The 5 day long IFA Congress at Copenhagen concluded with former Director of tax policy at OECD - Jeffrey Owens suggesting that the OECD/UN develop a common GAAR framework in order to bring uniformity in GAAR legislations. There was also a discussion on latest developments in the Indian tax world with TP Ostwal providing the country's perspective.

It was a BEPS filled day at Copenhagen yesterday, with the panelists debating the 15 point OECD Action Plan. OECD Director of Tax Policy - Pascal Saint-Amans, vigorously defending the action plan, promised action within 2 years so that this contentious issue is off the agenda for the foreseeable future. With IFA celebrating completion of 75 years, a special session chaired by Prof. Michael Lang did some crystal ball gazing into how the tax system may look after 25 years.

‘Automatic Exchange of information (AEOI)' is the new international standard. That was the key take away from Day 3 of IFA Congress at Copenhagen, which was graced by senior officials at OECD. While AEOI comes along with perils of violation of privacy and secrecy of what one may consider as private information, there is no escaping this new norm in the current global scenario which is pushing towards transparency and disclosure. The other topic discussed on Day 3 was transfer pricing related. 

Day 2 at the Copenhagen Congress saw the beginning of four days of technical deliberations, with a galaxy of speakers discussing topical issues like taxation of passive income, cross border short term employment, cross border loss utilization and climate change.

As IFA President Manuel Tron delivered the inaugural address on Sunday, Aug. 25th to kick off the Copenhagen Congress, it truly was a spectacle to see almost 2000 delegates from all across the globe packing the Bella Center.

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The “Scientific Programme” at IFA Congress generates great curiosity, exhaustive discussions and technical literature on the topics. The 5 day Copenhagen Congress too is filled with technical sessions on hotly debated, complex and contentious international tax issues, with speakers drawn from the Who’s Who of the tax world. Here is a Taxsutra preview of what to look forward to from IFA Copenhagen 2013:

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