Search results for

Indian Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh has refused to initiate a review of the existing India-Mauritius tax treaty. Critics of the treaty argue that in its present form it is being misused by Indian businesses. At the moment Indian companies or individuals are able to set up a Mauritian company and make investments into India while under the double tax treaty capital gains tax is only payable in one country. This has been used by companies to avoid paying capital gains tax on investments in India and in 2000 was branded abuse of the treaty by tax inspectors.

Investment in the Isle of Man could well increase after the Manx government announced plans to introduce a standard 0% rate of income tax for business. The announcement on June 24 2002 is part of the island's wider strategy to enhance its reputation as an AAA-rated jurisdiction with good regulations, transparency and infrastructure as well as beneficial tax rates.

Mexico's transfer pricing reforms are somewhat vague but could increase the overall tax bruden. By Jorge Narvaez-Hasfura and Eric Torrey, Baker & McKenzie, Mexico City

The European Commission has declared the US exclusions from protectionist steel measures ?manifestly insufficient'. At the time of going to press the European Commission was due to present its recommendations on short-term countermeasures against the US to the general affairs council on July 19 2002. The short list of punitive tariffs amounts to $380 million and was set to be discussed by the council on July 22 2002. The US steel safeguards introduced in June this year, affected E2.3 billion ($2.1 billion) of EU steel exports. The US exclusions only cover some 333,000 tonnes, which the EU estimates, is only around a tenth of exports. The EU claims that the US safeguards are damaging the US economy by creating artificially high prices as well as affecting foreign exporters. It is also fully expecting the WTO to condemn the measures next year.

767 Fifth Avenue

Toronto

1275 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Toronto

PricewaterhouseCoopers draws on the knowledge of more than 150,000 people in 150 countries. We help our clients solve complex business problems and measurably enhance their ability to build value, manage risk, and improve performance in an Internet-enabled world.

Toronto