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The US has filed a case with the WTO about China, charging that its value-added tax (VAT) rebates for domestic producers of semiconductors violate global trade rules

Vladimir Putin, Russian President, has targeted the oil industry to pay for sweeping tax reforms that would cut social tax paid by Russian companies. He has said once the tax system is reformed, it must not undergo changes for a long time.

On February 12 2004 Advocate General (AG) Kokott issued her opinion in the Weidert and Paulus case (C-242/03)

The Chinese State Administration of Taxation has announced a tax amnesty that will allow foreign residents who are taxable in China to pay their overdue or underreported tax liabilities without penalties. The amnesty allows foreign residents or their withholding agents to remit overdue tax payments on or before June 30 2004, without penalties.

The Mexican government published the tax treaty with Australia and its protocol on February 13 2004. The treaty, signed on September 9 2002, became effective with respect to withholding taxes on dividends, interest and royalties for amounts paid or accredited on or after January 1 2004. The treaty's remaining provisions will be effective from July 1 2004.

A combination of previously-announced initiatives and government leaks took the tax sting out of the UK Budget, which was announced by Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, on March 17 2004

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