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International tax and beneficial ownership intersect when royalty payments are made cross-border. But there is no consistent definition of beneficial ownership that everyone can use, says Carlos Vargas of KPMG

Key advisers to the John Kerry and George Bush presidential campaigns debated tax policy at a conference in Washington DC on April 23 2004. Pamela Olson, former assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax policy, represented the Bush campaign while Gene Sperling, former national economic adviser to President Clinton, represented Kerry.

Sutherland Asbill & Brennan announced the return of Ann Cammack to their tax group on April 15 2004. Cammack rejoined the firm following a stint as an attorney adviser in the office of tax policy at the US Treasury. She will focus her practice on the taxation of insurance companies and insurance products from the firm's Washington DC office.

Finland's largest law firm, Roschier Holmberg, has formed an alliance with law firms from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in time for those countries' accession to the EU on May 1 2004. Raidla & Partners, Lejins Torgans & Vonsovics and Norcous & Partners, all of which have tax practices to compliment Roschier Holmberg's eight-strong tax team, agreed to the alliance on April 4 2004.

Germany could face proceedings in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) if it fails to respond to a European Commission (EC) demand to end its exit tax on unrealized capital gains of persons who leave the country. If Germany does not respond within two months of the April 19 2004 notice the EC will be able to challenge Germany's exit tax before the ECJ.

On April 9 2004 the Argentine Ministry of Economy announced several changes to the tax system mainly aimed at promoting investment in Argentina. The more relevant initiatives are as follows:

Rachel Anderson of KPMG says overseas shared service centres can offer global companies huge savings in operating costs, but that savings will only be maximized if tax issues are addressed early

Type of deal Valuer Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) M&A £170 million ($312 million) DS Smith LINPAC Group Holdings has agreed to sell LINPAC Containers Allen & Overy, London, David Lewis, Gareth Banfield Linklaters, London, Guy Dingley, Graham Francis M&A $1.3 billion Amgen Tularik Latham & Watkins, Los Angeles, Karen Bryan, James Barrall Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, Washington DC, Joseph Poerio M&A Undisclosed Kabel Deutschland Apollo, Blackstone, Bank of America and CDP Capital have agreed to sell Kabel Baden-Württemberg and iesy Hengeler Mueller, Frankfurt, Ernst-Thomas Kraft Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Cologne, Stephan Eilers M&A £1.3 billion ($2.5 billion) Albertson's J Sainsbury agreed to sell Shaw's Supermarkets Jones Day, Dallas, Dennis Drapkin J Sainsbury was advised by Linklaters, London, Charles Hellier, Conor Brindley; Shaw's Supermarkets was advised by Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, Ronald Creamer, Ansgar Simon M&A $350 million ADC Telecommunications GenTek Dorsey & Whitney, Minneapolis, Bruce Shnider Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom, New York, Regina Olshan, Stuart Finkelstein M&A $1.7 billion Manitoba Telecom Services Allstream Torys, Toronto, James Welkoff Stikeman Elliott, Toronto, Dean Kraus M&A $3.7 billion Fisher Scientific International Apogent Technologies Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, Regina Olshan, Stuart Finkelstein Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Robert Holo; Quarles & Brady, Milwaukee, David Wilmoth, Thomas Philips M&A $3.1 billion Marathon Oil Corporation has agreed to acquire the remaining 38% interest of its joint venture company, Marathon Ashland Petroleum, from Ashland Ashland Miller & Chevalier Chtd, Washington DC, Daniel Luchsinger, David Zimmerman Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, Stephen Gordon, Michael Schler, Lauren Angelilli, Darren Heil M&A $3.4 billion Ker-McGee and Westport Resources have agreed to merge Under the terms of the agreement, Kerr-McGee will pay 0.71 of its stock for each Westport Resources share Kerr-McGee was advised by Covington & Burling, New York, Elizabeth Kessenides Westport Resources was advised by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Dallas, Daniel Micciche; New York, Adrienne Scerbak M&A Undisclosed Vorwerk & Co Jafra Cosmetics Business Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Gary Mandel; Palo Alto, Katharine Moir Debevoise & Plimpton, New York, Gary Freedman M&A $4.5 billion The Jean Coutu Group and CVS Corporation JC Penney Company agreed to sell its Eckerd drugstore operations The Jean Coutou Group was advised by McDermott, Will & Emery, Chicago, Dan Zucker; CVS Corporation was advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, Dana Trier, Laura Barzilai JC Penney Company was advised by Jones Day, Dallas, Dennis Drapkin M&A £500 million ($893 million) Prestbury Spirit Group KPMG, London, Ian Latter, Gautam Mistry, Simon Yeo, Paul Seviour, Richard Ross, Caroline Kemp; Taylor Wessing, London, Alex Thomas Deloitte, London, Andy Newsome, Mike Thorne Type of deal Value Issuer Lead managers Adviser to Issuer Adviser to lead managers Securities issue $190 million BSCH Lehman Brothers Dorsey & Whitney, New York, Robert Franklin, Brian Davis Uría & Menéndez, Madrid, Jesús López Tello, Víctor Martín IPO $304 million Catlin Group Goldman Sachs International, JPMorgan and UBS Investment Bank Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, David Spitzer, Joseph Septimus Slaughter and May, London, Sara Luder, Simon Letherman Notes issue $230 million Saks Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Global Markets, Banc of America Securities, Banc One Capital Markets and Wachovia Securities Alston & Bird, Washington DC, Charles Wheeler; New York, Edward Tanenbaum Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, New York, Edward Kleinbard

Directive 2001/44/EC – Choice of legal basis.

Sixth VAT Directive – Articles 2, 4(2), 13B(d) and 19(2) – Meaning of ‘economic activities’ – Meaning of ‘incidental financial transactions’ – Services effected for consideration.