Search results for

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing KPMG and four KPMG partners including the head of the firm’s department of professional practice for fraud

The Russian government may introduce substantial tax reforms

Allen & Overy advised Schroder Salomon Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch on a £3 billion ($4.9 billion) securitization for Northern Rock. The securitization was backed by its portfolio of residential mortgages and allows Northern Rock to issue new home loans. Securitization partner Salim Nathoo led the Allen & Overy team with Mark Brailsford and Adam Blakemore advising on tax matters.

On October 2002 the Norwegian Supreme Court made a decision regarding Amoco Norway and its right to deduct insurance premium paid to an intra-group insurance company, Northern Resources Assurance (Northern).

An additional Protocol to the existing US-Mexico Income Tax Treaty was signed recently in an effort to bring the treaty relationship with Mexico into closer conformity with US treaty policy and certain domestic legislation, as well as to take into account the recent changes in the laws and policies of both Mexico and the US.

The Ministry of Finance announced the tax reform plan for 2003 on December 19 2002. The proposed changes include the following items.

Section 155A of the French Tax Code (FTC) aims to prevent taxpayers domiciled or established in France or abroad from taking shelter under foreign service companies in order to avoid tax on amounts that would in principle be taxable in France.

A new circular, issued by the State Administration of Taxation and effective from January 1 2003, clarifies the application of enterprise income tax (EIT) and business tax (BT) in relation to the provision of services by a holding company to its investee companies. In particular, the circular provides that the service fee charged by the holding company may be determined by contract and be based on the particular criteria set out in the contract; and by allocating fees calculated on the actual expenses incurred by the holding company.

In its decision of January 22 2003 in what is known as the Pirelli case, the UK High Court rejected a claim by the Inland Revenue that companies that would otherwise be entitled to compensation in respect of advance corporation tax (ACT) paid on dividends to the parent companies in the EU on the basis of the European Court of Justice decision in the Hoechst case, should be denied such compensation or be subject to an offsetting reduction if the group was entitled to a tax credit refund under a double tax treaty between the UK and the country in which the parent company was resident. The court also decided that it was not necessary at this stage to refer to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) the issue as to whether ACT was a withholding tax. This decision is subject to appeal.

Where an Australian consolidated group is owned by a foreign parent company, consideration must be given to the tax impact for the foreign parent of how the liability to pay the Australian group's income tax arises.