Baker McKenzie's "China Legal Developments Bulletin"

Baker McKenzie just released a new version of their China Legal Developments Bulletin. It is 27 pages of analysis of new laws, summaries of new laws, and a list of new laws. This is has been a year heavy in tax laws, rules and regulations for China, and this bulletin reflects that with several articles on tax.

My favorite is John Eichelberger and Brendan Kelly's article on "New Challenges to Special Purpose Vehicles for Investing in China." The article is about the SAT's recent push to combat tax avoidance and the abuse of tax treaties through the use of SPVs through SAT Notice 81 on Issues Relevant to the Implementation of Dividend Provisions in Tax Treaties, and through a pair of tax bureau cases. The Chongqing Case and the Xinjiang Case are sober reminders that Beijing is serious about curbing tax treaty abuse, and they are an interesting look into how the local tax bureaus will analyze cases to make a determination of wheteher or not there is abuse going on. Hey, China's gotta pay for their RMB 4 trillion stimulus package somehow . . .