Forthcoming conference
11 and 12 May 2023
Topic: The world of VAT – a kind of fiscal theme park
An English judge once stated that… “the world of VAT, (is like) a kind of fiscal theme park in which factual and legal realities are suspended or inverted”.
In our conference we will explore this “fiscal theme park” together, reflecting on the rollercoaster ride of the last 30 years of the transitional VAT system. We will also consider and looking ahead how VAT systems are becoming even more complex and the measures that can and need to be taken to reduce fraud by embracing the ever increasing digitalisation of business and addressing VAT challenges caused by the platform economy.
Our focus will be on the VAT in the Digital Age package, e-invoicing and e-reporting systems being introduced nationally and regionally, the extension of the single place of registration and the One Stop Shop regimes, together with the new proposed rules for supplies of short-term accommodation and passenger transport.
We will also be covering developments in environmental taxes and the CBAM, customs, and the latest cases from the EUCJ. A very full programme to look forward to in Noordwijk.
Speakers For This Conference
Bart Caluwé is Director of Indirect Tax at Expedia Group. He is responsible for dealing with indirect tax legislative developments internationally (excl. North America), advising B2C brands and supply partner relationships.
Prior to Expedia, Bart was EMEA VAT Lead at HP where he had VAT responsibility for the region as well as marketing programs. He was involved in spin-off and acquisition work, the VAT impact of the Union Customs Code and advocacy on anti-VAT fraud measures.
Cab Schutte is a VAT legislator and policy advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. He participates in EU Council meetings and in meetings of the EU Group on the Future of VAT. He is a delegate to the OECD Working Party 9 on Consumption Taxes and the government-chair of the Technical Advisory Group to that Working Party. He was a delegate to the EU VAT Committee and to the former EU VAT Forum.
Céline Frackowiak was previously an auditor at the General Inspectorate of Finance. Celine Frackowiak joined the General Directorate of Public Finances in 2021 to take charge of the “Electronic invoicing” project, a major transformation project for businesses and modernization of the tax administration. She assures the coordination of legal, technical and change management aspects and the relationships with the stakeholders (companies, professional federations, chartered accountants, etc.). She previously brought the reform of French public procurement law (2014-2018) to the legal affairs department after having served as an administrative judge at the Administrative Court of Lille.
Christian is a lawyer and certified tax advisor. He advises clients on all aspects of national and international VAT issues and specializes in customs and excise duty matters. His particular focus is on import VAT related issues as well as optimizing cross-border supply chains and processing schemes. Christian has extensive experience in carrying out SAP-VAT audits and customs reviews. He also accompanies external audits and represents clients before tax authorities and fiscal courts. His clients range from individuals to international groups.
He is regularly publishing comments, articles and annotations in VAT, customs and excises related topics
Graduated from HEC in 1997 with a specialisation in Finances, Cyrille Konter started his career in Germany within various investment banks as structureur and seller of derivatives on action. In 2003, he returns to France to take over the business development of TEVEA International.
David Hummel is since October 2016 legal secretary (référendaire) at the European Court of Justice at the cabinet of advocate general Kokott.
Before (2013 – 2016) he represented several tax law chairs at the Universities of Münster, Trier, Leipzig and Hamburg. In mid-2017 the appointment as a Professor at the University of Leipzig took place. His academic career starts with the Study of Law at the University of Leipzig, a Graduation (Phd) as an assistant of Prof. Dr. Stadie with a VAT-Thesis in 2009 and a Habilitation in 2013 with the matter: „Rechtsformneutralität im Öffentlichen Recht“ (neutrality of legal forms in public law – venia legendi: public law, especially tax law and public economic law).
David Hummel is one of the authors of, inter alia, „Rau/Dürrwächter“ (commentary of the VAT-Law), „Kirchhof/Söhn/Mellinghoff“ (commentary of the income tax law) and “Hübschmann/Hepp/Spitaler” (commentary of the procedure tax law). Furthermore, he is engaged as a tutor in the field of European Tax Law and State Aid Law.
Donato Raponi has worked in the Ministry of Finance as a Tax Inspector from 1976 until 1979; and in the European Commission from 1979 until 2017. He is now an Independent Consultant dealing with indirect taxes.
He holds a Master degree in European Tax Law and Bachelor in Economics. He is honorary professor of European Tax Law at Brussels Business Management School. He is Co-Author of the book “Arriva l’euro” (Carmenta Editor) and numerous articles in tax matters.
Emmanuel is a French tax lawyer specializing exclusively in indirect taxes (VAT, Excise and Customs duties). After 10 years of experience at Price Waterhouse Tax and Legal and then Arthur Andersen International, he started his own consulting law firm in 2000. He has specifically built a significant experience in international supply chain structuring, ERP/SAP VAT implementations and multi-national advisory and compliance coordination. His main areas of activity are pharmaceuticals, energy utilities, aeronautics and chemicals. He is a partner of VAT Forum CV and regularly lectures at international VAT events.
Emmanuelle Mouard is a member of the “Electronic invoicing” project group of the French General Directorate of Public Finances since 2021. Emmanuelle Mouard is in charge of IT topics and communication.
She previously worked in the communication department before joining the non-resident tax directorate where she was in charge of management and recovery services for foreign compagnies.
Frank is Director of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation of the Netherlands and Head of Trade Relations at the Netherlands Customs. Next he teaches about Customs, Trade facilitation and Enforcement at several academic institutes in NL and Germany and he is a member of the teaching team at Erasmus University Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), MSc program Customs & Supply Chain Compliance. Frank holds over 36 years of Customs experience, having an in-depth knowledge in the fields of customs legislation international business and logistics, e-commerce, enforcement strategy and he is co-author of the book ‘Customs, Inside Anywhere, insights everywhere’.
Ian started his career with HMRC (and its predecessor department HM Customs & Excise) over 30 years ago and has worked in a number of roles, mostly in VAT but also other indirect taxes. For the last 20 years, he has been working on VAT policy, including a three-year secondment to HM Treasury (2008-2011). He has broad experience across a range of VAT policy areas, including extensive experience in international forums. Ian is currently a Deputy Director in Indirect Tax Directorate in HMRC, responsible for policy on VAT Reliefs, Deductions and Financial Services.
Ilse Verouden is working in VAT law since 1994, at first with Deloitte and then with Loyens & Loeff, both in Rotterdam. As of 2013 she is working for the Dutch tax authorities/Ministry of Finance. She has worked as a VAT inspector in the unit for financial institutions and as a policy advisor.
In her current role Ilse is responsible for the national coordination of the VAT practice of the Dutch tax authorities.
She is also involved in the EU VAT Committee.
Ine Lejeune is an independent attorney with 39 years of experience in VAT policy, advice, dispute resolution and litigation.
She has led PwC’s Global Indirect Tax Practice and conducted more than 40 studies on tax/VAT for the EU Commission/EU Parliament. She has published extensively on the subject (books and articles). Ine was a member of the EU VAT Expert Group (2012-2019) and is a member of the OECD’s Consumption Tax TAG.
She has done policy work for EU Member States and globally (China (VAT reform programme), the UAE (introduction of VAT) and development of The Unified VAT Agreement for The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf).
She has lectured at the University of Antwerp (UFSIA), the VUB, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) and given guest lectures at universities in the EU and China. She has spoken at conferences organised by the European Commission, by universities and other organisers.
She is doing a PhD at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and co-chairs with Professor J. Owens WU University’s work on cross-border VAT dispute prevention and resolution.
She is a member of the editorial board of the International VAT Monitor, IFA and the International Vat Association.
Jane holds a degree in Economics from the University of Bradford School of Management and has during the last 30 years specialized in foreign VAT recovery services. From 1997, as General Manager for the United Cash Back franchise group, she developed the business model and complete processes to enable companies to recover their foreign VAT, liaising closely with business and the VAT authorities to generate compliant and efficient practices. Since the acquisition of Cash Back in 2019, she works with VAT IT Reclaim continuing to ensure best practices are in place between the claimants, agents and the authorities.
Jane has been an active member on and off the board of the International VAT association since its foundation.
Jane lives in Gothenburg, Sweden where she makes the most of all outdoor activities and the fantastic West Coast surroundings.
Jean is a graduate chartered accountant from the “Université des sciences sociales de Toulouse” and has an MBA from the University of Canterbury (Kent).
He moved to the UK the year of the EU single market 1993 for the Norbert Dentressangle Group and then moved to Shipping as Financial Controller of SeaFrance (SNCF group) dealing with the UK subsidiary and all fiscal maters in the UK. Jean joined DFDS as Indirect tax manager in 2013 and, for all his sins in a previous life, had to deal with the Brexit preparations looking after the AEO program, the training of staff to build a customs dept and the reintroduction of Duty Free for international travel. He has been active in the Taxation working group of the European community Shipowners Associations since 1997.
Patrice Pillet is the Head of Unit for indirect taxation legal affairs, in DG Taxud (European Commission). He is therefore responsible for the management of complains, the handing of infringement procedures as well as other legal issues (including preliminary rulings) in the area of indirect taxation.
He was previously Head of Sector responsible for VAT on electronic commerce (2008-1016). He has also previously been responsible for international affairs and technical assistance in the Customs Directorate of DG Taxud (2004-2008), as well as for fighting VAT fraud and promoting mutual assistance in tax matters (1998-2004).
Phil is a senior policy advisor at HMRC, specialising on Northern Ireland Protocol VAT policy. His team is responsible for the implementation of VAT policy in Northern Ireland.
Following roles in telecoms and publishing, Phil joined the civil service in 2012 and worked on strategy and new school delivery in the Department for Education before joining HMRC in 2020.
He has a degree in International Relations from the University of Leicester.
Is an international VAT consultant. He has worked since 1996 in international VAT for a Big Four and worked several years in industry as in-house VAT manager. In 2010 he started his own VAT consulting firm ALLVAT. He is frequent speaker at international seminars, organizes trainings for the Federation of Dutch exporters, the Chamber of Commerce, the International VAT Expert Academy (IVEA) and is partner of VAT Forum CV. He is currently a board member of the IVA and liaises with the IVA members outside the EU. His focus is on the international supply chain in Europe and more recently the GCC.
Ruth is the national Technical Chair for the VAT Practitioners Group. She is also an Associate specialising in indirect taxes with Hiller Hopkins LLP in the UK. In her VPG role, Ruth has worked closely with HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) on the “Making Tax Digital” project, ensuring that HMRC is fully aware of the challenges faced by taxpayers unused to accounting software. She has also been working with HMRC on the legislation for a “No Deal” Brexit.
She also represents the VPG and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (“ICAEW”) on various committees with HMRC and was seconded to the Office of Tax Simplification for seven months in 2017 to look at ways of simplifying the VAT code in the United Kingdom.
Stephen Dale is a partner at Roosevelt Associés – accountants and has worked in French taxation for more than twenty years, having previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in France and in the UK.
Stephen is a member (and former Chairman) of the FEE (Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens) Tax Policy Group and chair of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales VAT Committee. He represents the IVA on the VAT Expert Group and is a member of the OECD’s Global VAT Forum.
He is a board member of the Association de la Pratique de la TVA européenne (APTE) and the Association des représentants fiscaux français.
He is the author of several publications such as the VAT Yearbook – Kluwer, VAT Guides – PwC, and for PKF, Articles – International Indirect Tax, BNA, journals and newspapers.
Thomas founded Aurifer, an award-winning boutique tax firm established in Dubai and Riyadh, with a representation office in Brussels. After a decade of working at tier 1 tax law firms in Brussels and Paris, and after having been seconded with Deloitte in the Gulf, it was time to spread his wings and personally serve the exciting Gulf market. He is grateful to be surrounded by high quality people who want to make
their mark in the Gulf tax market.
Thomas has been involved in several high-profile deals and have worked for blue chip and quoted companies and institutions in various sectors. In recent years Thomas has also been heavily involved in tax policy in Europe and the Gulf. Recently, he has been assisting businesses in assessing them with their readiness for the introduction of VAT and Corporate Income Tax and helping them with coping with new tax challenges in the Gulf driven by tax reform. He advises businesses on compliance with direct taxation and transfer pricing in the region.
He is the Editor in Chief of Gulf Tax Magazine and Co-Chair of the Middlesex/Aurifer GCC Tax Certificate. Thomas is also teaching taxation at Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi. He holds a law degree of the Catholic University of Leuven (cum laude) and a tax master’s degree of Solvay Business School (magna cum laude).
Tiina Ruohola is a Senior Advisor on VAT at the Confederation of Finnish Industries. Tiina has worked with VAT for over 15 years, working for the Finnish Tax Administration and several consulting companies before joining the Confederation 4 years ago. Tiina is an active member of Business Europe’s VAT group and represents the Finnish businesses in the VAT Expert Group and the EU VAT Forum. In Finland, Tiina is also a member of the Board of Adjustments dealing with differences of opinion between taxpayers and the Tax Administration and the Central Board of Taxation, which is the body giving out advance ruling in major cases. Tiina’s motto is: you can talk about everything with a smile on your face – even about taxation.
Conference Venue
Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin
Kon. Astrid Boulevard 5,
2202 BK Noordwijk, Netherlands
https://huisterduin.com
Tel.: +31 71 361 9220
Last conference
2022 Autumn Conference
Barcelona, Spain
20 and 21 October 2022
Topic: The role of taxation in sustainability – a carrot or a stick?
The Autumn conference will look at the role of taxation in sustainability and the environment. With many jurisdictions introducing and amending tax legislation to fit the global environmental agenda, the indirect tax world looks set to significantly change. However, is taxation really the answer? Can businesses and Governments be more creative with solutions?
The IVA has invited speakers from business, tax authorities and professional associations to share their thought provoking views for members to consider and discuss.
Speakers For This Conference
Alex Baulf is Senior Director, Global Indirect Tax with Avalara. Alex is responsible for tracking international indirect tax and e-invoicing legislation and policy, parsing and articulating impact (across Avalara’s products, content and strategy), and dialoguing with Government, tax authorities, policymakers and customers. Alex has 17 years’ experience within Global VAT / GST and sales tax, working in the UK and USA and on projects across the EMEA region. Previously, Alex was a Director and Principal at Grant Thornton and a member of the Grant Thornton global indirect tax leadership team. Earlier in his career, he was seconded to Grant Thornton LLP’s Chicago office where he provided global VAT and GST advice to US clients with a global footprint or international supply chain. He has experience on large global indirect tax change management and transformation projects across people, process, systems and data.
Alex Cooksley leads the International VAT and Excise Unit in the UK’s economic and finance ministry, HM Treasury. The unit is responsible for cross-border VAT and excise policy, international negotiations, VAT aspects of the Northern Ireland Protocol and international engagement, including the UK’s input into the OECD indirect tax working group.
Over the past eight years Alex has worked across various roles in HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs. Prior to joining the UK Civil Service Alex studied as an economist, completing an MSc at University College London.
Andrew’s career began as a broadcast journalist with the BBC Radio and after completing and MBA worked as an international business development consultant for SMEs and multinationals.
TGS (Think Global Sustainability) is a dynamic global business network of independent firms providing accounting, audit, tax, business advisory and commercial legal services. Currently operating with 68 members from 57 countries, TGS is a credible alternative to the Big4 and has sustainability at the heart of everything they do. TGS are committed to implementing responsible business practices and developing global VAT solutions with a positive impact on society.
Andrew Tucker has had a variety of roles at HMRC and is currently Head of Northern Ireland Protocol VAT Policy. He is a certified leadership coach, a sought after speaker on a variety of topics, and lectures at St Mary’s University on leadership in the 21st century. In his spare time, he is a trustee for two education charities, coaches football at his daughter’s school and (at the time of writing) is currently training for a half-ironman. He is married to Jane with two daughters, Hannah (10) and Sophie (8).
Since May 2014, Belén is the managing partner of bln palao abogados, S.L.P., a Spanish boutique law firm based in Madrid and focused in Customs, VAT, excise duties and energy/ environmental taxes for national and international clients. Before that, she has worked for more than 14 years for international law firms based in Spain, such as KPMG, Cuatrecasas and Deloitte where, in 2005, she was appointed as head of the Customs and excise duties practice, within the Spanish Indirect Tax group.
With more than 21 years of experience, she has been recognized awarded by the International Tax Review as one of the best indirect tax advisors (June 2012 to June 2021) and as one of the most important women in tax in Spain, from 2015 to date, rated as “Highly Regarded”. Besides she has listed by Best Lawyers Spain as from 2020 onwards in Tax and Energy Law.
Together with its business activity, Belén is a usual lecturer for VAT, customs and energy taxation in public universities (UCM, UC3M, UPV) and private institutions (ISDE, Enerclub, UEM). She also coordinates a specific course dealing with Customs Law organized by the Escuela de Práctica Jurídica, belonging to the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
David Hummel is since October 2016 legal secretary (référendaire) at the European Court of Justice at the cabinet of advocate general Kokott.
Before (2013 – 2016) he represented several tax law chairs at the Universities of Münster, Trier, Leipzig and Hamburg. In mid-2017 the appointment as a Professor at the University of Leipzig took place. His academic career starts with the Study of Law at the University of Leipzig, a Graduation (Phd) as an assistant of Prof. Dr. Stadie with a VAT-Thesis in 2009 and a Habilitation in 2013 with the matter: „Rechtsformneutralität im Öffentlichen Recht“ (neutrality of legal forms in public law – venia legendi: public law, especially tax law and public economic law).
David Hummel is one of the authors of, inter alia, „Rau/Dürrwächter“ (commentary of the VAT-Law), „Kirchhof/Söhn/Mellinghoff“ (commentary of the income tax law) and “Hübschmann/Hepp/Spitaler” (commentary of the procedure tax law). Furthermore, he is engaged as a tutor in the field of European Tax Law and State Aid Law.
Emmanuel is a French tax lawyer specializing exclusively in indirect taxes (VAT, Excise and Customs duties). After 10 years of experience at Price Waterhouse Tax and Legal and then Arthur Andersen International, he started his own consulting law firm in 2000. He has specifically built a significant experience in international supply chain structuring, ERP/SAP VAT implementations and multi-national advisory and compliance coordination. His main areas of activity are pharmaceuticals, energy utilities, aeronautics and chemicals. He is a partner of VAT Forum CV and regularly lectures at international VAT events.
Fernando Matesanz is the owner and Director of the firm named Spanish VAT Services Asesores SL. He Counts on more than 20 years of experience in providing advice in VAT.
He is an active Tax Lawyer, member of the Spanish Bar and a certified Tax Advisor.
Fernando began his carrier within the VAT Group of Ernst & Young. After that, he founded the firm Spanish VAT Services Asesores SL a firm exclusively working on international VAT matters and other Indirect taxes. Spanish VAT Services is currently the largest independent VAT services providers within the Spanish market.
Fernando is a Board Member of the IVA, a Member of the EU Commission´s VAT Forum and President of the Madrid VAT Forum Foundation.
George L. Salis, is a recognised economist, lawyer, and tax professional, with over 25+ years of international tax experience in international tax and trade compliance, tax planning and controversy, fiscal regulation and economic consulting. He specializes in international economic law; including taxation, fiscal & economic policy, transfer pricing and trade regulation, often working with international and intergovernmental organisations and multinational companies, and universities.
George is an experienced analyst and advisor to senior executives in global firms, intergovernmental organizations, and tax administrations on matters of taxation, global tax and fiscal policy, transfer pricing, VAT, tax treaties, EU tax law, customs & trade regulation, global information exchange and reporting regulation.
He is an adjunct professor of graduate tax law, risk analysis, and economics at Texas A&M University Law School, and formerly at other universities. The author of several articles related to international tax, economics, fiscal and tax policy, and global trade and finance in many professional publications, he is also a contributing author to the LexisNexis’ U.S. Transfer Pricing Guide, 4thEd, and other professional magazines and journals, as well as a frequent speaker at global conferences, government symposia, and professional roundtables.
George holds a PhD in International Law & Economic Policy, an LLM in International Tax Law, and LLM (Hons) International Taxation & Financial Services, an LLB (Hons), and BSc (Hons) in Economics, Political Science and Philosophy. He is the recipient of both the Advanced Certificate in EU Law, from the Academy of European Law, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, and the Executive Certificate in Economic Development, at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a Certified Business Economist (CBE)-US National Association for Business Economics (NABE) Charter.
Helene is a Senior Manager in the Vodafone Group Tax team, supporting Vodafone’s global business with indirect tax matters across its international footprint. Before working at Vodafone Helene spent 8 years in practice at Grant Thornton’s office in London.
Jane holds a degree in Economics from the University of Bradford School of Management and has during the last 30 years specialized in foreign VAT recovery services. From 1997, as General Manager for the United Cash Back franchise group, she developed the business model and complete processes to enable companies to recover their foreign VAT, liaising closely with business and the VAT authorities to generate compliant and efficient practices. Since the acquisition of Cash Back in 2019, she works with VAT IT Reclaim continuing to ensure best practices are in place between the claimants, agents and the authorities.
Jane has been an active member on and off the board of the International VAT association since its foundation.
Jane lives in Gothenburg, Sweden where she makes the most of all outdoor activities and the fantastic West Coast surroundings.
Kirsti Piiskoppel is a Director of Customer Relations at the Finnish Tax Administration. Kirsti has worked within the area of taxation more than 15 years and during latest years has been focusing developing new and improved ways to provide predictability and legal certainty to taxpayers. In perspective of developing customer solutions on international level, Kirsti has e.g. been involved in further development of the Co-operative Compliance framework and other specific tools aiming to provide early certainty on tax matters. Working with both taxpayers and stakeholders has given Kirsti wide range of knowledge and experience on taxpayers’ expectations and needs which lay the base on working out future customer solutions.
Luisa Dressler is an Economist in the Tax Policy and Statistics Division at the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, a position she has held since 2015. Her work focuses on the use of taxes to pursue environmental and climate policy objectives and on the nexus of tax and investment policy. Luisa leads on the investment tax incentives workstream that establishes and informs a dialogue between tax and investment policy makers and is building an Investment Tax Incentives Database and related analysis. Luisa is also a co-author to the flagship OECD publications focusing on carbon pricing trends (Effective Carbon Rates), a lead author of country-specific tax policy analysis and policy papers on the use of tax policy to support a green recovery. Luisa has published in academic journals and frequently speaks at policy and research events.
Before joining the OECD, Luisa was as a researcher with the Belgian National Science Foundation and a visiting doctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
Marcos Álvarez is a senior Tax Auditor in the Spanish Tax Administration in Madrid, where he´s been working for 25 years. He worked as a Tax Inspector in Barcelona, as a head officer of the Enforced Collection services and as a member of the Regional Administrative Tax Court in Madrid, before joining the Head Department of Tax Auditing, where He was appointed as Deputy Director for Legal Matters during 12 years (2009-2022). Although he worked in different fields (direct taxation, aggressive tax planning, enforced collection) his main expertise is focused in VAT, auditing and control procedures and strategies, and upholding the Tax Authorities cases upon the Courts (both national and EUCJ). He´s been speaking and contributing to many international workshops and conferences about VAT in the International VAT Association, Vienna University (WU), etc. He´s author of many articles about VAT in Spanish and international publications, including the International VAT Monitor with the IBFD. He was selected by the OECD, WB, IDB and CIAT as a senior expert to produce the Toolkit for VAT in the digital Era for LAC region, and also provided assistance to the OECD to the ones targeted to the South East Asia and Africa regions. With IDB. OECD and CIAT, he has taken part in technical assistances to introduce the VAT to digital economy in Panamá, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Dominican Republic. He holds a Law degree from Universidad Complutense (Madrid).
Delia has been working, as VAT expert, for the Italian Department of Finance for ten years. Previously she worked for the Italian Revenue Agency and, before that she had been a school teacher in Law and Economics.
As national VAT expert, she has attended several Commission working groups, such as the VAT Committee, the Group of the Future of VAT, the EU VAT Forum, and a few of their sub-groups.
The Office in Italian Department of Finance, where she currently works, deals with International and EU profiles of Indirect Taxation including environmental taxes.
Melchior Wathelet was Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Communities from 1995 until 2003. He was an Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union from October 2012 until October 2014, and was a First Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union from October 2014 to October 2018. He is Minister of State in Belgium since 2009 after having been Deputy prime Minister and Minister of Justice. He is honorary Professor of European Law of the Universities of Louvain-la-Neuve and Liège and is currently guest Professor in the KU Leuven.
Natalia and Robert play the role of Senior TAX Experts APAC & EMEA in Enersys Group.
Both are responsible for indirect taxation (VAT, GST, duties, customs & environmental taxes) for APAC & EMEA regions. As inhouse specialists they are involved in all tax matters from setting the systems in all jurisdictions to dealing with the tax administrations during audits.
They have both started their career in Polish tax administration in indirect tax department and had worked with VAT & indirect taxation for more than 15 years now.
Their last huge challenge was to prepare the business for post Brexit reality what have been completed successfully. Dealing with practical dimension of international taxes is their daily routine. We can say that the work with taxes is their passion, not the duty.
.
Patrice Pillet is the Head of Unit for indirect taxation legal affairs, in DG Taxud (European Commission). He is therefore responsible for the management of complains, the handing of infringement procedures as well as other legal issues (including preliminary rulings) in the area of indirect taxation.
He was previously Head of Sector responsible for VAT on electronic commerce (2008-1016). He has also previously been responsible for international affairs and technical assistance in the Customs Directorate of DG Taxud (2004-2008), as well as for fighting VAT fraud and promoting mutual assistance in tax matters (1998-2004).
Pedro Pestana is the founder and Director of Marosa. He has 15 years of experience in VAT compliance in Europe and Asia-Pacific. He is the author of a comprehensive manual on European VAT compliance and several articles about European VAT. Pedro has a degree in Law, LLM in International Taxation and a full stack bootcamp degree on software development.
Marosa is a pan European VAT firm with an international team of over 50 VAT specialists handling 30,000 VAT returns per year. All work is handled in our Compliance Centre of Excellence. Marosa uses VATify, a software developed internally to monitor, prepare and submit all filings in Europe. We combine RPA, API rest and tax knowledge to add value to our automated reporting function.
Ruth is the national Technical Chair for the VAT Practitioners Group. She is also an Associate specialising in indirect taxes with Hiller Hopkins LLP in the UK. In her VPG role, Ruth has worked closely with HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) on the “Making Tax Digital” project, ensuring that HMRC is fully aware of the challenges faced by taxpayers unused to accounting software. She has also been working with HMRC on the legislation for a “No Deal” Brexit.
She also represents the VPG and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (“ICAEW”) on various committees with HMRC and was seconded to the Office of Tax Simplification for seven months in 2017 to look at ways of simplifying the VAT code in the United Kingdom.
Sascha holds a Master’s degree in taxation from the University of Maastricht. In the past he worked for Accenture in the Financial Services industry, and later on for Deloitte in the Tax Management Consulting unit. His unique skill set allows him to build a bridge between IT and taxation. Although these two fields are not often combined, Sascha has been writing software for many years and knows how to bring IT and taxation together. In the past he built tax analytics software and internal fraud investigation tools for publicly listed companies. After years of research into cryptography, in 2017 he started summitto to build the confidential real-time reporting system to prevent VAT fraud throughout the EU and even the entire world in a secure manner.
Simon is a VAT Partner at KPMG UK and a former Anti-Avoidance Adviser at HM Revenue & Customs. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser and has more than 27 years of experience of advising on VAT. He has extensive experience in resolving disputes between tax payers and HMRC (from both sides of the table!), litigating issues before the courts and advising clients on indirect taxes across a range of different industry sectors. The former head of KPMG’s Indirect Tax practice in the UK, he now leads their indirect tax work in the automotive sector, which is a move welcomed by his 10-year-old son who thinks VAT is ‘really boring’ but thinks cars are ‘really cool’.
Stephen Dale is a partner in a specialist VAT practice in Paris in HEDEOS société d’avocats and has worked in French taxation for more than twenty years, having previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK.
Stephen is a member (and former Chairman) of the FEE (Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens) Tax Policy Group and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales VAT Committee (and former Chairman). He represents the IVA on the Expert Group and is a member of the OECD’s Global VAT Forum.
He is a board member of the Association de la Pratique de la TVA européenne (APTE).
He is the author of several publications such as VAT Yearbook – Kluwer, VAT Guides – PwC, Articles – International Indirect Tax, BNA, journals and newspapers.
Tiina Ruohola is a Senior Advisor on VAT at the Confederation of Finnish Industries. Tiina has worked with VAT for over 15 years, working for the Finnish Tax Administration and several consulting companies before joining the Confederation 4 years ago. Tiina is an active member of Business Europe’s VAT group and represents the Finnish businesses in the VAT Expert Group and the EU VAT Forum. In Finland, Tiina is also a member of the Board of Adjustments dealing with differences of opinion between taxpayers and the Tax Administration and the Central Board of Taxation, which is the body giving out advance ruling in major cases. Tiina’s motto is: you can talk about everything with a smile on your face – even about taxation.
Feedback for this Conference
“Thanks and well done for the well organized conference in Barcelona! I enjoyed it and learnt a lot. The intervention from the gentleman from the ECJ was particularly interesting and entertaining!”
Jean AubertDFDS A/S (Denmark)
“It was again a great event in Barcelona last week. Thank you for all your efforts and the very good organisation!”
Silke Bachtap-taxlaw Pommerin & Bacht Part GmbH (Germany)
“Great organization! It looks fantastic online.”
Andrew MenziesTGS Network
“Thanks again for the very good conference.”
Patrice PilletEuropean Commission
“Thank you very much for the organization of the conference in Barcelona.”
David HummelEuropean Court of Justice (Luxemburg)
“A great event organized by Stephen Dale and International VAT Association. I was honored to be sharing experiences and best practices on the co-operation between the tax administration and the businesses. Special thanks to Jane Holmberg for chairing this session that we together with Andrew Tucker were planning (and for introducing the two of us earlier so that this was all possible!). We also invited Kirsti Piiskoppel from Verohallinto and Simon Shaw representing UK businesses - big thanks for the two of you for sharing your ideas along with the great company you were along the way.”
Tiina RuoholaConfederation of Finnish Industries (Finland)
“Thank you again for a fantastic conference last week, it was great to meet you. The organisation of it all also felt seamless by Alexandra.”
Alexander CooksleyHM Treasury (UK)
““International VAT Association (IVA) meeting in Barcelona in 20-21 October 2022. Everything was perfectly organised and run smoothly. A pleasure to attend and listening to highly skilled VAT experts of the EU COM, EUCJ, business community and some countries Tax Authorities, sharing ideas and expertise on the role of taxation in sustainability. On behalf of the Spanish Tax Authorities, I had the chance and the honor to share with the attendees the most recent domestic steps taken in providing taxpayers and citizens assistance to voluntarily comply, such as the Integral Digital Administration and our wide set of virtual assistants. Thanks again for your kind invitation to contribute, and hopefully we can work together also in the future.” (After the Barcelona October Conference 2022)”
Marcos Álvarez SusoSpanish Tax Administration
“On behalf of Enersys Group & our International Tax Department, I’d like to thank IVA Team & its Chairman for an invitation to Natalia & Robert, to be presenters at the 2022 Autumn Conference in Barcelona. During the 2nd day session “The business view of using taxation to drive sustainability”, together with DFDS, TGS and Vodafone. It’s an honor for me to have both my colleagues not only attending this Conference (as they were doing in the past years), but also contributing their vast experience & knowledge to the other participants. Also, I’m extremely impressed by IVA’s engagement in the area of Indirect Taxes and the opportunities it’s giving its participants, please keep the good work! I appreciate your dedication & determination.”
Sławomira AndersEnerSys Sp. z o.o. (Poland)
“Congrats to you and the IVA team for the very well organized event.”
Pedro PestanaMarosa (Spain)
“Just a very short note from me to personally thank everyone for their support and brilliant presentations – our conferences would not be the same without your support and contributions. The room was packed which shows the fantastic level of interest in the issues debated and presented and there is an amazing level of enthusiasm for all of the very varied topics we covered in the very short time available. We will need to hire a much bigger room for the next conference in Noordwyk in May. A special thanks as well to all of our guest speakers, and of course not forgetting Alexandra and our AV team – Charles and Jean-Baptiste.”
Stephen DaleChairman of the IVA
“I would like to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the conference in Barcelona - as always, the level was very high.”
Rober SasakEnerSys Sp. z o.o. (Poland)
““Well done to the International VAT Association for a well organised Autumn Conference, focusing on the role of taxation in sustainability. Always a pleasure meeting up with other VAT professionals and listening to VAT experts from the business community, tax authorities and professional industries.””
Josef Debono, Ecovis AAT Limited (Malta)EnerSys Sp. z o.o. (Poland)
Conference Recordings
Conference Venue
AC Hotel Barcelona Fórum
Passeig del Taulat, 278,
08019 Barcelona, Spain
Tel.: +34 93-489-8200
2022 Spring Conference
Edinburgh, Scotland
12 and 13 May 2022
Topic: VAT Neutrality: Lost in transactions?
Although VAT neutrality is the cornerstone of the European VAT system, protecting it is a permanent challenge for all stakeholders. Neutrality can be lost as a principle, for which the Court of Justice is the guardian. It can be lost as tax evasion for Member States and/or absence of level playing field for legitimate businesses. It can be lost in accounting and digital reporting in the Digital Age. All this is happening now.
Speakers For This Conference
Andrew Tucker is Head of VAT Deductions and Financial Services policy in HMRC. Prior to his current role he headed up the VAT policy team in HMRC dealing with EU Exit. He has previously led a variety of teams and projects across a number of different UK Government departments including on legal aid reform, devolution and in the somewhat niche area of coroners and burials. He is a trustee of two charities, is Chair of Governors at a free school in London and (at the time of writing) is currently training for the London Marathon. He is married to Jane with two daughters Hannah (7) and Sophie (5).
Christian Amand is a lawyer at Xirius in Brussels. He represents CFE/ Tax Advisers Europe at the EU VAT Forum. He chaired the indirect taxation sub-group of the CFE. He is the author of numerous publications and columns on VAT and customs duties. He participated in the preparation of 7 business defenses in preliminary rulings before the Court of Justice of the EU.
Christian is a lawyer and certified tax advisor. He advises clients on all aspects of national and international VAT issues and specializes in customs and excise duty matters. His particular focus is on import VAT related issues as well as optimizing cross-border supply chains and processing schemes. Christian has extensive experience in carrying out SAP-VAT audits and customs reviews. He also accompanies external audits and represents clients before tax authorities and fiscal courts. His clients range from individuals to international groups.
He is regularly publishing comments, articles and annotations in VAT, customs and excises related topics.
Working in the VAT sector of tax legislation department of the French ministry of Finances for 4 years, I hold a master degree in European and International public law.
Since my arrival in the ministry of Finances, I followed European works regarding Ecommerce VAT package and its integration in French law. Specialized on European files, I also participate on VAT in the digital age discussions with European institutions.
I am also involved in evolutions of the French legislation on import and export operations as well as on various subjects concerning the French VAT.
Beside this, I regularly give VAT courses and participate to seminars between French administrations and business operators involved in VAT management.
Graduated from HEC in 1997 with a specialisation in Finances, Cyrille Konter started his career in Germany within various investment banks as structureur and seller of derivatives on action. In 2003, he returns to France to take over the business development of TEVEA International.
David Hummel is since October 2016 legal secretary (référendaire) at the European Court of Justice at the cabinet of advocate general Kokott.
Before (2013 – 2016) he represented several tax law chairs at the Universities of Münster, Trier, Leipzig and Hamburg. In mid-2017 the appointment as a Professor at the University of Leipzig took place. His academic career starts with the Study of Law at the University of Leipzig, a Graduation (Phd) as an assistant of Prof. Dr. Stadie with a VAT-Thesis in 2009 and a Habilitation in 2013 with the matter: „Rechtsformneutralität im Öffentlichen Recht“ (neutrality of legal forms in public law – venia legendi: public law, especially tax law and public economic law).
Emmanuel is a French tax lawyer specializing exclusively in indirect taxes (VAT, Excise and Customs duties). After 10 years of experience at Price Waterhouse Tax and Legal and then Arthur Andersen International, he started his own consulting law firm in 2000. He has specifically built a significant experience in international supply chain structuring, ERP/SAP VAT implementations and multi-national advisory and compliance coordination. His main areas of activity are pharmaceuticals, energy utilities, aeronautics and chemicals. He is a partner of VAT Forum CV and regularly lectures at international VAT events.
She is an experienced trainer and holds seminars throughout Germany for the management staff of major German companies in VAT, customs and intrastat topics. She also has been accredited by the ICC as trainer for Incoterms2010. Furthermore, she is a guest lecturer at the Federal Finance Academy in Berlin.
Nathalie is one of the authors of „Rau/Dürrwächter“ (commentary of the VAT-Law – § 21 import VAT and § 21a special arrangement) and publishes regularly on customs and VAT issues.
Fernando Matesanz is the owner and Director of the firm named Spanish VAT Services Asesores SL. He Counts on more than twelve years of experience in providing advice in VAT and other Indirect Taxes.
Fernando holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Degree in European Legislation. He also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in Corporate Tax Law from the IE Business School.
He is an active Tax Lawyer, member of the Bar and a certified Tax Advisor.
Fernando began his carrier within the VAT Group of Ernst & Young, managing the VAT and customs practice for more than eight years. After that, he founded the firm Spanish VAT Services Asesores SL a firm exclusively working on international VAT matters and other Indirect taxes. Spanish VAT Services is currently one of the main VAT services providers for small and medium-sized companies within the Spanish market.
Fernando regularly acts as speaker and lecturer in different Universities and organizations. He is also a member of the VAT Forum CV.
George is currently studying Law with International Legal Studies at the University of Leeds and will be commencing my final year studying abroad at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada in September 2021.
He has a strong interest in financial and regulatory technologies, and this, together with his commercial experience, drew him to carry out his dissertation exploring VAT and how blockchain technology could potentially be used to reduce non-compliance.
In the last year he has also founded The Legal Chain (https://www.thelegalchain.co.uk/), an online platform for students to learn about the regulatory issues around blockchain technology and the potential for its application within legal practices. He has also had experience establishing his own clothing and design company, this has improved his understanding of the world of commerce and provided his first real insight into VAT.
He is now keen to enter a career in commercial law and has recently enjoyed a two-week vacation scheme at Orrick’s London office, sitting in Competition Law for the first week and Banking, Finance and Restructuring for the second.
Hans Joachim Narzynski is head of division in the Ministry’s directorate for customs and indirect taxation. In this position he is dealing with international VAT matters, in particular with the negotiations on European regulations and their application. Hans Joachim Narzynski joined the tax administration in Germany in 1998, working for the Federal Ministry of Finance since 2013. He previously worked in different local tax offices in the federal state of Saxony and as an advisor in the Federal Parliament of Germany.
Dr. Hans-Martin Grambeck holds a degree in economics. He is a German VAT expert and a certified German tax advisor. He started his career 17 years ago in a mid-sized accounting and tax advisory firm, fully specialized in VAT when working in London in 2008 / 2009 and left PWC 2015 where he has worked as a senior manager in the Hamburg VAT team for nearly five years. He is now self-employed in a VAT boutique (nesemann & grambeck) and has a personal focus on services, including e-services and travel (cruise companies, travel agents, MICE business, ticket dealers etc.), and European matters. He regularly publishes articles on VAT issues which also deal with problems arising from an incomplete harmonization of VAT. He works as a German contact for the IBFD VAT law link and gives VAT trainings in cooperation with professional education institutes such as Management Circle.
Karl-Heinz is a Global VAT/GST Practitioner with over 30 years of international VAT/GST technical and practical experience (Tax authorities, Big 4 and 19 years in Industry). He is actively involved in a wide variety of industry and expert policy groups on an EU and international level – e.g., as chair of the Business at OECD VAT/GST work to the OECD and a member of the EU Commission´s VAT Expert Group. In 2021 Karl-Heinz founded an independent international Thought Leadership, Strategy and Policy Affairs company with domain knowledge and understanding of the global VAT/GST policy landscape.
Patrice Pillet is the Head of Unit for indirect taxation legal affairs, in DG Taxud (European Commission). He is therefore responsible for the management of complains, the handing of infringement procedures as well as other legal issues (including preliminary rulings) in the area of indirect taxation.
He was previously Head of Sector responsible for VAT on electronic commerce (2008-1016). He has also previously been responsible for international affairs and technical assistance in the Customs Directorate of DG Taxud (2004-2008), as well as for fighting VAT fraud and promoting mutual assistance in tax matters (1998-2004).
Piet Battiau is the Head of the Consumption Taxes Unit in the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA) of the OECD. He is responsible for the OECD’s expanding work on indirect taxes, including the International VAT/GST Guidelines and the OECD Global Forum on VAT.
He has been included in the International Tax Review’s Global Tax 50 of the world’s most influential persons in tax policy and practice every year since its inception in 2011.
Piet joined the OECD in 2011. He began his career as a tax inspector for the Belgian Ministry of Finance in the early 1990’s before moving on to an international financial institution in 1995, where he became Head of International Taxation and subsequently Head of Public Policy. He was also Chairman of the Fiscal Committee of the European Banking Federation.
He studied Law in Brussels and Ghent and holds a Law degree and a degree in Tax Science.
Prasan Rajendra Kumar is a Chartered Accountant in Practice in Chennai, India. He is a senior partner of Sanjiv Shah & Associates and leads the Indirect Tax Practice of the firm. He is a Commerce graduate from the prestigious University of Madras and is also a Cost and Management Accountant. He serves as a member of Technical Advisory Group to Working Party 9 on Consumption Tax at the OECD. He is also the past president of International Chamber of Indirect Tax Professionals. RK as he is popularly known has carved a niche in the area of Consumption Taxes and is much sought after resource person across the globe. His views are sought by clients and policy makers in equal measure. Apart from donning leadership roles RK is a voracious reader, avid traveller and singer.
Is an international VAT consultant. He has worked since 1996 in international VAT for a Big Four and worked several years in industry as in-house VAT manager. In 2010 he started his own VAT consulting firm ALLVAT. He is frequent speaker at international seminars, organizes trainings for the Federation of Dutch exporters, the Chamber of Commerce, the International VAT Expert Academy (IVEA) and is partner of VAT Forum CV. He is currently a board member of the IVA and liaises with the IVA members outside the EU. His focus is on the international supply chain in Europe and more recently the GCC.
Richard is the CEO of VAT Calc, the global VAT/GST determination and reporting tech venture. Richard originally qualified with KPMG in the UK, and went on to work for EY in Hungary, Russia and France. He established and built the European VAT businesses of TMF Group and then Avalara. He built the vatlive.com leading free global indirect tax web info site, acquired by Avalara.
Professor and Chair of Tax Law at the University of Leeds. She is an International Research Fellow at the Centre for Business Taxation, Oxford University; and holds a law degree from the University of Lisbon, and a PhD from the University of Dublin, Trinity College. Her research focus primarily on tax law and policy – particularly on the intersection between tax law and EU constitutional law, tax law and public economics, and tax law and criminology – having published widely on these areas, including four books, and over 60 journal articles and book chapters. She was Tax Policy and Legal Adviser to the Portuguese Government (2011-2012), and to the Government of Timor-Leste (2015-2016); has provided tax legal advice to the Irish Revenue Commissioners (2016), and tax policy advice, and/or legal drafting advice to the Governments of Sao Tome and Principe (2016-), Angola (2016-2018), and Turkey (2018) under the auspices of the IMF. Professor de la Feria was listed two years running (2015-2016) in the Global Tax 50, by the International Tax Review, as one of the most influential tax people in the World; and was co-recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Women in Tax Award, awarded by the Tax Analysts.
Ruth is the national Technical Chair for the VAT Practitioners Group. She is also an Associate specialising in indirect taxes with Hiller Hopkins LLP in the UK. In her VPG role, Ruth has worked closely with HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) on the “Making Tax Digital” project, ensuring that HMRC is fully aware of the challenges faced by taxpayers unused to accounting software. She has also been working with HMRC on the legislation for a “No Deal” Brexit.
She also represents the VPG and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (“ICAEW”) on various committees with HMRC and was seconded to the Office of Tax Simplification for seven months in 2017 to look at ways of simplifying the VAT code in the United Kingdom.
Stephen Dale is a partner in a specialist VAT practice in Paris in HEDEOS société d’avocats and has worked in French taxation for more than twenty years, having previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK.
Stephen is a member (and former Chairman) of the FEE (Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens) Tax Policy Group and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales VAT Committee (and former Chairman). He represents the IVA on the Expert Group and is a member of the OECD’s Global VAT Forum.
He is a board member of the Association de la Pratique de la TVA européenne (APTE).
He is the author of several publications such as VAT Yearbook – Kluwer, VAT Guides – PwC, Articles – International Indirect Tax, BNA, journals and newspapers.
Tiina Ruohola is a Senior Advisor on VAT at the Confederation of Finnish Industries. Tiina has worked with VAT for over 15 years, working for the Finnish Tax Administration and several consulting companies before joining the Confederation 4 years ago. Tiina is an active member of Business Europe’s VAT group and represents the Finnish businesses in the VAT Expert Group and the EU VAT Forum. In Finland, Tiina is also a member of the Board of Adjustments dealing with differences of opinion between taxpayers and the Tax Administration and the Central Board of Taxation, which is the body giving out advance ruling in major cases. Tiina’s motto is: you can talk about everything with a smile on your face – even about taxation.
Conference Recordings
Feedback for this Conference
“Very grateful for the opportunity to speak at the IVA conference in Edinburgh. It’s been an excellent chance to chat and compare and develop ideas as well. Particular thanks to Stephen Dale for the invite, Alexandra Stoicheva and Valerie Crompton for the organization and Fabian Völkel for the kind intro words.”
Andrew TuckerHMRC
“Dear IVA Friends, it was great to meet you at the IVA conference in Edinburgh! I missed it, good to be back. For 2 days we discussed very interesting topics related to: VAT neutrality and deduction; Awareness of taking part in VAT fraud – is it always so obvious?; VAT is more than just fraud; Blockchain & VAT compliance – transparency, security, opportunity; Update on European Commission and ECJ cases. Thank you to all IVA speakers and participants for VAT & life talks (these two have a lot in common )! See you in Barcelona this fall!”
Anna SzafraniecASB Tax Sp. z o.o. (Poland)
“My company has been named as leading VAT experts in Germany and I have to say that the IVA is an important aspect in this regard since international networks are decisive to deliver profound advice. It is important for us to keep in touch not only with other member firms but also having the chance to meet people from the EU, ECJ, OCED and local tax administrations. I really appreciate that the IVA offers such opportunities and that those people are willing to contribute to our conferences.”
Dr. Hans-Martin Grambecknesemann & grambeck (Germany)
“Thank you again for a great conference, it was a fantastic experience!”
George AlexanderLedds University (UK)
“It was a pleasure meeting you. I place on record the wonderful conference organized by you and your team.”
Rajendra KumarSanjiv Shah & Associates (India)
“Many thanks for the great organizing!”
Tiina RuoholaConfederation of Finnish Industries (Finland)
Conference Venue
Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa
1 Festival Square
Edinburgh, EH3 9SR, UK
Tel.: +44 131 229 9131
2021 Autumn Conference
Brussels, Belgium and Virtual Livestream
21 and 22 October 2021
Topic: VAT 3.0: Tax, technology, and threats
Those dealing with VAT are being challenged like never before, whether it be in relation to the scope of the tax, the increased use of technology by administrations and business and, due to it being a real-time imposition, the scope for errors. More than ever the management of this global tax requires very careful consideration.
Businesses and administrations need to know where the VAT is coming from and where it is going? How are the new e-commerce rules being applied across Europe since the 1st of July; what is the level of simplification perceived by businesses? What are the difficult issues that they are still facing? How is the growing role of technology affecting VAT compliance, refunds, or VAT in general? What is the latest news on JCT, GST and EAU VAT? What are the hot topics the European Commission is working on?
We will be addressing all of these subjects, not only from an EU but also from a worldwide perspective.
VAT practitioners, businesses, European and global institutions, and VAT authorities’ representatives from different parts of the world will share their experience and views at our next IVA hybrid conference that will take place in Brussels and online, so don’t miss it and be there!
Speakers For This Conference
Damien Moras is Founder and Managing Director of VAT4U. Armed with an academic background in business administration and finance from Toulouse-Barcelona Business School along with 12 years of consultancy with a strong focus on strategic costs optimization and financial risk mitigation strategies, Damien has managed strategic projects across different regions for large corporations, including digitization of the tax function. His work, has been going well beyond borders: Barcelona, Paris, Milan and Düsseldorf. Damien co-founded VAT4U with the core commitment of improving the way corporations recover VAT.
Donato Raponi has worked in the Ministry of Finance as a Tax Inspector from 1976 until 1979; and in the European Commission from 1979 until 2017. He is now an Independent Consultant dealing with indirect taxes.
He holds a Master degree in European Tax Law and Bachelor in Economics. He is honorary professor of European Tax Law at Brussels Business Management School. He is Co-Author of the book “Arriva l’euro” (Carmenta Editor) and numerous articles in tax matters.
Emmanuel is a French tax lawyer specializing exclusively in indirect taxes (VAT, Excise and Customs duties). After 10 years of experience at Price Waterhouse Tax and Legal and then Arthur Andersen International, he started his own consulting law firm in 2000. He has specifically built a significant experience in international supply chain structuring, ERP/SAP VAT implementations and multi-national advisory and compliance coordination. His main areas of activity are pharmaceuticals, energy utilities, aeronautics and chemicals. He is a partner of VAT Forum CV and regularly lectures at international VAT events.
Fátima Gouveia is a Portuguese Economist with Post-Graduations in Taxation. Born in in 1968, she entered Comark, Lda. in 1992, and is General Manager since 2014. She has been working in VAT issues, including cross-border VAT for about 20 years. All her professional experience has been focused in international business and cooperation. Comark, Lda is a member of the IVA since 1998 and has been on the IVA Board in the last 5 years.
George L. Salis, is a recognised economist, lawyer, and tax professional, with over 25+ years of international tax experience in international tax and trade compliance, tax planning and controversy, fiscal regulation and economic consulting. He specializes in international economic law; including taxation, fiscal & economic policy, transfer pricing and trade regulation, often working with international and intergovernmental organisations and multinational companies, and universities.
George is an experienced analyst and advisor to senior executives in global firms, intergovernmental organizations, and tax administrations on matters of taxation, global tax and fiscal policy, transfer pricing, VAT, tax treaties, EU tax law, customs & trade regulation, global information exchange and reporting regulation.
He is an adjunct professor of graduate tax law, risk analysis, and economics at Texas A&M University Law School, and formerly at other universities. The author of several articles related to international tax, economics, fiscal and tax policy, and global trade and finance in many professional publications, he is also a contributing author to the LexisNexis’ U.S. Transfer Pricing Guide, 4thEd, and other professional magazines and journals, as well as a frequent speaker at global conferences, government symposia, and professional roundtables.
George holds a PhD in International Law & Economic Policy, an LLM in International Tax Law, and LLM (Hons) International Taxation & Financial Services, an LLB (Hons), and BSc (Hons) in Economics, Political Science and Philosophy. He is the recipient of both the Advanced Certificate in EU Law, from the Academy of European Law, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, and the Executive Certificate in Economic Development, at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a Certified Business Economist (CBE)-US National Association for Business Economics (NABE) Charter.
Jean Claude Bouchard fell into the VAT pot some 56 years ago, started his career as a VAT consultant with CMS Francis Lefebvre where he stayed some 40 years, then joined TAJ (Deloitte) for seven extra years. During his career he has pleaded quite a number of cases and more specifically over 10 cases by the ECJ.
He was a member of the VAT expert group for seven years. He launched the creation of the European VAT club; with your present chairman, he launched in France an association grouping VAT practitioners from businesses and from lawyers: an association which is regularly in confident contacts with the tax administrations.
He had the honor and the pleasure to chair the IVA for over 10 years et cetera et cetera.
He has succeeded in convincing the EU Commission that the definitive VAT regime should be based on the “single place of declaration” principle, forcing the tax administrations to converge in their common monitoring of the tax, thus affording businesses to develop their activities within the EU in an environment fostering fiscal certainty.
Manuel Pérez de Algaba Cuenca, a Spanish lawyer and economist with a long experience as tax advisor, including seventeen years in multinational firms. Since 1999 provides independent tax advice through his firm IVA Consulta.
Founder member of VAT-Forum, member of the International VAT Association (IVA) and its Scientific Committee, member of Tax, Tourism & Law (TTL), a network of specialists in the taxation of the tourism sector. He frequently participates as lecturer in the formation activites and courses organized by these bodies.
Manuel Sieben is a tax advisor and, as managing director at AWB Steuerberatungsgesellschaft (AWB Tax Consultancy), is responsible for advising clients, especially in the areas of customs and preferential law. In particular, he is the contact person for legal issues and the implementation and optimisation of process organisation with regard to compliance with regulations relevant to foreign trade.
Until mid-2011, he worked in the senior service of the German customs administration at the main customs offices in Krefeld and Düsseldorf. He also completed the internationally oriented Master of Customs Administration (MCA) degree programme at the University of Münster.
At the AWA AUSSENWIRTSCHAFTS-AKADEMIE (AWA FOREIGN TRADE ACADEMY) he regularly holds seminars on customs and preferential law topics as a lecturer. He is also an author of various publications on customs law.
Michael is a VAT policy specialist in HM Revenue and Customs. He is responsible for Overseas VAT refunds, commodities and exports of Finance and Insurance services, as well as advising on EU Transition VAT issues.
He has 6 years of VAT experience which includes working in HM Treasury in 2018. He has held the role of Legal Interpretation Tax Gap lead and is also trained in direct taxes. Michael holds an MA in Finance from Bangor University.
Miguel Correia is a Deputy Director-General of the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority, responsible for VAT. He has accumulated a wide international experience in tax policy and tax consulting over the past two decades, in the public and private sectors. Prior to his current position, he worked as counselor for fiscal affairs at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union, in Brussels, and as tax advisor at Deloitte in Lisbon and PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York. Miguel holds a PhD in Tax Law from the London School of Economics.
Mojca Grobovsek is an indirect tax specialist and has been working in the field of VAT for 11 years now. She has started as a VAT Manager in a private company specialized in VAT recovery and VAT Compliance. In 2011, she wanted to give another significant dimension to my career. She therefore decided to join the Paris Chamber of Commerce, where she was working as a tax expert for the Enterprise Europe Network, which aims at helping SME,’s to develop and to support their activities on the European market. In July 2016, Mojca has joined Ayming as a VAT Expert where she identifies tax risks and propose compliant VAT schemes to their clients and their subsidiaries. Mojca also participates to commercial and partnership development. She deals with technical analysis of all kind of indirect tax issues and has a strategic oversight of the businesses. Mojca is also an official trainer on indirect taxation (VAT and customs) for the Paris Chamber of Commerce and takes often part of different conferences as a guest or as a speaker.
After studying law at the Universities of Marburg, Münster and Paris, Dr. Nathalie Harksen is working as a lawyer in tax law.
She is a managing partner of AWB Steuerberatungsgesellschaft and AWB Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft with offices in Münster, Munich and Hamburg. The AWB provides a further platform for assisting multinationals in their cross-border activities relating to customs, VAT, excise duties and export controls. Nathalie specializes in the customs and VAT implications of cross-border transactions. Due to her studies in customs law at the University of Münster, she advises multinational clients on the interfaces between VAT and customs with particular emphasis on VAT, import VAT and Incoterms.
She is an experienced trainer and holds seminars throughout Germany for the management staff of major German companies in VAT, customs and intrastat topics. She also has been accredited by the ICC as trainer for Incoterms2010. Furthermore, she is a guest lecturer at the Federal Finance Academy in Berlin.
Nathalie is one of the authors of „Rau/Dürrwächter“ (commentary of the VAT-Law – § 21 import VAT and § 21a special arrangement) and publishes regularly on customs and VAT issues.
Nils Vanhassel is a tax lawyer who specializes in indirect taxation, with a particular focus on VAT. After starting his career at PwC Belgium, he became an associate at Tiberghien Lawyers, one of Belgium’s leading tax law firms. In 2019, he moved to the Middle East, where he became a Counsel at Aurifer Middle East Tax Consultancy.
Since coming to the Gulf region, Nils has gained extensive experience with both direct and indirect taxation in the Middle East. During his career, Nils has advised clients from a wide variety of sectors. This has allowed him to gain considerable expertise in dealing with complex VAT matters. Nils’ career path offers a unique perspective, having worked in a mature VAT jurisdiction before coming to the GCC region, where VAT was only recently implemented.
Nils regularly gives presentations on various tax topics and he is a frequent author of articles on taxation in the EU and GCC. Nils also co-authored several reference works on Belgian VAT, such as the Tiberghien Tax Law Manual and the VAT Manual published by Larcier.
Nils holds an LL.M. (Master of laws) from the University of Ghent and has also obtained a postgraduate in Tax Law from the Brussels Tax College. He is the recipient of the Advanced Professional Certificate in International Taxation (APCIT) from the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD).
Patrice Pillet is the Head of Unit for indirect taxation legal affairs, in DG Taxud (European Commission). He is therefore responsible for the management of complains, the handing of infringement procedures as well as other legal issues (including preliminary rulings) in the area of indirect taxation.
He was previously Head of Sector responsible for VAT on electronic commerce (2008-1016). He has also previously been responsible for international affairs and technical assistance in the Customs Directorate of DG Taxud (2004-2008), as well as for fighting VAT fraud and promoting mutual assistance in tax matters (1998-2004).
Piet Battiau is the Head of the Consumption Taxes Unit in the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA) of the OECD. He is responsible for the OECD’s expanding work on indirect taxes, including the International VAT/GST Guidelines and the OECD Global Forum on VAT.
He has been included in the International Tax Review’s Global Tax 50 of the world’s most influential persons in tax policy and practice every year since its inception in 2011.
Piet joined the OECD in 2011. He began his career as a tax inspector for the Belgian Ministry of Finance in the early 1990’s before moving on to an international financial institution in 1995, where he became Head of International Taxation and subsequently Head of Public Policy. He was also Chairman of the Fiscal Committee of the European Banking Federation.
He studied Law in Brussels and Ghent and holds a Law degree and a degree in Tax Science.
Is an international VAT consultant. He has worked since 1996 in international VAT for a Big Four and worked several years in industry as in-house VAT manager. In 2010 he started his own VAT consulting firm ALLVAT. He is frequent speaker at international seminars, organizes trainings for the Federation of Dutch exporters, the Chamber of Commerce, the International VAT Expert Academy (IVEA) and is partner of VAT Forum CV. He is currently a board member of the IVA and liaises with the IVA members outside the EU. His focus is on the international supply chain in Europe and more recently the GCC.
Sophie is a member of Amazon’s EU public policy team in Brussels where she is leading and coordinating Amazon’s VAT and corporation tax policy efforts at a pan-EU level.
She has previously worked as a tax advisor at PwC and has advised many technology, ecommerce, media and telecoms businesses on VAT. She works closely with EU policy stakeholders on reforms to the VAT system, including the implementation of the VAT ecommerce package, but also on future VAT reforms. She holds a Master degree in Law and an Executive Master in Taxation. She is author of different publications on VAT and the digital economy.
Stephen Dale is a partner in a specialist VAT practice in Paris in HEDEOS société d’avocats and has worked in French taxation for more than twenty years, having previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK.
Stephen is a member (and former Chairman) of the FEE (Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens) Tax Policy Group and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales VAT Committee (and former Chairman). He represents the IVA on the Expert Group and is a member of the OECD’s Global VAT Forum.
He is a board member of the Association de la Pratique de la TVA européenne (APTE).
He is the author of several publications such as VAT Yearbook – Kluwer, VAT Guides – PwC, Articles – International Indirect Tax, BNA, journals and newspapers.
Joined ORIX Corporation in 1995, engaged in business development and investment in overseas business units. In 2006, transferred to Singapore investment subsidiary ORIX Investment and Management as President. After that, worked as Managing Director in departments including Overseas Business Investment, Strategic Investment, and Overseas Business Development.
Carried out many projects including investment in Vietnam and Singapore under joint management with listed enterprises in Singapore, business development of microfinance as director of the listed enterprise in Sri Lanka, financing Cambodia’s largest commercial bank, and M&A of Indonesia’s second-largest independent finance company. After the investments were implemented, promoted with team members hands-on development of new business in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar with invested enterprises, PMI (Post Merger Integration) for an acquire in Indonesia, and investment strategy planning in Thailand and Malaysia.
Having experience of cross-border investment among industrial companies and PMI, started to be willing to support the overseas business development of Japanese companies in a hands-on way. Also sympathized with Fuchigami, who had worked together in ORIX, and his idea “making world’s tax matters easy by the cloud.” Confident in the growth potential of OPTI as TaxTech and joined its management by co-funding.
Graduated from Kwansei Gakuin University.
Thibauld Manson is currently Tax Attache for Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the French Embassy in Berlin.
Prior to his current position, he was the head of the French VAT Refund Unit for foreign businesses, international organizations and diplomatic missions at the non-resident tax directorate (DINR).
Thibauld attended the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) de Cachan and has 15 years of experience in both public and private sectors regarding economic and tax issues.
Feedback for this Conference
“It was a pleasure and a great honor. Thank you so much to you and all the operational Team for the care that you had over the past month in ensuring that all was perfect. And finally, to Stephen and IVA in general for allowing the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority to share its projects and views with such an informed and important public. I will continue to follow the conference with the utmost interest.
Cooperation of all involved will indeed be key to ensure that technology can bring to VAT all the promises that it holds. And here, more than in other fields, cooperation between all of us involved in the process is indeed the keystone for success. Let’s continue to work for VAT 3.0, enhancing its successes and being aware of its threats.”
Miguel Gonçalves CorreiaPortuguese Tax Administration
“I would just like to compliment you and the team for the tremendous job you did putting together a hybrid event. Combining both on site and online speakers and delegates to create one successful all-inclusive event is difficult but you did it seamlessly.
The content was excellent, not least Donato Raponi’s walk through time and his future vision with regard to VAT. As always it is great to meet up with persons from the Tax Administrations, present and former, and so many VAT specialists. Having adapted to online meetings I had almost forgotten how important face to face events are, but once together I was reminded of the value of mingling; so much is gained from informal interaction and listening to conversations around the room. Thank you for your hard work and a great program.”
Jane HolmbergUnited Cash Back (Sweden)
“Thank you very much for the organisation of the conference in Brussels. It all went very well to the satisfaction of all of us. Congratulations.”
Jean-Claude BouchardSAS Cabinet Bouchard & Associes (France)
“It was a very nice event. Looking forward to the next edition.”
Remco DewaerheijtBlue Dot (Netherlands)
“Thank you for the opportunity to present and discuss the E-commerce VAT reforms and future developments yesterday, with Patrice Pillet and with the IVA members.”
Sophie ClaessensAmazon (Luxembourg)
2021 Spring Conference
Interactive Virtual Broadcast
25th, 26th and 27th May 2021
Topic: VAT With(out) Borders
The 2021 Spring conference was an occasion to stand back and take an overview of the VAT regime in the EU and its boundaries. The EU Commission’s working program from July setting out a clear set of actions on a number of VAT priorities aims to make the EU VAT system more widely harmonized, while Brexit clearly reintroduces borders to the VAT “table”.
The VAT authorities of several countries presented their updates on cross-border issues and e-invoicing in its multiple EU versions with a focus on technology which is becoming a real ally to VAT advisers, consultants and administrations. Customs and excise duties will not be forgotten, as their interaction with VAT in the EU will become deeper.
Through the interactive breakout sessions were addressed a number of very practical issues, such as the “quick fixes” in order to clarify if borders were demolished or if different practices still challenge businesses; E-commerce reform which in itself will erase a “few boundaries” through the single EU VAT registration and the further extension of the One Stop Shop (“OSS”). The TOMS within the EU, is in need of reform, and were further discussed – as well as the Commission’s other initiatives.
There were plenty of very interesting topics discussed at the 100% digital IVA and highly interactive conference.
Speakers From This Conference
Andrew Tucker, HMRC (UK)
Andrew Tucker is Head of VAT Deductions and Financial Services policy in HMRC. Prior to his current role he headed up the VAT policy team in HMRC dealing with EU Exit. He has previously led a variety of teams and projects across a number of different UK Government departments including on legal aid reform, devolution and in the somewhat niche area of coroners and burials. He is a trustee of two charities, is Chair of Governors at a free school in London and (at the time of writing) is currently training for the London Marathon. He is married to Jane with two daughters Hannah (7) and Sophie (5).
Bradford Rohmer, Oxford Research (Sweden)
Bradford Rohmer is a partner at Oxford Research, a small policy research consultancy (bizarrely) based in Stockholm. He has spent the last 12 years specialising in evaluations and related studies for the European Commission, with a focus on applying social research techniques rigorously to assignments across a range of policy areas. These have included in particular studies in the fields of tax and customs policies. He is currently team leader for the study on the review of the VAT treatment of the financial and insurance industries, and among others has recently completed an evaluation of the Fiscalis programme for tax cooperation. Bradford has degrees in European studies and political science from the Institute of European Studies of the Free University of Brussels and Sciences-Po Strasbourg.
Christian advises clients on all aspects of national and international VAT issues and specializes in customs and excise duty matters. His particular focus is on import VAT related issues as well as optimizing cross-border supply chains and processing schemes. Christian has extensive experience in carrying out SAP-VAT audits and customs reviews. He also accompanies external audits and represents clients before tax authorities and fiscal courts. His clients range from individuals to international groups.
He is a post-graduate degree lecturer at the University of Münster and regularly lectures on VAT and customs related topics, as well as regularly publishing comments, articles and annotations in these areas.
Graduated from HEC in 1997 with a specialisation in Finances, Cyrille Konter started his career in Germany within various investment banks as structureur and seller of derivatives on action. In 2003, he returns to France to take over the business development of TEVEA International.
Damien Moras is Founder and Managing Director of VAT4U. Armed with an academic background in business administration and finance from Toulouse-Barcelona Business School along with 12 years of consultancy with a strong focus on strategic costs optimization and financial risk mitigation strategies, Damien has managed strategic projects across different regions for large corporations, including digitization of the tax function. His work, has been going well beyond borders: Barcelona, Paris, Milan and Düsseldorf. Damien co-founded VAT4U with the core commitment of improving the way corporations recover VAT.
David Hummel is since October 2016 legal secretary (référendaire) at the European Court of Justice at the cabinet of advocate general Kokott.
Before (2013 – 2016) he represented several tax law chairs at the Universities of Münster, Trier, Leipzig and Hamburg. In mid-2017 the appointment as a Professor at the University of Leipzig took place. His academic career starts with the Study of Law at the University of Leipzig, a Graduation (Phd) as an assistant of Prof. Dr. Stadie with a VAT-Thesis in 2009 and a Habilitation in 2013 with the matter: „Rechtsformneutralität im Öffentlichen Recht“ (neutrality of legal forms in public law – venia legendi: public law, especially tax law and public economic law).
David Hummel is one of the authors of, inter alia, „Rau/Dürrwächter“ (commentary of the VAT-Law), „Kirchhof/Söhn/Mellinghoff“ (commentary of the income tax law) and “Hübschmann/Hepp/Spitaler” (commentary of the procedure tax law). Furthermore he is engaged as a tutor in the field of European Tax Law and State Aid Law.
Dermot Donegan is head of VAT Policy and Legislation in the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland. He is an Irish delegate at Council Working Party meetings and other Commission Groups. He chaired discussions at Council on the new 2015 Place of Supply rules for Telecomms, Broadcasting and eServices which were agreed during the Irish Presidency. He has worked in many roles within the Irish Tax Administration and spent 5 years in Africa as a Government adviser on GST and VAT.
Emmanuel is a French tax lawyer specializing exclusively in indirect taxes (VAT, Excise and Customs duties). After 10 years of experience at Price Waterhouse Tax and Legal and then Arthur Andersen International, he started his own consulting law firm in 2000. He has specifically built a significant experience in international supply chain structuring, ERP/SAP VAT implementations and multi-national advisory and compliance coordination. His main areas of activity are pharmaceuticals, energy utilities, aeronautics and chemicals. He is a partner of VAT Forum CV and regularly lectures at international VAT events.
Fabian Völkel is Founder and Managing Director of VAT4U. After legal studies in Münster, Düsseldorf, New York, and London, Fabian worked for 15 years in consultancy at Clifford Chance, KPMG, Ayming (Ex-Lowendalmasai) and TALA Consult before starting VAT4U. His professional focus is on cross-border VAT, combining operational aspects of VAT compliance and VAT recovery with IT technology. Fabian holds a Ph.D. from the University of Munster and an LL.M. (Tax) from the University of London.
Fátima Gouveia is a Portuguese Economist with Post-Graduations in Taxation. Born in in 1968, she entered Comark, Lda. in 1992, and is General Manager since 2014. She has been working in VAT issues, including cross-border VAT for about 20 years. All her professional experience has been focused in international business and cooperation. Comark, Lda is a member of the IVA since 1998 and has been on the IVA Board in the last 5 years.
Fernando Matesanz is the owner and Director of the firm named Spanish VAT Services Asesores SL. He Counts on more than twelve years of experience in providing advice in VAT and other Indirect Taxes.
Fernando holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Degree in European Legislation. He also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in Corporate Tax Law from the IE Business School.
He is an active Tax Lawyer, member of the Bar and a certified Tax Advisor.
Fernando began his carrier within the VAT Group of Ernst & Young, managing the VAT and customs practice for more than eight years. After that, he founded the firm Spanish VAT Services Asesores SL a firm exclusively working on international VAT matters and other Indirect taxes. Spanish VAT Services is currently one of the main VAT services providers for small and medium-sized companies within the Spanish market.
Fernando regularly acts as speaker and lecturer in different Universities and organizations. He is also a member of the VAT Forum CV.
Giacomo Luchetta is a senior evaluator for Economisti Associati, a boutique consultancy providing services to the European Commission and other international organisations. Over the last 10 years, he has delivered several evaluations and foresight studies for various directorate-generals, with a focus on fiscal policies. For DG Taxation and Customs, he has worked on excises, administrative cooperation, and VAT issues. In the latter area, he currently is deputy team leader for the study on the review of the VAT treatment of the financial and insurance industries, and was so for the study on the evaluation of e-invoicing rules. Giacomo has a law-and-economics background, with a PhD from LUISS University and a joint LL.M. from the Universities of Gent and Rotterdam.
After studying law at Freiburg University in Germany Hans Joachim Narzynski joined the tax administration in Germany in 1998. He worked in different local tax offices in the federal state of Saxony. In 2009 he became an advisor in the Federal Parliament of Germany. He joined the Federal Ministry of Finance In 2013, first working in the press department of the Ministry. Since 2016 he is involved in European negotiations on tax issues as head of division. Hans Joachim Narzynski is now head of division in the Ministry’s directorate for customs and indirect taxation. In this position he is dealing with international VAT matters, in particular European VAT regulations.
Madeleine Merkx (1982) studied tax law at Tilburg University (2000-2004) where she obtained her PhD in 2011 on the subject of (fixed) establishments in EU VAT. She is currently working as a partner at the Tax Research Center of BDO and as an endowed professor of indirect taxation at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is also a deputy judge at the District Court of Noord-Holland.
Mojca Grobovsek is an indirect tax specialist and has been working in the field of VAT for 11 years now. She has started as a VAT Manager in a private company specialized in VAT recovery and VAT Compliance. In 2011, she wanted to give another significant dimension to my career. She therefore decided to join the Paris Chamber of Commerce, where she was working as a tax expert for the Enterprise Europe Network, which aims at helping SME,’s to develop and to support their activities on the European market. In July 2016, Mojca has joined Ayming as a VAT Expert where she identifies tax risks and propose compliant VAT schemes to their clients and their subsidiaries. Mojca also participates to commercial and partnership development. She deals with technical analysis of all kind of indirect tax issues and has a strategic oversight of the businesses. Mojca is also an official trainer on indirect taxation (VAT and customs) for the Paris Chamber of Commerce and takes often part of different conferences as a guest or as a speaker.
Olivier Alinat is currently part of the VAT unit of the tax legislation department (Direction de la législation fiscale) of the French Ministry of Economy and Finance. He joined the French tax administration after studying law at Aix-Marseille University and obtaining an LL.M in European Law at Leiden University.
He mainly works on issues related to the right to deduct and financial services, as well as payroll tax (taxe sur les salaires). He also participates in the work of the OECD Working Party on Consumption Taxes (WP 9) . More recently, his work has focused on the implementation of a VAT group mechanism in France.
Since joining the Commission since 1995, across the range of issues in which she has been involved, her efforts have focused on the recast of the Sixth VAT Directive, the VAT package, vouchers, SMEs, rates and more recently financial services, travel agents and passenger transport. She is also in charge of the VAT Committee. Prior to that, she worked at the Danish Ministry of Taxation and briefly in the private sector.
Is an international VAT consultant. He has worked since 1996 in international VAT for a Big Four and worked several years in industry as in-house VAT manager. In 2010 he started his own VAT consulting firm ALLVAT. He is frequent speaker at international seminars, organizes trainings for the Federation of Dutch exporters, the Chamber of Commerce, the International VAT Expert Academy (IVEA) and is partner of VAT Forum CV. He is currently a board member of the IVA and liaises with the IVA members outside the EU. His focus is on the international supply chain in Europe and more recently the GCC.
Ruth is the national Technical Chair for the VAT Practitioners Group. She is also an Associate specialising in indirect taxes with Hiller Hopkins LLP in the UK. In her VPG role, Ruth has worked closely with HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) on the “Making Tax Digital” project, ensuring that HMRC is fully aware of the challenges faced by taxpayers unused to accounting software.
She also represents the VPG and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (“ICAEW”) on various committees with HMRC and was seconded to the Office of Tax Simplification for seven months in 2017 to look at ways of simplifying the VAT code in the United Kingdom.
Stephen Dale is a partner in a specialist VAT practice in Paris in HEDEOS société d’avocats and has worked in French taxation for more than twenty years, having previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK.
Stephen is a member (and former Chairman) of the FEE (Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens) Tax Policy Group and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales VAT Committee (and former Chairman). He represents the IVA on the Expert Group and is a member of the OECD’s Global VAT Forum.
He is a board member of the Association de la Pratique de la TVA européenne (APTE).
He is the author of several publications such as VAT Yearbook – Kluwer, VAT Guides – PwC, Articles – International Indirect Tax, BNA, journals and newspapers.
Feedback for this Conference
“Thanks for the good preparation of the last three days. It was great to see that even in those difficult times, IVA made it again to come up with a great conference. We liked a lot the chosen topics, set of speeches and discussion rounds. It was a pleasure to be part of this and we do hope that we can stay part of the contributors for future technology topics.”
Fabian VölkelVAT4U Germany
“Concerning the conference itself, it was just excellent and beautifully organised. Congratulations all of those who took part in setting up.”
Jean Claude BouchardSAS Cabinet Bouchard & Associes France
“"Thanks all for sharing your knowledge!"”
Bishan ShahBishan R Shah & Co. (India)
“"The IVA this week was as always very interesting and the webinar format was again a success ! Thank you!"”
Sophie DegrandiHedeos (France)
“Once again a great conference, great info and well presented.”
Anne FalveyGB Business Global (Ireland)
“Great conference, many thanks for the huge effort!”
Fernando MatesanzSpanish VAT Services (Spain)
“Thank you the 3 days were valuable. A special thanks to Stephen and everyone else.”
Richard HayeWay 2 VAT UK Ltd (UK)
“Congrats with the organisation of a great virtual conference!”
Hilde BlontrockEneman Brugge (Belgium)
2020 Autumn Conference
Interactive Virtual Broadcast
Topic: Digitalization and Servitization, the next VAT Frontier
The future of VAT lies in digitalization and servitization. How will businesses adjust to this brand-new world? How can tax consultants assist businesses and liaise efficiently with VAT Authorities? What IT competences will be required of all relevant stakeholders?
What are the immediate challenges that lie ahead and how can we prepare to face them?
The virtual conference week addressed all of these issues and brought some practical solutions to better understand these very important evolutions!
2019 Spring Conference
Munich, Germany
16th and 17th May 2019
Topic: New VAT foundations
Irresistible forces were making VAT and indirect taxes rapidly change in Europe and worldwide: whether due to the development of e-commerce, the permanent and continuous creation of new types of goods, services and other products, the fight against tax evasion and fraud, new VAT and customs rules, introduced in a sort-of harmonized disorder by governments, general digitalization, new IT systems and automation to cope with all these changes, and finally the tax judges trying to interpret this complex world.
All of these major disrupters were shaking up the principles, the rules and the interpretations of the VAT and indirect taxes legislation and compliance requirements.
Our Munich conference was the occasion to try to understand the new VAT foundations emerging from this challenging environment, and the imminent future, including what we should have expected to see in the post-Brexit EU.
2019 Autumn Conference
Athens, Greece
17th and 18th October 2019
Topic: Fixing VAT on trade in Europe
The Commission clearly set out its strategy for modernising the EU VAT system in its Action Plan in April 2016(1). We are now 3 and half years later. At our October conference we will look not only at the progress that has been made, but also the challenges still to overcome to “fix VAT in the EU” which has become one of the major issues for businesses, for Member States and for … the Commission. Implementation of new rules (quick fixes, e-commerce platforms, vouchers, Customs, new digital proposals, SMEs, rates; financial services and the definitive system for goods) is essential to ensure compliance, level-playing fields and the elimination of VAT fraud. Cooperation and collaboration between businesses and authorities will clearly be key and Brexit will be round the corner. Our forthcoming conference in Athens will address all of these issues.
(1) https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/com_2016_148_en.pdf
Spring Conference 2018
Nice, France
17th and 18th May 2018
Topic: Fundamental Reform of the European VAT System – VAT in a new era.
2018 Autumn Conference
Stockholm, Sweeden
18th and 19th October 2018
Topic: Worldwide Indirect Taxation – Digitalisation – Its Impacts and Consequences for Taxpayers and Administrations
Autumn 2013
Brussels, Belgium
IVA celebrates its 20 years anniversary!
24th – 25th October, 2013
2017 Autumn Conference
Brussels, Belgium
19th and 20th October 2017
At the IVA Autumn conference in Brussels we welcomed guest speakers from the Swiss, Finish and French Tax Administrations. We also had Ms Maria Elena Scoppio from the European Commission providing an update on the work of the EC.
From outside of the EU, we had Mrs Aslina Joned from the GST Malaysian Appeal Tribunal talking about the Malaysian experience. There was also an update from the Gulf States and from India.
Our guest speaker Dr. George Salis from Vertex (USA) talked about global indirect taxation and tax reform trends. Richard Asquith from Avalara provided an update on Brexit. There was a special panel discussion about Meetings Incentives Conventions Exhibitions (MICE).
Dr. Stefan Maunz provided an update on technical VAT. Daniel Sztanko from RSM Hungary presented an update on recent developments in Hungary (EKAER) and Emmanuel Cotessat talked about the increasing links between VAT and Customs.
2017 Spring Conference
Estoril, Portugal
11th and 12th May 2017
Topic: EU VAT system and the E-commerce
The European Commission published just before the end of the 2016 its proposals on adapting the EU VAT system to e-commerce. The OECD published its draft guidelines on collecting VAT in a digital world as well. There could not be another topic more relevant which needed to be discussed in the VAT/GST world.
Speakers at the Estoril Conference in Portugal were representatives from the European Commission, Tax Administrations from different EU Member states, as well as Business representatives and representatives from the VAT Science and our IVA members.
We had as speakers Donato Raponi from the European Commission, as well as Lenka Mikulíková from the Czech Tax Administration, Marcos Álvarez Suso from the Spanish Tax Administration, Arnis Lībenzons from the Latvian Tax Administration and Jonathan Heath from HMRC. Miguel Silva Pinto talked about how the work of IOTA is developing around the digital economy and the challenges it brought to Tax Administrations.
Spring 2016
Vienna, Austria
12th and 13th May 2016
Topic: Can you be VAT compliant in Europe? – with a focus on VAT practical and technical topics.
Speakers at the Vienna Conference were representatives from the European Commission, Tax Administrations from different EU member states, as well as Business representatives and representatives from the VAT Science and our IVA members.
Autumn 2015
Brussels, Belgium
22nd and 23rd October 2015
Topic: QUO VATIS. The VAT System – Today? And where to in the Future?
Some of the topics which were presented at the conference are: Where is VAT heading in the next 5 years? (update from the EC and Tax Authorities), EU differences with respect to recoverability of input VAT and compliance, VAT fraud, EU case law – Technical update, and many more.
Among others we had as guest speakers Donato Raponi from the European Commission, Piet Battiau from OECD, representatives from the Belgian, Portuguese Tax Administration. We also had Mr Karl-Heinz Haydl, the Global VAT/GST Leader Technical & Policy from GE Corporate, who presented Quo VATis from a Business perspective.
Spring 2015
Berlin, German
21st and 22nd May 2015
For our 2015 Spring conference in Berlin we spent a large part of the 1 1/2 days on looking at how technology has and will increasingly have an important role to play in the management of the VAT system, both within and outside of the EU for businesses and Governments – but at what cost to business? We had a round table discussion with the EU Commission and presentations from tax administrations as to how they see technology evolving. In addition we had workshops, technical updates – and a great opportunity for networking all in a very short timeframe.
Autumn 2014
Brussels, Belgium
23rd – 24th October, 2014
For our 2014 Brussels autumn conference we had a major focus on the MOSS and the significant changes being made to the EU VAT rules with effect from 1 January 2015. We were joined by representatives from the French, UK, Belgian and Italian administrations and the EU Commission to see how these changes will affect business and the role for business to play to make the new system succeed.
We had, in addition, a very full programme with speakers covering VAT regimes from Brazil to Russia and the EU, as well as workshops, technical updates – and a great opportunity for networking.
Autumn 2016
Zurich, Switzerland
20th and 21st October 2016
Topic: Looking beyond EU. Non-EU indirect taxes
At the Autumn 2016 conference we had speakers from the European Commission, the Swiss and Maltese Tax Administrations. Focus of the conference was global VAT/GST update, covering Mexico, Russia, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. From the Business perspective we had Geroge Salis from Vertext (USA) and Christoph Lybeer from Johnson & Johnson (Switzerland).