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The Russian parliament has passed the profit (corporate) tax chapter in its first reading. The long-awaited chapter was passed by the Duma on April 5 2001 and amendments are being made in preparation for the second reading, which should take place by the end of May. The draft has been jointly prepared by the government and the Duma tax committee. The changes, which should be passed for the third and final time by the summer and will come into force in January 2002, have, on the whole, been welcomed by business as they come closer than before to creating a tax on profit rather than income. Domestic finance institutions will be particularly boosted by the measures.

German firm Haarmann Hemmelrath has increased its Paris tax practice with the recruitment of a partner from Landwell et Associés. Alfred Fink joined on April 1 after spending five years with Landwell and prior to that six years with Coopers & Lybrand. Fink will be in charge of corporate finance and banking law, as well as international tax law. He brings with him an assistant, Etienne Mathey.

Over-complexity and over-simplicity are just two of the evils marring the sophistication of tax regimes in many Asian jurisdictions. The following article looks at how variety spices up the business of tax advice in Asia and provides the results of International Tax Review's survey into Asia's best advisers. By Sharon Cunningham

The Seychelles ambassador to Malaysia has signed an agreement with Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai to avoid double taxation between the two countries. The agreement will benefit Thai businesses involved in exporting to the Seychelles, Sathirathai said. The Seychelles is thought to be keen to attract Thai investment in its hotel industry, and is negotiating further treaties with other trading partners.

US republican senators George Allen and Conrad Burns have introduced a bill intended to make the country's present internet tax moratorium permanent. The Internet Tax Non-discrimination Act will extend the provisions of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prevents consumers from being taxed in multiple states on their online transactions and bars all federal taxes on electronic commerce. The present moratorium became effective on October 1 1998 and is due to expire on October 21 2001.

The Democrats have defeated a proposed US constitutional amendment that would require the support of a two-thirds majority in both houses to raise taxes

In last month’s article, the authors discussed the tricky question of what constitutes a QI and recently issued guidance by the IRS. Part two of this article answers frequently asked questions about the day-to-day application of the QI rules and addresses the need not to be complacent, By Philip Marcovici and Marnin Michaels of Baker & McKenzie’s Zurich office, Thomas O’Donnell in the Paris office and David Balaban and Peter Connors of Baker & McKenzie in New York

Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are to bolster their New York practices with the appointment of seven partners across a variety of practice areas at the UK firms.

The tax panel of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is to introduce tax breaks for companies using the treasury stock system to buy back shares and keep them in reserve. The government removed the ban on the process earlier this month, and approved the liberalization of treasury stocks in its emergency economic package.

Chile's finance minister has announced a package of tax reforms aimed at encouraging foreign investment and at stimulating the country's stock market