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US firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher has hired a former Andersen partner for its Paris office. Marie-Hélène Raffin will join the firm as a partner in October this year. At the time of going to press, Raffin was working at Cabinet Archibald International, the present name for what was Andersen Legal in France. Andersen is in the early stages of integrating with Ernst & Young there, though a substantial number of tax professionals have joined Deloitte & Touche and other law firms.

The US Internal Revenue Service has been putting forward the market capitalization approach as a tool for calculating buy-in payments for cost-sharing arrangements. Is this the best method? Jacqueline Doonan and Jessica Tien, Deloitte & Touche, San Francisco, have their doubts.

According to reports in The Star newspaper in Malaysia, tax collection is meeting its targets and the country will not raise its sales and services taxes. According to the report, the customs department intends to collect around M$25 billion ($6.6 billion) in tax in 2002 compared to M$18 billion in 2001. So far this year it has collected M$14 billion.

The Australian revenue minister and assistant treasurer, Helen Coonan, has described in a statement the responsibilities that the inspector general of taxation will have when appointed. She explained that her key priorities were to improve the responsiveness of the tax system to genuine concerns of taxpayers and to keep the tax system fair. She explains: ?A vital part of the government's election platform to improve the tax system is the establishment of the inspector-general of taxation as a new advocate for taxpayers and an independent adviser to government on tax administration issues.?

Irish law firm A&L Goodbody has set up a value-added tax (VAT) group in Dublin with a former KPMG tax partner. John McGlone joined the firm at the end of August as head of VAT. McGlone worked with KPMG for just under four years until 1998 when he joined GE in Dublin as European VAT manager. He left GE last year and spent 12 months working as an independent tax consultant.

The Cayman Islands is not planning any change in government policy regarding foreign tax evasion activities, according to the Cayman Net News. According to the news service, the leader of the Islands' government business committee, McKeeva Bush, confirmed that the islands have always been tax neutral and no legislation has been passed to change this.

McDermott Will & Emery has expanded its US tax group with two lateral partner hires. Michael Gosk and Thomas Sykes have joined the Silicon Valley and Chicago offices respectively. The firm has also hired two associates for the Washington and New York offices.

Australia's long-awaited reform of business taxation has taken a small step forward with the release by the Treasurer of a consultation paper Review of International Taxation. Business has been unhappy with the existing system for some time, and critics argue that the tax regime is holding back the development of Australian enterprises and even driving companies out of the country. The decisions of companies including Brambles and James Hardie Industries to relocate offshore have added weight to these criticisms.

The Pata Package proposed uniform transfer pricing rules and guidelines to ease the compliance burden on members. However, the opposite may in fact be achieved, claims an international coalition responding to the proposals. Summarized by John Lyons and Albertina M Fernandez, Deloitte & Touche, Washington DC.

France’s R&D tax credit regime offers substantial benefits for foreign investors. Make sure the relevant qualifying expenditure is properly documented from the outset, advise Isabelle MacInnes and Pascal D’Hont of Ernst & Young’s French Tax Desk, London.