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The European Commission has announced that it is to improve the tax regime for the cross-border provision of occupational pensions. The plans were announced at the Stockholm European Council, March 23-24, and form part of the Commission's strategy to open up the pan-European labour market by 2005, announced 28 February. They complement the Commission's draft directive of October 2000, which proposed allowing cross-border pension plans but did not cover tax issues. This directive is due to come into effect at the end of 2003.

Following annual consultations with businesses and representative organizations, the UK Inland Revenue has announced details of the UK's treaty priorities for 2001/2002. In an official statement, UK Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo stated that while the country's top priority is to finish the double taxation treaty with the US, there are also plans for completing work on treaties with countries including France, Jordan and South Africa. She also stated her intention to hold talks about new or updated tax treaties with Croatia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Slovenia.

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Ernst & Young provides innovative tax planning and customized business solutions for multinationals operating in the Asia-Pacific region and throughout the world. Our Tax Practice is comprised of professionals in every area of tax including: business tax reform; corporate taxes; capital gains tax; transaction taxes (such as GST, stamp duty and customs duty); international tax; transfer pricing; expatriate taxes; financial services and capital markets; specialized tax function process consulting; global employment solutions; and tax outsourcing.

Norton Rose has hired the first tax partner for its Paris office. Bertrand Dussert joins the firm from Bureau Francis Lebebvre. He will specialize in international corporate tax.

The Spanish general tax law (Ley General Tributaria) regulates the main principles and the basic framework of the Spanish taxation system. It was issued in 1963 and underwent substantial modifications in 1985, 1995 and 1998. The government intends to replace it with a new law to update it into a single text and to modernize it. The first step has been to appoint a Reform Commission. The aim of this commission is to provide the government with ideas and proposals from various sources (tax professionals, employers' associations, etc).

The decision recently handed down by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the matter of AMID NV suggests that central aspects of German tax law on cross-border loss utilization are in violation of the freedom of establishment clause of the EC Treaty (article 43; formerly, article 52). As pointed out by Gert Saß (Der Betrieb 2001, 508), the judgment raises two questions:

A ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last year has put additional pressure on the Finnish government to amend the Finnish avoir fiscal system for dividend taxation. In the ruling, the ECJ found that the Dutch dividend tax system was incompatible with the EC Treaty. Although under the Finnish avoir fiscal system foreign dividends are treated differently than Finnish dividends, it has been argued that the Finnish system has a discriminatory effect.

An increasing number of multinationals are implementing their stock option plans in Germany. There are both benefits for employees and tax consequences for the local German subsidiary. By Hans-Jörg Fischer, Deloitte & Touche, Frankfurt

The Netherlands Supreme Court has recently announced decisions on the participation exemption and fiscal unity regime. Multinationals take note. By Corina van Lindonk and Mark van der Linden, Deloitte & Touche, Rotterdam and Chicago