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Lawrence Kemm joined McDermott, Will & Emery in the UK from Baker & McKenzie on June 16 2003. Kemm is confident that McDermott, Will & Emery's relationship with other firms around the world will allow him to continue providing high quality tax advice internationally.

Michael Weaver and Travis Taylor, formerly in PricewaterhouseCoopers's tax valuations department, have set up Gravitas Partners in the UK with two former colleagues from the big-four firm. The practice hopes to provide a more personal service to its clients (some of whom have followed Taylor and Weaver from PricewaterhouseCoopers), while also providing access to senior tax practitioners with experience in a big-four firm.

Eric Roose: Avoiding high local taxation is important for offshore funds White & Case has launched a Tokyo investment and hedge-fund desk with its associated firm Kandabashi Law. The new eight-strong group delivers advice to offshore fund managers regarding tax-efficient hedge-fund structuring. Chris Wells, executive partner of White & Case in Tokyo, leads the group. Eric Roose and Yoshiaki Uno are also partners working on the project.

by Guy Brannan, Head of Tax, Linklaters

Dr Stefan Behrens of Clifford Chance explains how to structure tax-efficient management participations in management and leveraged buy outs using a German example

Sebastian Lawson-Foia, a solicitor admitted in England & Wales, has joined the Linklaters team in Bucharest. His experience includes advising on the tax aspects of a number of major cross-border corporate transactions, as well as various tax-based structured finance products.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the Act) imposes new restrictions relating to securities issued by entities that qualify as foreign private issuers under US securities laws. Significantly, these restrictions may be triggered by actions which are taken to comply with legal requirements applicable to the issuer's US pension plans.

In May 2003 the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) for the first time prosecuted a tax evader by using the common law offence of cheating public revenue instead of the usual statutory power conferred under section 82 of Inland Revenue Ordinance (IRO). Under the IRO, the maximum penalty for tax evasion is three-year imprisonment and a maximum fine of three times the tax undercharged as a result of the tax evasion. However, under the common law offence of cheating the public revenue, the heaviest penalty is seven-year imprisonment and a fine without upper limit (under section 101I of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance).

Since the announcement of the introduction of the 12.5% corporate tax rate in Ireland, certain tax practitioners, industry and other bodies have been calling for greater clarity concerning the meaning of trading for tax purposes. This is important because only trading income qualifies for the 12.5% tax rate. Non-trading income is liable to corporate tax at 25%. This has culminated in the recent publication of a guidance note by the Irish revenue commissioners (the Revenue) entitled Guidance on Revenue Opinions on Classification of Activities as Trading (the Revenue Guidance). A copy of the Revenue Guidance can be found on the Revenue website at www.revenue.ie.

On May 13 2003 the Australian government announced its response to the Review of International Tax Arrangements conducted by the Board of Taxation (BOT). The response includes a package of reforms designed to reduce the costs of compliance with the controlled foreign company (CFC) and foreign investment fund (FIF) rules, reducing tax on foreign active business income and a programme of modernizing Australia's tax treaties.