International round up

Speed Read: A recent ECOFIN Council meeting concluded that the EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation should apply to third countries and adopted a resolution to co-ordinate Member States tax policies on anti-abuse provisions, in particular thin capitalisation and controlled foreign company rules. The ECJ has found that Spanish rules for exemption from withholding tax on dividends and Dutch rules implementing the Merger Directive are both contrary to EU law. The Indian Government has released the Revised Discussion Paper on the Draft Direct Taxes Code Bill 2009 which announces significant changes to the original proposals.