The sixty-fifth annual International Fiscal Association (IFA) Congress took place in Paris from September 11 to 16. It is the only non-governmental and non-sectoral international organization dedicated to fiscal issues. The congress serves as a forum for exchange of expertise and ideas among fiscal practitioners, both during the official program and in the course of private conversations. Professor Tomas Balco, of KIMEP’s Central Asian Tax Research Centre spoke at the gathering. About 2000 thousand participants from around the world and from both the public and private sectors were in attendance.

This year’s congress had two main themes. The first was interaction between domestic law anti-avoidance provisions. The second was tax treaties as they relate to international tax issues arising from cross-border business Reorganization.

Professor Balco led an IFA/EU seminar on avoidance of double taxation. The seminar analyzed the fundamental legal framework and principles related to this question. The forum also gave Professor Balco the opportunity to establish links between KIMEP and other institutions. At last year’s congress in Rome, Professor Balco efforts led to an agreement with the University of Seoul in the Republic of Korea, which has resulted in the Korea-Kazakhstan Tax Forums.

CATRC is currently engaged in efforts to establish a Kazakhstani Branch of IFA. The Centre is also working on a number of regional initiatives on tax policy supported by IFA.

Xeniya Yeroshenko Published: 05/01/2012