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The Mexico-Greece double tax treaty was published on December 31 in the Mexican Official Gazette and became effective from January 1 2006.

The Belgian value-added tax (VAT) legislation foresees in the possibility that invoices are issued by the customer by derogation to the general rule that invoices are to be issued by the supplier of the goods or services (self-billing). In its administrative circular of December 8, the Belgian VAT authorities have now outlined the scope and the application modalities of the self-billing procedure. The administrative circular becomes effective retroactively as from January 1 2004.

The Indian Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) recently examined whether a US pension trust is entitled to claim benefits under the India-US tax treaty for income from the sale of portfolio investments in India.

Nearly three-quarters of companies want the government to provide tax credits for the money that businesses spend on training, an UK Engineering Employers' Federation survey has found.

Miroslaw Barszcz: Key role in tax compliance Miroslaw Barszcz has left the Warsaw office of Baker & McKenzie to join the Government of Poland as vice minister of finance.

Intra-group service fees are undoubtedly one of the most scrutinized items by the Swedish Tax Agency (STA) during tax audits. The continued scrutiny of intra-group service fees coupled with the STA's often controversial and sometimes erratic positions in its analyses has led to several court cases in this area. Arguably, a review of the aforementioned court cases could dishearten any fervent follower of the transfer pricing guidelines issued by the OECD (OECD Guidelines). Unfortunately for taxpayers and tax practitioners, the Swedish courts have tended to side with the STA. Nevertheless, there may be room for positive reform. A pending court case dealing with intra-group services may give the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) an opportunity to set a positive precedent in one of the most recurring transfer pricing issues in Sweden.

By Jeffrey Owens, OECD

TN Pandey, a former chairman of India's Central Board for Direct Taxes, has said the country's fringe benefits tax should be reformed rather than scrapped

David Zaiken has joined Alvarez & Marsal Tax Advisory Services as a managing director in the firm's San Francisco office. He was previously a tax partner at KPMG on the US international tax and Asia Pacific supply chain teams. Before this he spent 26 years with Arthur Andersen as a tax partner and member of its global tax and supply chain teams.

Russell Nance and Gary Silverstein have been appointed special counsel in the tax department of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft in New York. Nance advises on the tax aspects of debt and equity issuances, complex financial instruments, securitizations, collateralized debt obligations (CDO), and taxable and tax-deferred corporate acquisition and divestiture transactions. Silverstein represents issuers, underwriters, insurers and other parties on the tax aspects of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, real estate mortgage interest conduits and other debt issuances, including CDO and collateralized loan transactions.