Iron ore company Fortescue Metals has lost its attempt to throw out the minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) in Australia’s High Court meaning the tax is here to stay, for now.
The Bombay High Court has said that India’s authority for advance rulings (AAR) may not refuse to deliver a decision for taxpayers based on a suspicion that they have misrepresented the facts, in a case involving Mahindra BT Investment (Mahindra) and AT&T International (AT&T).
Orange France is lodging an appeal with the Administrative Appeal Court of Versailles after it lost a case in which it argued that when an impairment reserve was not deducted for tax purposes, the cancellation of that reserve should not be taxable in any circumstances.
Italian taxpayers could receive significant benefits if they enter into the tax authority’s cooperative compliance relationship. These could include removing the need for preventive rulings to enable them to deal with entities in blacklisted jurisdictions, less data reporting requirements around transactions and a removal of the requirement to provide bank guarantees in relation to tax credits.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has followed its decisions in previous exit tax cases such as National Grid Indus by declaring Denmark’s rules against EU law, but has added that member states are permitted to define additional taxable events to charge taxpayers whose assets may never be realised.
Companies in India are struggling with the tax authorities’ disjointed approach to litigation, often needing to dispute issues the courts have settled in previous cases. Cairn Energy’s head of taxation believes a centralised litigation strategy by the authorities would help to make the environment less uncertain for taxpayers.
