Tomas Balco Receives Award from American Chamber of Commerce

 
Tomas Balco, an associate professor in the School of Law and Director of the Central Asian Tax Research Center (CATRC), recently received the American Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 Service Award. He was recognized, along with other outstanding members of the community, during the Chamber’s annual Black-Tie Awards Dinner in May.

Professor Balco received the award for the many contributions he has made to the local community, both through the Chamber and as a professor at KIMEP. He has chaired the Almaty Tax Working Group since 2008. Over the last three years, it has become one of the most active working groups conducted by AmCham. Most impressively, the group contributed to amendments in the tax code in 2009 by introducing the capital gains tax and dividends exemption.

Since 2010, Professor Balco has launched two additional tax working groups in Atyrau and Astana, which he aims to make self-sufficient and sustainable. Similar to the group in Almaty, these working groups seek to spread awareness of tax issues to Kazakhstan’s major Caspian business and industrial regions.

As CATRC Director at KIMEP, he also organized 6 tax practical and scientific tax events this year, allowing students, tax specialists and AmCham members to further explore the intricacies of Kazakhstani tax legislation.

“I am very pleased that the American Chamber of Commerce has recognized Professor Balco’s enormous hard work over the last couple of years,” says Terence Blackburn, Dean of KIMEP Law School. “He has worked tirelessly to assist in the development of the tax law of Kazakhstan and has energized countless students to develop deeper understanding of tax law and tax accounting. Many of them will choose tax practice as their profession. KIMEP is very fortunate to have such a dedicated and talented professor.”
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