For this episode of VAT Talks we had the honour to speak with Marie Lamensch. Marie Lamensch is Professor of Taxation at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) and the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and a lawyer at the Brussels Bar. She is a member of the VAT expert group of the EC and academic adviser for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Customs Organisation.

In this episode of VAT Talks we discuss VAT with Madeleine Merkx. Madeleine is Partner at the tax research center of BDO and Professor of Indirect Taxes at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. Learn why Madeleine fell in love with VAT at first sight, what she thinks about (real-time) invoice reporting and why tax experts and technology experts should exchange knowledge more often. For how long have you been working in VAT and how did you end up in this field of work?

In this episode of VAT Talks we’ll be looking at the practical side of VAT with Marinus Peters, partner at INSynQ. Marinus has many years of experience in assisting companies with the implementation of SAP systems and enables them to improve their business processes. Learn more about SAP, why Marinus believes that more countries will introduce an invoice reporting system and why the European Union should prioritise the harmonisation of VAT legislation.

In the fourth episode of VAT Talks, we discuss VAT with Charlène Herbain. We are very pleased that Charlène Herbain accepted our invitation, she is lecturer at the University of Luxembourg and the University of Louvain. Furthermore, she works as a VAT expert for Ernst & Young in the Financial Services office. In this VAT Talks, we discuss VAT in Belgium, the importance of the EU in fighting fraud and the fact that VAT actually stands for Very Attractive Tax!

VAT Talks with Alfredo Collosa In this episode of VAT Talks we speak with Alfredo Collosa, who has been working in taxation (with i.a. AFIP, CIAT and IMF) for more than 30 years. We are pleased to discuss VAT with a tax expert from Latin-America, as that region pioneered in the usage of e-invoicing and invoice reporting systems (see Figure 1). In this article, Alfredo explains why this development could occur specifically in Latin-America, we discuss the differences between Latin-America and the EU and he tells us why taxation is not boring at all.

VAT Talks with Zsolt Szatmari In our blogpost series “VAT Talks” we speak with VAT experts from all over the world to learn more about VAT, VAT fraud and everything related to VAT. For this episode we had the honour to speak with Zsolt Szatmari, who is a managing senior of the VAT Knowledge Group at the IBFD.[1] In this episode we discuss the innovative VAT system in Hungary, Zsolt will give advice on how to prevent being held liable for VAT fraud and we learn that VAT has a beauty that not yet has been recognized.

VAT Talks with VAT-expert Redmar Wolf In our new blogpost series “VAT Talks” we speak with VAT experts from all over the world to learn more about VAT, VAT fraud and everything related to VAT. For this episode we had the honour to speak with Redmar Wolf, who works as a VAT attorney with the law firm Baker McKenzie, as a professor of Tax Law (Indirect Taxes) at the University of Groningen and as a Deputy-Justice at the District court of Arnhem-Leeuwarden.

@Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash Almost everyone living in a country with a Value Added Tax (VAT), has to deal with this tax on a daily basis. To give people a better understanding of VAT and different VAT systems, we will start a new series of blog posts! In these articles, we will discuss VAT with experts from all over the world. These VAT specialists will give their perspective on the latest developments within the VAT world, specifically focusing on VAT fraud.