Topics In Brief

AuthorInternational Law Group
Pages14-15

Page 14

U S. Treasury Department announces new tax agreements with four nations

On January 2, 2008, the Treasury Department reported some recent developments in international tax agreements. In the case of Belgium, a new income tax treaty and, for three other nations, protocols entered into force on December 28, 2007. The three protocols modify existing tax treaties with Denmark, Finland and Germany. Two types of provision are common to the agreements with Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Germany: (1) the elimination of source-country withholding taxes on certain dividends; and (2) the modernization of the their treaties' limitations on benefits provisions. Only Germany and Belgium have added a provision requiring arbitration of certain tax disputes that competent authorities have been unable to resolve within a specified period. These changes generally apply to tax years beginning on, or after, January 1, 2008. Certain provisions of the protocols with both Germany and Finland are effective, however, on, or after, January 1, 2007.

citation: U.S. Federal News (HT Syndication), Washington, D.C., Wednesday, January 2, 2008; 2008 W. L. N. R. 211267.

Heads of EU Member States sign new Treaty on EU governance

Meeting in the ornate 16th-century monastery of Geronimos near Lisbon, Portugal, European Union leaders signed a new treaty on December 13, 2007, that will change the political machinery for running the 27-nation bloc. Those changes include the creation of a permanent post of EU President with a 2-1/2-year term. ThePage 15 treaty would also enable the EU to make more governmental decisions by majority vote rather than unanimously. Finally, the new charter will vest Foreign Policy duties in a single new Representative. The European leaders praised the treaty, asserting that it would help the Union conquer the political drift which has plagued it since the 2005 referenda in France and the Netherlands defeated the proposed constitution. A few of the achievements of the EU thus far consist of (1) the establishing open borders among the Member States, and (2) the joining of several former Communist nations in 2004; and (3) the adoption of the Euro as a common currency in more than one...

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