Topical Developments in VAT Law
A conference for legal practitioners, tax consultants
in-house legal and tax advisers, civil servants and accountants
The Irish Centre for European Law (ICEL)
With the kind assistance of Kluwer Law
Invites you to a conference on
Friday, 15th July 2005
at
The Hilton Dublin Hotel
Charlemont Place, Dublin 2
Irish VAT law has its origins in the EC VAT Directives and is, in particular, heavily influenced by the requirements of the seminal Sixth VAT Directive of 1977, whose ongoing interpretation by the Court of Justice provides a crucial and developing source of law for VAT practitioners This conference will explore the significance of some of the Court’s more important recent rulings and asses the substantial VAT reform proposals currently being considered by the European Commission. The conference brings together leading figures in the field and will be of interest to all practitioners or government officials concerned with advising about, or applying, VAT law both in Ireland and, more generally, across the EU.
Solicitors' CPD Allocation: 6.0 Hours Group Study
MORNING PROGRAMME
9.00am /REGISTRATION
9.45am /Welcome & Opening Observations
Noel J. Travers, Barrister and Director, ICEL
Session I: VAT Aggressive Schemes & Halifax
9.50pm /General Introduction Session I
Chair: Mr Kieran Corrigan, Principal, Kieran Corrigan & Co, Tax Advisers and Accountants, Board Member, ICEL.
10.00am / Choosing between Economic Reality and Abuse of RightsProf. dr. Herman van Kesteren, University of Tilburg
(The Netherlands), Judge's-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeals
10.35am / Legal Uncertainty - The Court of Justice's Solution to VAT Avoidance Schemes
Ms Rita de la Feria, Tax adviser & lecturer, LawSchool, TCD
11.05am /REFRESHMENT BREAK
11.35am / Putting Balance into the DebateMr Dermot O'Brien, Partner, Dermot O'Brien & Associates, Dublin, and Deputy President of the Irish Taxation Institute
12.00am / General Reflections on the Issues Raised
Mr Jim Somers, VAT Consultant & former Partner, Ernst & Young
12.15pm / Session I Question and Answer/Discussion Session
12.30pm / LUNCH BREAK*
*Please note – the registration fee does not include lunch
AFTERNOON PROGRAMME
Session II – Simplification, Deductibility andPlace of Supply Rules
2.15pm / Introduction to Conference Session II
Chair: Mr Justice Nial Fennelly, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland, former Advocate General, Court of Justice of the EC, Chairman, ICEL.
2.20pm / Remedies in VAT Cases and Reflections on the Kretztechnik
Mr Paul Farmer, Barrister, Pump Court Tax Chambers, London
2.35pm / Simplification of the VAT System and the proposal for a One-Stop Shop
Mr Arthur Kerrigan, DG Taxation & Customs Union, Commission
3.05pm / The Importance of the Arthur Anderson judgment
Mr Breen Cassidy, Partner, Indirect Taxation, Ernst & Young
3.30pm /
Question and Answers/Discussion Session
3.45pm /REFRESHMENT BREAK
4.15pm / The Significance of Hotel Scandic Gåsabäck judgmentMr Alan Fagan, Partner, Indirect Taxation, Deloitte & Touche (TBC)
4.45pm / Place of Supply Rules and Article 8 of the Sixth Directive
Mr Noel J. Travers, Barrister and Director, ICEL
5.15.pm / General Question and Answers/Discussion Session
6.00pm / CLOSE OF CONFERENCE
CHAIR & SPEAKER PROFILES
Mr Breen Cassidy leads Ernst & Young's Indirect Tax Services team, advising on a ll aspects of VAT-related taxes for a wide range of clients, including retail, manufacturing and financial. He joined the firm in 1990, having previously worked with the Revenue Commissioners in VAT. He has extensive experience on national and international VAT consultancy assignments and in the preparation of in-depth reports for clients on many pan-European business transactions. He has assisted State and semi-State bodies in the course of Revenue audits. In addition, he advises national and multinational companies operating in the sectors of energy, financial services, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, technology and software. Breen has lectured widely on VAT, is a contributor to a number of publications and represents Ireland at Ernst & Young's International Financial Services Forum and Airline Forum. He is also co-editor of the Irish VAT Acts, published by the Irish Taxation Institute.
Mr Kieran Corrigan qualified as a chartered accountant in the tax department of Arthur Andersen. He was also a senior tax manager with Deloitte & Touche before forming his own practice Kieran Corrigan & Co. Ltd. Kieran is also a barrister-at-law. Kieran specialises in taxation consultancy and corporate finance. He is a part-time lecturer on Revenue Law in the LawSchool, TCD. Kieran is a director of the Irish Centre of European Law (ICEL). He is alsoa director of the Irish Industrial Development Authority (IDA). He is a past Chairman of the National Building Agency and was a member of the Custom House Docks Development Authority, which established the Irish Financial
Services Centre (IFSC).
Ms Rita de la Feria completed her law degree at the University of Lisbon having specialised in Tax Law and Economic Law. She then began her professional career as a tax consultant with Arthur Andersen, working in both their Lisbon and Dublin offices. More recently she has undertaken independent consultancy work for the VAT department of Deloitte & Touche, London. She is currently completing her PhD. studies on EU VAT harmonisation and the Internal Market at the LawSchool, TCD. Ms de la Feria has been course director of the new LL.M. programme module “EU VAT Law” at TCD and will presently be taking up a position as a lecturer in EU Law and Tax Law at Queen’s University Belfast. She has published on a variety of EU VAT issues.
Mr Alan Fagan is a Partner with Deloitte & Touche specialising in VAT and with over 25 years experience in the field. He is in charge of Deloitte’s Irish Indirect Taxation division comprising over 20 professional specialising solely in indirect taxation. He was formerly a Tax Inspector with the Revenue Commissioners until 1992 when he joined Deloitte.
Mr Paul Farmer is a barrister specialising in European single market law with a particular emphasis on EU-related tax litigation and advice, including corporation tax, State aid, VAT and other indirect tax issues. He is a former référendaire to Advocate General Jacobs at the Court of Justice of the EC and a frequent speaker at European and international tax gatherings across Europe. Paul speaks French and German and reads several other European languages. He is a qualified accountant who also worked for four years (1998-2002) as Legal Adviser to Director of Tax Policy and Head of Unit (Direct Taxation), DG Taxation and Customs Union. He is co-author of Farmer & Lyal EC Tax Law (Oxford 1994; forthcoming ed. 2005), as well as numerous articles on European Law and Tax Law. He is also a contributor to Oxford Encyclopaedia of European Law (Oxford, 2005).
CHAIR & SPEAKER PROFILES
The Hon. Mr Justice Nial Fennelly, the Supreme Court of Ireland.Nial Fennelly practised at the Bar from 1964 to 1995. He was Chairman of the Bar Council of Ireland for the period 1990 to 1991. He was appointed Advocate General at the Court of Justice in 1995, where he served until 2000, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He is Chairman of the Irish Centre for European Law, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of European Law at Trier, and President of the Irish Society for European Law. He is also Chairman of the Working Group on the Jurisdiction of the Courts. Mr Justice Fennelly has a very strong interest in European Law and has maintained a keen interest in VAT law since his time at the Court of Justice where he gave numerous opinions in important VAT cases.
Mr Arthur Kerrigan is acting Head of Unit, VAT and other Turnover Taxes, DG Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
Mr Dermot O’Brien is a tax adviser and principal of Dermot O’Brien & Associates. He is the Deputy President of the Irish Institute of Taxation.
Mr Jim Somers is a former Partner with Ernst & Young in charge of indirect taxation and one of Ireland’s leading specialists in VAT. He is now a consultant to Ernst & Young and is a member of the Indirect Taxes Committee of the Irish Institute of Taxation. He is co-editor (with Breen Cassidy) of the Law of Value Added Tax Act 2005 (Finance Act 2005 Edition).
Mr Noel J. Travers is a practising barrister and Director of the ICEL. Called to the Irish Bar in 1991, he is a former lecturer-in-law (1990-1995) and Associate Dean (1992-1995) of the Faculty of Law, UCD. He was a référendaire (legal secretary) from 1995 to 2000 to Advocate General Nial Fennelly (as he then was) at the Court of Justice and, subsequently, from 2000 to 2003, to Judge Bo Vesterdorf, President of the Court of First Instance. In January 2004, he returned to Ireland, resumed legal practice at the Bar and took up the directorship of the ICEL. He has published widely in various academic journals primarily about EC law and is a Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Law, UCD. Noel worked on various VAT cases during his time in Advocate General Fennelly’s Chambers and is now, inter alia, working on VAT cases again in his private practice as a barrister.
Prof. dr. Herman van Kesteren (1961) studied tax at Leiden University.Since his graduation in 1986 he lectured at this University (until 2000), and is currently a professor in the field of VAT at the TilburgUniversity. He joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a partner this year. He is a Judge in
's-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeals. Herman has written many articles for legal periodicals, has contributed to several loose-leaf services and he is a member of the editorial board of a Dutch monthly journal on Value Added tax. He has often been a guest lecturer, in the Netherlands and abroad, and for academic scholars as well as for tax practitioners.
To reserve your place(s) at:
TOPICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN VAT LAW
On Friday 15 July 2005
please post, phone, fax or e-mail Lesley-Ann Hayden:
The ICEL, House 39, The LawSchool, TCD, Dublin 2, DX 157
Phone: (01) 608 1845; Fax.: (01) 679 4080; E-mail:
Non-Members: Fee €280* per person. Please reserve place(s) ______.
*3 or more non-members from one firm/organisation at €230 per person
NAME(S) ______
ADDRESS______
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TEL ______FAX ______DX ______
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REDUCED FEE FOR ICEL MEMBERS & Members of the Institute of Taxation
Individual & Corporate: Fee €200* per person. Please reserve place(s) ______.
*3 or more members from one firm/organisation at €150 per person
ICEL Associate Fee €120 per person. Please reserve place(s)______.
NAME(S) ______
ADDRESS______
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TEL: ______FAX ______DX ______
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REGISTRATION & RELATED MATTERS
Please note – your registration fee does not include lunch
FORMS OF PAYMENT: Payment of €______may be made by:
Cheque made payable to “The Irish Centre for European Law”
Electronic credit transfer to the ICEL account no. 92513195 at the Bank of Ireland, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2: IBAN Code: IE20 BOFI 9014 9092 5131 95; BIC Code: BOFIIE2D.
Please contact Ms Lesley-Ann Hayden, Administrator, ICEL, if you have any queries.