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The Canadian Supreme Court decision last year in Markevich v. The Queen affirmed that federal limitation periods may limit collection of long-outstanding tax debts

The French tax authorities use the abuse-of-law theory as an obstacle to oppose tax avoidance schemes when the latter are deemed excessive. In order to apply this theory, the French tax authorities must have evidence of either the fictitious nature of the transaction (interposition of persons, fictive or disguised deed) or an exclusive tax-driven purpose. The French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d'Etat, January 17 1994, Chollet) or the French Civil Supreme Court (Cass. Com., December 10 1996, Sté RMC France) interpret this notion in a restrictive way. In particular, restructurings, the effects of which generally go beyond the strict field of tax, are unlikely to fall within the scope of the abuse-of-law theory.

Peter Costello described his ninth - and perhaps final - Budget as designed to keep Australia's economy strong. He may well have added that it also strengthens the re-election chances of the coalition government. In a clear pitch to middle Australia, the treasurer announced increased payments to families, increased superannuation government co-contributions, and personal tax cuts that will ensure that the majority of Australian workers pay a top tax rate of 30%. He also announced spending initiatives in the key sensitive areas of health, education and aged care.

Iraq does have corporate tax rules in spite of the year-long turmoil. But they could be changed after the transfer of sovereignty in June 2004, warn Mahyra Roy and Michel Picard of KPMG

The UK is one of the few countries in the world to have separate agencies for collecting direct and indirect tax. Now the plan is to unite them. Simon Briault assesses the reaction to the merger of the Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise

Corporate tax rates across the EU Existing members Austria 34% Belgium 33% Denmark 30% Finland 29% France 29% Germany 20% Greece 35% Ireland 12.5% Italy 34% Luxembourg 22% Netherlands 34.5% Portugal 30% Spain 35% Sweden 28% United Kingdom 30% New members Cyprus 10% Czech Republic 28% Estonia 35% Hungary 18% Latvia 15% Lithuania 15% Malta 35% Poland 19% Slovakia 19% Slovenia 25% Source: Ernst & Young's Worldwide Corporate Tax Guide (as at January 1 2004). Note the method of calculation varies from country to country The Franco-German push for harmonized corporate tax rates across the EU's 25 members gained momentum on May 18 2004 when Robert Verrue, director-general of taxation and customs union, gave support to a single, EU-wide company tax base.

The National Tax Service of Korea (NTS) plans to cut back on the number of corporate tax audits and shorten their length this year. NTS commissioner Lee Yong-sup announced the plans on May 21 2004 as part of the government's efforts to reduce the compliance burden for companies with clean tax records.

José Abascal, 45

Brigitte van Dijk-Hoogvliet and Daniël Lierens, both transfer pricing economists, joined Baker McKenzie's Amsterdam office on May 1 2004. The move follows the hire of two economists from big-four firms in the US in April. Baker & McKenzie is one of the few global law firms to hire economists to support its transfer pricing practice.