The Swedish company Comtax has developed PC-based tax planning software that uses mathematical calculations and information about tax regulations in different countries to suggest the most suitable strategies for handling cross-border taxation.The software is aimed at multinational companies with subsidiaries in several countries, and at international tax consultants, lawyers, auditors and banks. 

"Using a tax simulation model gives you a manageable number of alternatives from the countless number of different permutations that exist for cross-border taxation. These can then be analysed by the company's own tax lawyers or external consultants. This lets you identify the country that has the most favourable taxation regime for different types of revenue," says Mats Lundberg, President of Comtax.

Legal tax planning
Global companies with operations and subsidiaries in many countries are reported to be able to save large sums through totally legal tax planning. The method is based on exploiting the different tax rates that countries have for various types of revenue, such as share dividends or profit dividends, royalties, etc.
The difficulty lies in finding out about and learning the tax regulations and double taxation agreements that apply in each country - as well as the constant changes that take place - since this involves an enormous volume of information. According to the company there are more than 400,000 global tax rates to consider, which are subject to around 25,000 changes each year.

The new simulation software has two key elements:
*Simulation, which uses mathematical calculations to work out a number of alternatives that are tax-optimised for cross-border transactions.
*A supporting database module that contains information about tax rates and tax regulations in 120 countries.

The software has been developed for the latest Windows interface to allow easy use on the most widely used computer platforms, and is easily upgraded with the latest information on a monthly basis over the Internet.

Information about changes to regulations and tax rates in each country is continuously compiled by the company's lawyers, with the aid of its own correspondents in key markets, as well as large organisations such as IBFD (the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation) in Amsterdam. This ensures that the software always has the latest information to work with.

Caption: The simulation software carries out mathematical calculations that identify the optimum tax strategy alternatives for cross-border transactions.

For more information, contact:
Bernt Persson
Drottninggatan 7, SE-252 21 Helsingborg, Sweden
Telephone: +46(0)42-38 04 20
E-mail: bernt.persson@comtaxit.com
www.comtaxit.com