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In a ruling dated June 30 1997 (Saint-Gobain – IStR 1997, 557, with commentary by Dr Martin Lausterer), the Cologne Tax Court requested the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to decide whether various types of tax discrimination against the German permanent establishment of a foreign corporation resident in the EU are permitted under Article 52 of the EU Treaty (freedom of establishment).

The temporary importation of goods into the Russian Federation has become an increasingly problematic area for accredited representative offices of foreign entities. Many representative offices have goods which were imported on a temporary basis and are now reaching the end of their useful life. This raises the question of what should be done with these imported goods – and how much will it cost?

The economic stability experienced during the last few years, together with greater interest on the part of individuals in this type of insurance, has accelerated the development of life insurance and related products, in Argentina. International corporations, aware of this development, have started to set up and compete in this new market.

A Spanish court recently referred a question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling. At issue was the Spanish system for recovering input value-added tax (VAT) incurred prior to starting business activities; the system has traditionally been a bone of contention between the tax authorities and VAT payers.

A company is resident in Ireland for tax purposes if it is managed and controlled there. The fact that a company is incorporated in Ireland does not, of itself, impact on the tax status of the company in Ireland. The number of Irish incorporated, non-Irish resident companies has grown significantly in recent years, and they are now used extensively by non-Irish residents in the management of their affairs.

National elections held in September 1998 brought to office a new coalition government of Social Democrats and Greens under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. In early November, the new government published a major tax reform bill in draft form. In addition to their majority in the federal parliament, the parties composing the new government also control the federal council, which is accordingly expected to ratify the bill in its final form. It was inability to secure the consent of the federal council which doomed the 1997 tax reform efforts of the prior government.

The Finnish parliament will decide on the amendment of the Act on Taxation of Foreign Intermediate Companies later this year following the government bill (149/1998) presented to the parliament in October 1998. The government bill contains amendments to Article 2 of the Act regulating the scope of application of the Act.

The February 1998 federal budget contained several international tax measures which have now been released as draft legislation. There are a few surprises.

The recent decision of Australia's Federal Court in two cases involving companies within Kerry Packer's Consolidated Press Group have provided guidance for Australian taxpayers structuring overseas investments, including consideration of the deductibility of funding costs of international business. It should be noted that the decisions are subject to appeal.

After months of speculation, the UK government has released a consultative document on a GAAR. In a follow-up to last year’s article on the subject, Peter Nias of McDermott, Will & Emery, London argues that this could lead to excessive power for the courts and the Revenue