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On March 8 2004 the US Senate Committee on Finance considered the nomination of Donald Korb, President Bush's nominee for the position of IRS Chief Counsel. Korb, now a partner with Thompson Hine in Cleveland, was assistant to Commissioner Roscoe Egger in the mid-1980s when the IRS spearheaded an attack on tax shelters. Korb vowed to continue the struggle against tax shelters during his testimony. Korb's nomination will still require confirmation from the Senate.

Standard & Poor's tax flexibility ratings released on March 9 2004, show that South Korea, followed by Australia, Switzerland and Japan, has the most flexible tax system. The ratings firm assesses tax flexibility as part of its sovereign bond assessment, giving high tax-flexibility ratings for low tax rates, many exemptions and relatively lax tax administration. In times of economic difficulty, such tax systems have greater scope to increase taxes and improve their administration. According to the study, the most tax-inflexible countries were Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Finland and Germany.

Tom DeLay, US House of Representatives' majority leader, announced on March 9 2004 that he expects the House to consider the Thomas Bill that will repeal the FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000 (ETI Act) before April 5 2004. Senator Grassley's Bill, which is competing with the House Bill to replace the ETI Act, became mired in numerous amendments in the Senate last week but debate will resume on March 22 2004.

Tax avoidance schemes have risen to the top of the hit list of Gordon Brown, UK chancellor of the exchequer, just days before he reveals the annual Budget on March 17 2004

Corporate taxpayers in Hong Kong had few reasons to remember the Hong Kong Budget, which Henry Tang, the territory’s financial secretary, unveiled on March 10 2004

Senator Helen Coonan, Australia’s minister for revenue and assistant treasurer, announced on March 1 2004 that the government will introduce legislation to change the interest withholding tax (IWT) exemptions for payments relating to offshore borrowing

Germany enacted many changes in its value-added tax (VAT) law in December 2003

The UK Inland Revenue's powers to investigate taxpayers has received a boost after the Court of Appeal in London rejected the Bank of England's appeal in its case against the Three Rivers Council that legal advice privilege does not extend to strategic advice over how to present evidence. The appellants also failed to establish that the communications between the bank and its lawyers were covered by litigation privilege.

European Union finance ministers in Brussels increased pressure on Switzerland to sign an accord on offshore tax fraud at the monthly Ecofin council meeting on March 9 2004

The country's parliamentary finance and economics committee has approved a Bill to reduce the top corporate tax rate from 55% to 25%. The Bill, part of an overall economic stimulus package focussed on encouraging foreign investment will soon go before parliament for approval.