Ernst & Young LLP today announced that seasoned tax professional Tremaine “Trim” Smith joined its Indirect, State and Local Tax practice in Seattle, Washington.

Smith is the former Deputy Director of the Washington Department of Revenue, where he spent his entire career. At the Department of Revenue, Smith oversaw more than 90 state tax programs across a variety of businesses and industries. He will leverage his deep knowledge of Washington’s unique tax system as the office’s resident Business and Occupation tax technical resource.

Digital goods taxation and cloud computing are just two of Smith’s areas of focus. He is a highly respected tax resource on emerging business issues and recently represented Washington on the national stage in streamlining sales taxes across a number of states and creating common definitions.

“Trim’s 33 years of Washington State tax experience, coupled with his intimate knowledge of Washington’s biggest companies and of companies who do business in the state, make him an ideal fit for Ernst & Young’s growing Indirect Tax practice,” said Dan Smith, managing partner for Ernst & Young LLP’s Seattle office.

“Trim’s knowledge will help our clients as they confront emerging tax challenges in the state and across the country,” said Gary Holcomb, State and Local Tax Market Leader for Ernst & Young LLP’s Seattle office. “Adding Trim to our team of 11 Washington-based state and local tax professionals enhances the top-quality service we provide to companies across the state.”

In 2009, Smith received the Wade Anderson Memorial Medal for Leadership in Interstate Tax Cooperation. He received Governor’s awards for Distinguished Management Leadership in 2005 and for Quality and Performance in 2004. Smith earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Washington State University. He regularly speaks at industry-wide conferences and has authored numerous articles on tax and accounting-related issues.

Deloitte has named Andrew Hodge as the new managing partner of its Tax practice. Hodge, who is currently head of Deloitte’s UK and EMEA global employer services businesses, takes over from David Sproul, who will succeed John Connolly as chief executive and senior partner of Deloitte in June 2011.

David Sproul comments: “I am pleased to announce that Andrew Hodge will succeed me as leader of the UK tax practice. Andrew has led our employer and personal taxes business since 2006 and I have no doubt that he will bring the same energy and focus to this new role. We are very fortunate that we had a number of extraordinarily strong candidates to select from and each of them will continue to make a significant contribution to the future success of our tax practice.

“We are moving into a very exciting time for our Firm and tax practice as the UK economy moves out of recession, the Government moves forward with its growth agenda and the global agenda for our clients and our own business becomes ever more relevant.”

Andrew Hodge comments: “I am delighted and very proud to have been asked to lead the tax practice. David has made an outstanding contribution to the practice over the last five years and I look forward to building upon that success.

“We find ourselves in the midst of a new tax landscape for businesses and individuals alike; one in which we are seeing tax driven high up on the boardroom and personal agenda. We aim to offer our clients a consistently high quality of tax advice and expertise underpinned by continuing to attract and invest in the highest calibre of talent to create a depth of specialist tax knowledge that is second to none.”

Deloitte Belgium has announced that it has expanded its current Tax practice with a new Research &Development Tax Incentives service line. The appointment of IP specialist Francois Gevers completes the newly dedicated multidisciplinary team. This specialised ???R&D Tax Incentives??? team, a first in Belgium, will be integrated into the Deloitte Global R&D network, and will focus on the development and implementation of Belgian and foreign tax facilities. The team will also focus on research operations and Intellectual Property structuring.

Deloitte is the first service provider in the Belgian market offering a service that is entirely dedicated to tax optimization with regards to R&D. Offering a partial 75% reduction of professional withholding tax for qualifying researchers, a R&D investment deduction or tax credit and a favorable tax regime for patent income, makes the Belgian R&D Tax incentives and IP tax regime currently among the best in the EU. In addition, R&D is becoming increasingly important for many Belgian companies. Accordingly, there is a clear market demand for a dedicated service.

The R&D Tax Incentives team will offer a variety of services, such as assisting clients in optimizing their R&D claims, assessing potential R&D tax benefits and compiling the appropriate documentation for audits. One of this team’s biggest assets is definitely the combination of tax specialists with the knowledge of professionals such as, engineers, scientists and IT specialists who can understand the technological and scientific aspects of R&D at Belgian companies.

Patrick Brauns, Tax Partner at Deloitte Belgium, stated; “As part of our comprehensive approach, we do not view R&D and IP in isolation. Instead, we consider them together with our clients in the context of their operations. Our team is fully integrated into the Deloitte Global R&D network. This network allows us to develop and implement overall strategic planning for our clients”.

The Deloitte Global R&D team is capable of providing insight into several local tax regimes and more specifically into getting a clearer view on the opportunities and risks that cross-border interactions can bring to multinational organizations.

Piet Vandendriessche, Tax Managing Partner at Deloitte Belgium confirmed, “We are convinced that focus and specialization are key for success and growth, and that is of course what we want to achieve. Moreover, recent wins show that there is a market for these specific services”.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ireland’s largest professional services firm, has announced the admission of Yvonne Thompson as a financial services tax partner effective 1 July 2010.Speaking at the announcement, Ronan Murphy, Senior Partner, PwC said:

“As a Firm we continue to support our clients to position their organisations for the economic upturn and ensure they emerge as strong businesses for the future. The admission of Yvonne to the partnership will strengthen our Financial Services team as we continue to serve our domestic and international banking and insurance clients.”

Yvonne Thompson works with the PwC Financial Services Tax Practice in Ireland, specialising in the corporate taxation of banking, insurance and leasing operations. With over 15 years’ experience, she has significant experience in advising on domestic and international taxation matters, including international tax structuring through Ireland, foreign tax transaction issues and the taxation of capital market transactions.

Yvonne is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

KPMG in the UK announces that Alastair McLeish will become UK Head of Tax and Pensions with effect from 1 July 2010.

He succeeds Sue Bonney who will continue to work with the UK tax practice, spearheading a drive to embed more tax solutions within KPMG’s advisory services.?? She will remain Head of Tax at KPMG Europe LLP.

Jane McCormick will become head of corporate tax at KPMG in the UK.

FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN) the $2 billion global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organisations protect and enhance their enterprise value, has announced the appointment of Dr Chris Wales as a Senior Managing Director in its London-based Economic Consulting practice where he will play a leading role in developing FTI???„?s combined economic and public policy division which advises multinational corporations and governments. Chris will also work closely with FTI???„?s litigation division, principally on tax-related issues

Chris Osborne, Senior Managing Director, FTI Economic Consulting, said: ???I am delighted that Chris is joining us. His extensive expertise in the field of international taxation, within government and industry, will be invaluable at a time when taxation issues are at the top of the agendas of governments and corporations. And his experience of the insurance sector and of broader public policy issues will add depth and diversity to our practice.???

Chris Wales said: ???This is an exciting time to join FTI???„?s fast growing UK economic practice. FTI???„?s global nexus enables us to offer solutions to problems that are no longer limited to national boundaries.???

Deloitte hosted its inaugural networking event on Thursday 4 March bringing together senior women in the tax profession from across the business world.

The event was attended by around 70 senior women in the tax profession, including several from FTSE 100 firms, and featured guest speaker Melanie Dawes, Director General Business Tax at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Ms Dawes provided her own personal insight into experiences of working within the Civil Service, HM Treasury and HMRC and was joined by three other senior HMRC colleagues, including: Freda Chaloner, Director of Large Business Service; Melissa Tatton, Deputy Director for Business International; and Sue Walton, Director of the Anti-Avoidance Group.

Jane Curran, talent partner for the tax practice at Deloitte, says: ???We???„?re delighted to welcome Melanie Dawes from HMRC as guest speaker to our inaugural Women in Tax event. There are a lot of women in senior tax roles within business, however there are very few opportunities where they can meet and network with their peers. We hope this evening event will be the first of a regular fixture in the calendar giving women in tax the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships.???

Given the much expanded public deficit and tax authorities trying to maximise revenue, increased scrutiny from tax authorities seems likely in many countries.?? And this is a particularly major issue in the UK.?? UK based companies are expecting more attention from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the form of enquiries, investigations and even disputes than the global average.?? For example 20 percent of the 50 strong UK sample said they were experiencing more scrutiny of indirect taxes than a year ago (compared to 12 percent globally) and 22 percent of UK respondents reported more activity around income taxes now than a year ago (also compared to 12 percent globally).

In KPMG’s view, this attention is likely to be across all taxes, but with an increased focus on operational risks (e.g. indirect taxes such as VAT and customs duties) and greater scrutiny of Boards’ overall governance of tax through process and controls This increased focus means that it is all the more important that British companies engage fully with the tax authorities.

According to a survey of 890 companies from Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas, leading tax functions recognise that sustained performance is about synergies, not trade-offs. The data show that tax functions in the top tier of good practices are more likely to have highly standardised tax processes, structures, and reporting lines. Among the highest performing tax functions, 89 percent indicate they have global standards for their tax policies and procedures, compared with 25 percent of the lowest tier.

But even though not all tax functions are achieving high degrees of standardisation, this characteristic is highly valued across the board, with 67 percent of respondents noting that it significantly reduces or eliminates risks.

According to Sue Bonney, head of tax at KPMG Europe LLP “Getting the ‘basics’ right in the form of developing standardised processes to help deliver efficiency should enable tax departments to free up valuable time necessary for business support and effective tax planning. They also help facilitate a better and more accurate understanding of tax matters across global organisations, which in turn can add value by improving communications, timeliness and transparency – all key elements when engaging effectively with tax authorities.”

However, a large challenge for many survey respondents is how to do more with less. Half of respondents said that a shortage of staff is one of the biggest problems they face. Only 11 percent reported that their companies plan to invest in new hires over the next year.

In addition to staff shortages, 29 percent of respondents believe that their organisation does not have adequate operating or administrative budgets, and 26 percent believe that investment in process improvement and technology for the tax function is too low. Only 28 percent of respondents reported that their companies have ongoing initiatives to address resource and staff constraints.

According to Sue Bonney, “Tax departments are being asked to respond to the demand for better tax risk management, to provide more proactive and timely support to the business, and to prepare for greater scrutiny by tax authorities while dealing with the resource constraints affecting their companies in difficult economic times. These factors mean that organisations face some real challenges in the current climate: balancing cost constraints and fewer resources while ensuring they still manage important areas like tax where they can generate value but have real risks to contend with.”

To help achieve and maintain a balance, KPMG International highlights some of the building blocks that can be put in place:

-The strategic goals and objectives of the tax function need to be clearly aligned with those of the wider organisation so there is a common purpose.

-Tax functions need to understand the aspirations and constraints of relevant stakeholders and communicate with them effectively in order to help achieve their goals.

-Tax functions need to have the right people in place. Tax is complex and requires the careful judgment of trained professionals. Effective tax management needs the right people doing the right things. Those people need the right skills, the right resources, and the right rewards.

An urgent need for more revenue is pushing many governments into active moves to increase the tax take from indirect taxes, and a worldwide broadening of the tax base for corporate income taxes, KPMG International???„?s latest annual survey of tax rates affecting business has found. Figures from KPMG???„?s 2009 Corporate and Indirect Tax Rate Survey showed that the long term slide in tax rates applied to company profits in Europe and Latin America has come to a halt in 2009.

But while this may be a pause before competitive pressures continue to drive corporate tax rates lower, there are some clear signs that any further cuts are likely to be paid for by widespread restrictions on tax allowances and tighter enforcement.

In Europe, average rates stayed at 23.2 percent, the first time in 13 years that they have failed to fall year-on-year. The UK corporate tax rate remains at 28 percent, having been reduced from 30 percent in 2008.

In Latin America, the average corporate tax rate this year was unchanged at 26.9 percent, the first time there has been no cut in rates since 2004.

Only in the Asia Pacific region has the average rate this year matched the cuts of previous years, falling from 28.4 percent in 2008 to 27.5 percent in 2009.

Looking at indirect taxes, mainly Value Added Tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST), rates in Europe have risen from 19.5 percent to 19.8 percent and in Latin America 15.9 percent to 16.2 percent.

Among the Asia-Pacific countries there was a marginal drop in indirect tax rate from 10.9 percent to 10.8 percent.

???Indirect taxes are generally very stable.??? said Sue Bonney, head of tax at KPMG Europe ???Up until this year, taxes on corporate profits have tended to decline each year while indirect taxes have stayed roughly the same. So for the past five or six years, revenues from indirect taxes have quietly been contributing a larger and larger part of many government incomes.

???But now we are seeing more active moves in this direction. Here in the UK, figures from HMRC* predict that revenues from corporate tax receipts are set to decline by around 21 percent in the current tax year.

???If the UK VAT rate had not gone down, we estimate that the fall in VAT receipts over the same period would only have been around ten percent ????? showing that VAT is more resilient than corporate tax in the downturn.

???The number of countries with indirect tax systems is now over 150 and rising annually. Those governments that already have these systems are widening the range of services that attract VAT. Rates in Asia-Pacific are expected to rise as their systems develop and mature, and increases already planned are likely to take the average in the European Union up to 20 percent next year.

???All this is clear evidence of a major long term change in the way that many governments are funded. For companies, it means that the management of indirect taxes will become much more important as tax authorities focus more attention on the collection of ???real-time???„? taxes.???

Turning to taxes on profits, many countries have used them as a competitive tool to attract corporate investment. But the urgent need for tax revenues to plug holes in public budgets around the world, as a result of the global recession, seems to have forced a subtle change in this policy.

This year, many governments have acted to widen and strengthen their tax bases by measures including:

• restricting the circumstances under which companies can use losses to reduce taxable profits,
• taking a more aggressive approach to enforcing transfer pricing rules,
• reducing the tax deductibility of interest payments.

At the same time, there has been a significant increase in international co-operation among tax authorities, especially on action against tax havens and exchange of information. It remains to be seen whether that co-operation is converted into pressure on those countries with the lowest rates to move closer to the average.

???It is likely that headline corporate tax rates will resume their fall in time, but companies are likely to find themselves paying for the reduced rate in other ways,??? said Sue Bonney. Overall effective tax rates for global companies may well rise, due to the broadening of the tax base.???

SunTrust Banks has announced that it has named Terry Vacheron Senior Vice President and Corporate Director of Tax. Ms. Vacheron, who will report to SunTrust Chief Financial Officer Mark A. Chancy, succeeds Deborah Jamison who previously announced her plans to relocate to New York.

“Terry is a dynamic leader whose knowledge of SunTrust and respected professional experience will serve as a tremendous asset to our Company,” said Mr. Chancy. “We appreciate the many contributions Debby has made during her 21-year career at SunTrust as well as her assistance during this transition period. We wish her well in her new endeavors.”

As Corporate Director of Tax, Ms. Vacheron will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of SunTrust’s corporate tax matters including federal and state income and local taxes as well as information reporting to clients.

Ms. Vacheron has more than 20 years of corporate tax experience most recently working as a tax consultant for SunTrust. Previously, she was a Tax Partner at Deloitte & Touche, LLP for five years, and served as the Federal Income Tax Director at SunTrust from 2001 to 2003. Prior to that, she was a Tax Partner at Arthur Andersen LLP.