May, Pérez Llorca M&A Undisclosed Kuzbassrazrezugol (KRU) (Russia) Powerfuel (UK) Ashurst Richard Palmer (UK) Fishers Charles Killin and Louise Taylor (UK) M&A £652million ($1.1billion) L'Oréal (France) Bodyshop (UK) Bodyshop: Baker & McKenzie James Burdett (UK) , Anita and Gordon Roddick: Ashurst Geoffrey Green, Robert Ogilvy Watson (UK) Linklaters Richard Godden (UK) Type of deal Value Issuer Lead managers Adviser to Issuer Adviser to lead managers IPO CDN$410million ($352million) Addax Petroleum Corporation (Switzerland) Merrill Lynch Fasken Martineau Canada Herbert Smith Jim Wickenden, Adam Wells, Mark Tudor, Arit Ekpo, Siddharth Gyaltsen and Richard Hollis (UK) and Fraser Milner Casgrain (Canada) Project finance €657million ($787million) Junta de Compensació n Parque de Valdebebas BBVA and Caja Madrid Uría Menéndez Spain Clifford Chance Spain Debt Capital Markets €270million ($323million) ONO Finance II (Cableuropa, Auna Telecomunicacio (Spain)) Royal Bank of Scotland, Calyon, ABN Amro Clifford Chance US, England, Spain A&L Goodbody Ireland Uría Menéndez Rafael García Llaneza, Francisco Javier Blanco (Spain) Debt Capital Markets €2billion ($2.4billion) Santander (Spain) Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley In house Uría Menéndez Jesús López-Tello, Victor Martín (Spain) IPO $125million Falcon Asset Backed Investments (Guernsey) Antenna Hungária (Hungary) Slaughter and May Nilufer von Bismarck, Carl Della-Bosca, Sarah Dunstall (UK)

New Zealand's tax policy work programme for 2006 will help "to ensure our tax arrangements remain competitive with trading parties like Australia to encourage investment and promote productivity.", the country's revenue minister has said. High on the list of priorities was a business tax review, measures to increase productivity and growth, and New Zealand's international tax rules. Peter Dunne outlined the blueprint when addressing the annual conference of New Zealand branch of the International Fiscal Association in Wellington.

Priority Guidance Plan updates Revenue procedure regarding a new pilot ruling program relating to corporate reorganizations. (Published October 11 2005)