Search results for

Recovery of sums paid but not due — Treatment of a national charge incompatible with Community law.

In August of this year, the Canadian revenue authorities issued a discussion paper on the subject of waivers from the withholding requirement for payments to non residents. The administrative positions set out are onerous. The government expects to finalize and implement the changes to its waiver procedures with effect from January 1 1999. Some moderation in these rules would be welcomed.

In March 1998, Argentina's executive signed a tax reform proposal containing several provisions. Among the most relevant provisions included in the tax legislation based on the bill approved by the Lower Chamber, are those related to worldwide income and the definition of residence.

Merrill Lynch lost another round in the US courts in late August, in its efforts to defend a complicated financial product that it sold to prominent US corporations to help the companies generate capital losses. The decision is important for international tax planning because it shows the fragility of financial products that have little purpose other than generating tax results when tested in the US courts.

UK mutual insurance company Friends' Provident is to buy London & Manchester, a life insurance company. The deal is valued at £750 million ($1.2 billion) and will make Friends' Provident the UK's fourth-largest mutual life insurance company.

Marathon Oil, a Houston-based subsidiary of USX-Marathon, has acquired Tarragon Oil and Gas of Canada for $760 million. Marathon will also assume around $360 million in Tarragon debt. Tarragon shareholders have the option of receiving $9.80 a share, or the equivalent value in shares of a Canadian subsidiary of Marathon.

Dutch packaging and distribution group KNP BT, has agreed to sell its packaging division to UK venture capital groups CVC and Cinven. The deal is worth Fls 3.4 billion ($ 1.7 billion).

US insurance broker Marsh & McLennan is to buy UK insurance broker Sedgwick for $1.25 billion. Marsh & McLennan was known to be looking at the UK insurance sector, and was interested in Willis Koroon until it was bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts last month. The acquisition will create the world's largest insurance broker.

A report by the OECD has found that the tax burden in its member states is continuing to rise. The report notes an increase in the average tax burden to 37.7% of gross domestic product in 1996, compared with an average of 33% in 1980. The annual report, entitled Revenue Statistics in OECD Member Countries, details the level and structure of the tax burden in the OECD's 29 member countries. It is designed to be an aid to governments and companies in policy formation.

Colombia's finance minister, Juan Camilo Restrepo, has sent a message to the country's congress urging it to pass proposed tax reforms quickly. The package was introduced at the beginning of September 1998, as part of government efforts to reduce the budget deficit. The most important proposals deal with sales tax. While the rate is to go down from 16% to 15%, a large number of new goods and services are to be taxed. These include some foods, business rents, credit cards, farming machinery and certain household goods.