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Reto Savoia and Stefan Kuhn of Deloitte discuss certain key aspects of M&A transactions/leveraged buy-outs in Switzerland in light of the current tax environment

Switzerland's tax regime has a lot of advantages for any multinational corporation thinking of locating a headquarters there, explain Thierry Sauvaire and Andreas Müller of KPMG

Final withholding tax on interest income introduced The Luxembourg Law of December 23 2005 introduces a final withholding tax on interest income for individuals. According to the law, any Luxembourg paying agent that pays interest to a resident beneficial owner must apply a final withholding tax of 10%. The withholding is final in the sense that no further tax is payable on the income, the interest is not required to be reported in the taxpayer's tax return and it is not taken into account when calculating the average rates of tax on the income.

Throughout 2005 Ireland continued to enjoy record levels of growth (4.6% GDP), with low unemployment. The tax system in Ireland remains a vital component of Ireland's economic success story and an important reason why it remains a destination of choice for inward investment into Europe. The corporation tax rate is 12.5% on trading income (one of the lowest in the EU), and there is an accessible and responsive regulatory touch in the tax arena.

In the context of the application of Middle East regional tax treaties and the potential conflict between regional taxing systems and standard tax treaty language, at the heart of the debate about whether regionally-based businesses qualify as 'residents' for treaty purposes, and of considerable interest to regional businesses with historic and significant trade links with the sub-continent, is the application of the Indian tax treaties in the region, particularly India's treaty with the UAE. In this context it is interesting to note the decision of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Mumbai in India.

According to a decision of the French Constitutional Court on December 29 2005 (which confirms the terms of the High Court decision of June 29 2005), value-added tax (VAT) was included in the motorway tolls paid during the years 1996 to 2000.

On November 23 2005, the federal minister of finance announced income tax measures intended to help equalize the income tax treatment of dividends from corporations and distributions from income funds. Income funds are an increasingly common business structure in Canada for operating businesses involving public entities which are flow-through entities for tax purposes.

On December 29 2005, the finance minister issued Ordinance 436 and the Normative Instruction 602, which amended Brazilian transfer pricing legislation, to minimize the effects for Brazilian exporting companies of the appreciation of the local currency in relation to foreign currencies (more specifically the dollar and the euro), Since January 1 2005, the Brazilian currency (real) has gone from 2.7 per dollar to about 2.2 per dollar at the end of December 2005, a currency appreciation of more than 20%. As per the ordinance and normative instruction, Brazilian exporting companies will be allowed to increase their export revenues for calendar year 2005 (for transfer pricing calculation purposes) using the ratio of 1.35. This exceptional measure will only apply for the fiscal year 2005.

Corporate reorganizations, thin capitalization and transfer pricing are some of the areas covered by the 2006 tax reform proposals. Hidehiro Utsumi of Linklaters reveals these proposals and some tax law changes required due to changes to the corporate law.

Two reports published in the US in the last year propose changes to corporate residency and territorial tax rules. Any changes could have serious consequences for the inbound planning of foreign multinationals, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers