Dear IFA Members,

We take pleasure in informing you on the following topics:

• 2011 Paris Congress
• Reappointment of Manuel E. Tron as IFA President
• David R. Tillinghast Research Programme
• Mitchel B. Carroll Prize and Maurice Lauré Prize
• Poster Programme
• Branch Activities

2011 Paris Congress
Thanks to Hervé Lehérissel, President of IFA 2011 Paris Congress and his Organising Committee, the French Branch has organised an excellent and successful Congress for almost 2.300 participants and 500 accompanying persons in the beautiful city of Paris. Memorable events were the Concert at the Notre Dame Cathedral, the cultural evening with cocktail dinner at the Louvre and the wonderful Gala Dinner at Chateau de Versailles. Next to the social programme the Paris Congress featured an excellent scientific programme and IFA would like to thank everyone involved for their contributions. The proceedings of the scientific programme are available on the IFA website whereas the pictures of the Congress are available on the Congress website www.ifaparis2011.com.

Reappointment of Manuel E. Tron as IFA President
With much pleasure we inform you that at the 2011 Paris Congress the General Assembly followed the proposal of the Executive Committee and the General Council and has reappointed Mr. Manuel E. Tron as IFA President for a second term.

David R. Tillinghast Research Programme
The “David R. Tillinghast Research Programme” was launched with a study on the impact of technological and financial innovation on the taxation of income and activities. The studies, divided in various segments, were conducted by leading international tax experts, under the general supervision of IFA’s Permanent Scientific Committee (PSC). Three publications have been issued:1) Electronic Commerce and international taxation (published in 1999 and updated in 2001 under the title: 2) Electronic Commerce and multijurisdictional taxation (published in 2001) and 3)  Income tax treaty arbitration (published in 2004).

The David R. Tillinghast Research Programme has been revised by the PSC of IFA and restructured into a small conference format. In this new format not-for-profit academic institutions around the world will be invited to apply for funding for an academic or scientific conference on matters of international or comparative taxation. Recently the PSC has published a call for applications for a David R. Tillinghast Conference. Please click here for the full details.

Mitchell B. Carroll Prize and Maurice Lauré Prize
This year the Mitchell B. Carroll Prize was awarded to Ms. Jennifer Farrell (UK) for her thesis “The Interface of international trade law and taxation: defining the role of the World Trade Organisation in the field of international taxation”. An honourable mention was awarded to Mr. Jérôme Monsenego (Sweden) for his thesis on “Taxation of foreign business income within the European Internal Market”.

Upon the proposal by the French IFA Branch, IFA instituted the Maurice Lauré Prize, next to the Mitchell B. Carroll Prize. The Maurice Lauré Prize, named after the General Director of the French Tax Administration who introduced the VAT system for the first time (1954) in France, can be awarded to fiscalists under the age of 35 years for works devoted to international indirect tax law, comparative indirect tax law, or national indirect tax law having an important relation with indirect tax law in foreign countries. During the Paris Congress the first Maurice Lauré Prize was awarded to Ms. Eva Oertel (Germany) for her thesis on “Die mehrwertsteuerrechtliche Behandlung des Cross-Border-Leasing im EU-Binnenmarkt”.

The deadline for applications for the Mitchell B. Carroll Prize as well as for the Maurice Lauré Prize is 1 April 2012.

Poster Programme
Ten candidates were selected for the Poster programme this year. Participating countries were: Australia (2x), Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Greece, Mexico, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Young persons are invited to apply for the next Poster Programme at the 2012 Boston Congress. The deadline for applications is 1 April 2012. More information is available on the IFA website www.ifa.nl.

Branch Activities
This year there were no new Branches to be accepted by the General Council but several countries are in the process of setting up an IFA Branch. Membership of IFA now stands at more than 12,000 from 106 countries. In 62 countries IFA members have established IFA Branches. Please click here for a survey which gives an impression of the geographical spread of the members affiliated to the IFA Branches and a survey of the direct members per 27 September 2011.

All Future Branch activities are mentioned on the IFA website. Please inform the General Secretariat of your Branch meetings, regional conferences and other activities so the IFA website can be updated accordingly.

We trust that you find this information useful.

With kind regards,
IFA General Secretariat