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The Japanese government's lawmaking body has enacted tax revision bills focusing on extended tax breaks for home loans and withholding taxes on capital gains. And according to local reports, wider tax reforms to boost the country's stock market are expected.

Structured finance lawyers in Italy are swamped with securitizations, as originators rush to close deals before a favourable accounting benefit comes to an end in May

Cooley Godward has increased its tax department with the recruitment of two tax partners. Glen Kohl, a former treasury department official, has joined the firm's Palo Alto office, while Mark Hrenya has joined the Denver office.

DATE TYPE OF DEAL VALUE ACQUIRER TARGET HOLDER ADVISERS TO TARGET ADVISERS TO ACQUIRER ADVISERS TO HOLDER 26/2/01 Acquisition £1.8 billion ($2.55 billion) Innogy (UK) 94.75% of Yorkshire power American Electric Power (AEP), Xcel Energy N/A KPMG, London, Michelle Bond, Pete Wilkinson; Linklaters, London, Mike Hardwick, Claire Hopes, Judith Cairns Allen & Overy, London, Michael McGowan, Dorothy Wilkinson, Arun Birla

German tax law contains a general anti-abuse provision in section 42 of the Tax Procedure Act. The section reads as follows: "The tax laws may not be circumvented by abuse of legal structuring possibilities. In case of [such] abuse, the tax claim [of the tax authorities] is the same as that arising under a structure appropriate to the economic transaction."

The Finnish Act on Income Taxation (1535/1992) was amended by the Act on Amending the Act on Income Taxation (1165/2000), that entered into force on January 1 2001. The central provision to be amended was the definition of foreign earned income (ulkomaantyötulo). Foreign earned income was previously defined as income received by a person otherwise generally liable to pay tax in Finland from working abroad, provided that the stay of this employee abroad is directly due to such work and the stay abroad lasts for at least six months uninterrupted (the so-called 'six months' rule'). According to the new provision, income received as an employee stock option benefit or as a benefit due to the right to subscribe for shares in a corporation at a price lower than current value (employee share issue) is no longer considered as foreign earned income unless:

India’s recent budget represents a balancing act between addressing fiscal deficit and encouraging investment, By Rajeshree Sabnavis and Harish Hulyalkar of Andersen, Mumbai

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

Last year's merger of Clifford Chance with Pünder Volhard Weber & Axster has ended in disaster for Clifford Chance in Warsaw, with the Pünder team moving to Beiten Burkhardt Mittl & Wegener (BBLP). A total of 16 Pünder personnel will join the BBLP on April 1 2001. This includes two tax advisers, and with a lateral hire yet to be announced, will bring the number of tax specialists at BBLP, Warsaw, to four.

After extensive consultation, on January 31 2001 Singapore's Ministry of Finance released details of the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), which was first announced in the February 2000 Budget speech.