The Financial Director Guide to: Global Tax Strategy

Welcome to the Financial Director Guide to: Global Tax Strategy, brought to you in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers .

Corporate tax strategy continued to gain greater prominence in 2006, with several high-profile events making sure tax remained an issue for the board. In November, Hiscox shareholders approved a corporate reorganisation that would see its HQ relocate to Bermuda; a month earlier, HSBC's head of financial planning and tax Chris Spooner said the bank had been approached by a number of low tax jurisdictions, adding that it would not baulk at a move to foreign shores. Meanwhile, the European Court of Justice continues to eat away at EC member states' tax sovereignty.

In this second Financial Director Guide to: Global Tax Strategy we take an in-depth look at all of these stories, as well as many more - and investigate how they could affect you.

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BOARD TAX STRATEGY: Game plan
Company boards are starting to treat taxation as a strategic issue. There’s much more to it than simply trying to pay less.

UK TAX COMPETITIVENESS: Haven can’t wait
Insurance group Hiscox goes to Bermuda to save tax. HSBC said it could do likewise. Britain is no longer a low-tax zone.

INTERNATIONAL TAX: Global warning
As the OECD tries to clamp down on ‘non-compliance’ by international companies, it creates new risks for business.

EUROPEAN LAW: Sweet victory
Hundreds of companies are chasing billions of pounds as they take their tax cases to the European courts.

EUROPEAN LAW: Perfect harmonisation?
The idea of having just one European tax code instead of 27 sounds attractive. And it might be here by 2011.

GREEN TAXES: Green with envy?
Less than 8% of tax revenue comes from so-called green taxes – and most of that is fuel related. Do they actually work?

COMPLEXITY: Feeling complicated
HMRC says it is trying to cut companies’ compliance burden. Can technology help?

TAX REPORTING: Reveal all
A single line in the P&L is no longer adequate to explain companies’ tax bill – nor all the other taxes they pay.

BROWN’S LEGACY: Debt and taxes
Chancellor Gordon Brown’s record-breaking performance isn’t as good as it seems, as his successor will soon find out.