Typically, U.S. companies that do business in Japan without offices in the country aren’t required to pay taxes to the Japanese government. And Amazon (AMZN) has long counted itself among them, claiming purchases made through Amazon Japan are technically transacted in the states. Yet the company does have some retail infrastructure in the country through which it handles merchandise distribution, logistics and whatnot. And, according to the Bureau, that means Amazon has “permanent establishment” in Japan and should be taxed in the country under the U.S.-Japan tax treaty.

Another nasty tax headache for Amazon.com, which also faces calls for tax payments back in the U.S. and in Britain, France, and Germany as well. From the company’s annual report:

We Could be Subject to Additional Income Tax Liabilities
We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in evaluating our worldwide provision for income taxes. During the ordinary course of business, there are many transactions for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. For example, our effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or by changes in the relevant tax, accounting and other laws, regulations, principles and interpretations. We are subject to audit in various jurisdictions, and such jurisdictions may assess additional income tax against us. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits and any related litigation could be materially different from our historical income tax provisions and accruals. The results of an audit or litigation could have a material effect on our operating results or cash flows in the period or periods for which that determination is made.

Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.

- Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Feb. 2007

Looks like Apple (AAPL) has run afoul of Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) again. The watchdog agency, which took Apple to task in 2004 for its boast that the Power Mac G5 was “the world’s fastest, most powerful personal computer,” has ruled that one of the iPhone commercials the company has been running in the U.K. is misleading. The ad, which touts the iPhone’s Web browsing abilities, included the following voiceover:

You never know which part of the Internet you’ll need. The ‘do you need sun cream’ part? The ‘what’s the quickest way to the airport’ part? The ‘what about an ocean view room’ part? Or the ‘can you really afford this’ part? Which is why all the parts of the Internet are on the iPhone.”

ASA took issue with that last line. Because the iPhone doesn’t support Flash or Java, there are actually quite a few parts of the Internet that aren’t available on the iPhone, which make’s the ad misleading in ASA’s eyes. “Because the iPhone doesn’t support Flash or Java, you couldn’t really see the Internet in its full glory,” ASA spokesperson Olivia Campbell told the BBC. “They made a very general claim that you can see the Internet in its entirety, and actually that’s not quite true.”

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how you look at it. Because truthfully, the iPhone can access Flash and Java content. It just doesn’t doesn’t render it. In any event, the ASA is an independent organization, not a government one so it can’t exactly enforce its ban on the commercial at issue here, anyway.