Search results for

Observers of the Middle East region might have noticed the recent impetus by the Saudi Arabian government to improve its network of tax treaties. Saudi Arabia for a long time only had one tax treaty in place, with France. Over the last year, there has been a relative flurry of treaty negotiations leading to the recent signing of tax treaties with, amongst others, Russia, China, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Italy.

In the Marks & Spencer case (C-446/03) the ECJ held that if an EU member state allows a parent company to deduct losses of domestic subsidiaries then a rule which generally prevents the deduction of losses incurred by a foreign (non-resident) subsidiary is a restriction of the freedom of establishment and an infringement on articles 43 and 48 of the EC Treaty. Such restriction might be justified if the non-resident subsidiary (or a third party) has the possibility to claim relief with regard to the losses in the other country. They can do this, for example, by applying the loss against profits of prior periods by way of a loss carry-back, by carrying the loss forward to offset against future income or by transferring the loss to a third party.

Non-Canadian corporations with a Canadian shareholder base planning to spin-off the shares of a non-Canadian subsidiary might wish to consider taking steps to provide their Canadian shareholders with the opportunity to elect to defer tax on the spin-off.

According to the Chilean IRS understanding, a regional presidency does not constitute a legal entity but a group of executives and regional directors who carry out their functions under a subordination liaison with a foreign company.

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