Towards tax harmony in Africa TM Africa Tax Conference 2015
Can tax harmony be achieved in Africa? TM Welcome to the Africa Tax Conference 2015 TM At this year s Africa Tax Conference we will explore whether it is possible to create harmony in African taxation and what this means for taxpayers and tax regulators. We will cover issues such as the proposed continental free trade human, to Africa; now we will revisit this topic and focus on whether this ecosystem can support companies that are struggling and can potentially fail. We will look at what it takes to support viable and necessary enterprises, restructure and preserve them, hopefully attracting great sources of capital and increasing job creation. We will also address the issue of increased controversy arising from additional transparency. How are companies controversy will be unpacked. Finally we look ahead and investigate the possible impact of future megatrends on taxation in Africa. from permanent establishments, transfer pricing to indirect taxes and the evolution of African tax legislation. TM Please use this document to help navigate your way around the Africa Tax Conference. 1
Agenda Venues: Committee rooms are located on level 4 Thursday 1 October 2015 C - Suite Business operations Financial executives Policy, government affairs and public Legal or tax counsel Tax directors 08:00-09:00 Registration 09:00-09:30 TM Creating transformation and value through restructuring possibility of failure. Plenary 1: 09:30-10:45 Venue: Main plenary room Last year we focused on the importance of a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem to attract capital, both support companies that are struggling and could potentially fail. We will look at what it takes to support enterprises, which could play an important role in the African market, to help them restructure in order to preserve them to attract greater sources of capital and increase overall job growth. Tightening of budgets, both within government and private sectors have placed a great strain on all services, yet reduced capital, including government funding, often leave them too thin to support these demands. Can Africa learn from the bankruptcies of global giants, such as General Motors and Chrysler, which have recently emerged out of the largest municipal bankruptcy in the world and now re-capitalized, drawing new investors, including a new generation of talented people, back to its city centre? We will explore the drivers necessary to protect jobs, strengthen social and retirement programs and transformational change. 10:45-11:15
Thursday 1 October 2015 Striking the right chord in international tax controversy Plenary 2: Venue: Main plenary room and domestic law changes are on the increase. These changes will result in increased tax transparency and increased scrutiny by revenue authorities. Join our panel of experts to understand how companies can practically address these risks through: Aligning business models with substance Rebalancing their capital structure vs supply chain session 1 13:30-15:00 room 5 and what does that mean for Africa? less important? Which issues are still open for debate, and how might the debate play out? will analyze the output from an illustrative country-by-country report and our panel will evaluate the output in terms of these 6 action points. This will highlight the many issues arising from the additional 3
Thursday 1 October 2015 13:30-15:00 room 4 An emerging policy issue in many jurisdictions around the world is the role that taxation should play in professionals in a roundtable discussion on the business, accounting and tax attributes of different session 3 13:30-15:00 across jurisdictions When expanding and growing into new markets in Africa, companies are faced with a number of In addressing these challenges companies have been forced to revisit traditional employment resource labour brokers. and what not and how to maintain the balance between implementing these structures and ensuring regulatory compliance. 4
Thursday 1 October 2015 session 4 13:30-15:00 lounge always be able to manage VAT properly. In this panel discussion we explore: How to use existing systems to manage VAT 15:00-15:30 Plenary 3: 15:30-16:45 Venue: Main plenary room How global megatrends will change tax structure, ways of life and value systems of a society. Some of these megatrends include the food-waterenergy nexus, technology, big data and transparency, population aging and emerging markets. tax in the future. as to how they are responding to these emerging developments. Cocktails and gala dinner at the Hilton Hotel Sandton 5
Friday 2 October 2015 08:00-08:30 Registration 08:30-08:45 Welcome Africa s future - harmony or discord in the orchestra? Plenary 4: 08:45-09:45 Venue: Main plenary room Africa s Minister of Finance has called for African countries to harmonize their tax policies, tax legislation and tax administration. Join us for a panel discussion where we will unpack the answers to How real is the possibility of a continental free trade area from Cape to Cairo? Can tax legislation be harmonized across Africa? Is the current intra-africa tax framework permissive of a continental free trade area versus Goods versus service intra-africa trade? sessions 5-8 session 5 10:00-11:30 room 5 Permanent establishments: Recent trends and developments this session we consider recent developments in Africa and abroad. 6
Friday 2 October 2015 session 6 10:00-11:30 room 4 Tax managers need to be able to respond to the fast growing business demands and expansion in the continent without disrupting growth or losing control. sharing ideas on: Alignment of tax to the Africa strategy of the business, route to market and expansion plans location, double tax treaties, withholding taxes, exchange controls, trade and non trade barriers, The African tax legislative perspective - then, now and what could be around the corner session 7 10:00-11:30 continent for this length of time we have noted with interest the increased number of changes and tax focus on: The focus of the conversation will be to provide an update on legislative changes and the trends we have noted. The panel will be asked to share experiences with regards to: Practical implications of tax changes and how to manage this Focus areas of the revenue authorities and their approach to changes in legislation 7
Friday 2 October 2015 The winning tax transformation trinity - data, technology and operations In this session we will discuss the winning trinity and the success factors in transforming your tax operations today for the challenges of tomorrow. session 8 10:00-11:30 lounge In an open dialogue we will share thoughts, key themes and experiences of what we are seeing in Africa and around the globe when considering tax transformation. This will include: The highs and lows of tax transformation Transformation readiness - benchmarking your tax operations: why? how? and when? Growing transparency demands and the importance of data readiness for tax History of tax technologies and how they are evolving to address the challenging environment of today and tomorrow How effective technology enablement is driving a step change in the value tax can provide to the wider business Tax governance and oversight: gaining the insight to have control needed in today s environment sessions 9-13 session 9 Tax policy and legislation: Way forward for businesses in Anglophone West Africa particular the policy implementation, interpretation of tax legislation and general tax administration as this affects recent contentious issues such as: these issues can be addressed to create an enabling environment for growing businesses in Anglophone West Africa. 8
Friday 2 October 2015 session 10 room 4 Record to report - Are you audit ready? revenue authority audit. In this session we will be discussing ideas on how to effectively organize the record to report operations to be ready for these audit interventions. We will share practical insights on some of the new practices such as the use of data rooms, organizing record retention and understanding where there may be overlaps. session 11 room 5 Tax and Treasury operations in Africa Finding the optimal means for raising, investing, preserving and optimizing capital for Africa continues measures. host challenges in Africa including: Withholding taxes Interest deductibility Thin-cap Anti-hybrid rules CFCs 9
lounge Trade blocs in Africa - A roadmap to real integration will discuss both the theoretical and practical ways to resolve trade and non trade barriers in various regions in Africa using actual examples. session 13 Venue: Main plenary room to consider. 13:30-14:30 10
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