VAT Department to host first EU Fiscalis Seminar in Malta

This week the VAT Department is to host a high-profile three-day Fiscalis seminar in Malta on the Challenges of VAT Fraud in an enlarged Europe.

Some 85 delegates from the 25 member countries of the European Union, the EU Commission, plus the two candidate countries Bulgaria and Romania, are expected to attend the seminar between Wednesday and Friday at a St Julian's hotel.

The Fiscalis Programme, which runs up to 2007, aims to improve the operational efficiency of tax systems in the EU's internal market through increased co-operation between the tax administrations and officials of the member countries.

Malta's Fiscalis Representative and Co- ordinator, Claude G. Cuschieri, who is organising and will chair this week's seminar, said he expects the event to be highly productive for Malta through increased co-operation and sharing of ideas with the various VAT departments and top officials in the various countries concerned.

"We are the first of the new member countries of the EU to host such a seminar since accession and we expect to demonstrate that Malta as a country is fully geared up to host a successful seminar," Mr Cuschieri told The Sunday Times last week.

He is also expecting to demonstrate that the VAT Department has a positive contribution to make both as a host and in its local set-up to the success of the Fiscalis Programme.

The seminar will be focusing on different types of VAT fraud and how the EU is countering them through the VAT Information Control System (VIES), which controls the bulk of cross border VAT transactions, and a legal framework on administrative co-operation.

It aims to enable the senior national officials present - the Malta delegates will be headed by Oliver Vassallo, director general of the VAT Department - to achieve a high level of understanding of the developments of VAT fraud at an operational level not only that exists in the internal market but also that is more common in the new EU member states and how to develop strategies to meet present and future challenges.

The Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Tonio Fenech, will also be addressing the opening ceremony of this week's Malta seminar.

Although the transitional VAT system has been in place in the EU for more than 10 years, Mr Cuschieri, BA (Hons) Public Administration, FCCA, FIA, CPAA, who is assistant director to the director general and Commissioner of VAT, said that despite an increase of VAT fraud in the EU, the fight against this fraud has at the same time become more intensive, targeted and advanced.

Mr Cuschieri, who is also Malta's representative on the EU Fiscalis Committee, which Committee meets regularly in Brussels to decide on the policy making issues and the management of the Fiscalis Programme, added that EU member states have put considerable resources into this fight and the Commission has undertaken reinforced legislation in the field of administrative co-operation and also facilitated this fight together with the member states, including through a Standing Committee on Administrative Co-operation (SCAC).

Special anti-fraud units have been set up in the member states to tackle VAT fraud by collecting and building intelligence in the field, specific strategies have been developed to attack systematically this type of fraud and the Commission, together with the member states, has worked out a special best practices guide to tackle this fraud. This apart from legal developments and the adoption of new legal approaches in some member states.

Mr Cuschieri said this week's Fiscalis seminar aims to fill a gap since earlier seminars have targeted control officials, investigators and other operational officials. High level decision makers and managers who have to take anti-fraud strategic decisions have so far not been involved. In the Malta seminar, they are now expected to bridge this gap bringing together the mutual experience of operational and strategic officials.

During the seminar practical examples will be given on how the member states tackled VAT fraud and the participants will be given a clear indication of what strategic options are available to tackle the different types of VAT fraud.

Apart from the initiative in organising the seminar and its active contribution in all the plenary sessions, Mr Cuschieri said that Malta will be making a concrete contribution through a half hour presentation on how they are successfully tackling refund VAT fraud, a type of fraud most common in the new member states in which claims are made of excessive inputs which are not due. There will also be a number of workshops and panel discussions to discuss the specialised and technical themes and presentations.

Apart from the seminar in Malta, Mr Cuschieri also said that in the coming months and years, Malta will be actively involved in other seminars and other activities catered for under the Fiscalis Programme, such as exchanges of officials, multilateral controls and specific project group meetings.

The current Fiscalis Programme will be renewed after 2007 by the European Parliament.