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Tom Scott: was impressed by KPMG's resources in international tax advice Tom Scott, the veteran former Linklaters partner, has left the international law firm to join KPMG's London tax practice. In an interview with International Tax Review, Scott said the move would allow him to develop stronger relationships with clients.

The government recently announced Oman's budget for 2005. The budget estimates a deficit of about $1.4 billion, which is based on a conservative oil price of $23 per barrel. The deficit is 6% of the projected GDP. The actual oil revenue realization during 2004 was $33.90 per barrel against the 2004 budgeted price of $21 per barrel. The increase in oil price during 2004 helped eliminate the entire budget deficit for 2004. There were no additional borrowings during 2004 and Oman's GDP grew by 12.5% during 2004. The growth rate in 2003 was 6.9%.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) started the new year on a positive note by issuing proposed regulations that provide for the first time that a statutory merger under foreign law may qualify as an A reorganization.

The 2005 Budget Law has not provided for any tax measures of great relevance. The socialist government, in office since March 2004, has promised a major tax reform for late 2005 the features of which are not yet known.

Ceteris, an independent transfer pricing and tax valuation boutique, has continued its expansion in the US by opening two new offices. Mark Schuette, formerly of Ernst & Young, will be in charge in Atlanta and Enrique Rayon, an ex-Deloitte adviser, will run the San Diego office.

The Arab Free Trade Zone came into effect on January 1 2005 marking the elimination of customs duty on intra-Arab trade. However, individual states will still have a "negative list" of trade items which will not qualify for exemption from customs duty. The Arab free trade zone currently comprises 17 member states: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, UAE, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, the Palestine Authority, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. There is ambiguity on how the changes - with effect from January 1 2005 in case of intra-Arab trade- will be implemented as no procedural guidelines on the actual implementation have been issued yet. Imports from non-member countries will continue to be subject to customs duty based on the individual country's legislations.

The Norwegian parliament passed a new tax reform in December 2004. A central part of the reform is the so-called "Exemption Model", that is, granting most corporate shareholders exemption from taxes on gains and dividends on shares, including the withholding tax on dividends.

Carlo Gnetti, a former Ernst & Young tax partner, has joined Baker & McKenzie, the international law firm. Gnetti will focus on international tax work in the firm's Milan office.

The US Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have released clarification on the one-time tax break on profit repatriation and the manufacturing deduction in the American Jobs Creation Act (AJCA).

A tax partner has left Gleiss Lutz, a German law firm, to set up independently. Wolfgang Blumers took two tax associates, Diethard Goerg and Ulrich-Peter Kinzl, with him to set up the Stuttgart-based boutique Blumers & Partner.