Day 1 Stream:
Day 2 Stream:
International Tax – growing to meet the future
Global Accounting Alliance - Tax working group panel discussions
In his capacity as Chair of the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA)’s Tax Working Group, Dr Brian Keegan will be chairing elements of this two-session programme on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 November 2021.
Join these panel discussions where the GAA tax experts and international Revenue authorities will discuss the ever-changing international tax landscape. The conversation will be opened out to members for contributions and questions.
Session one: Tuesday 23 November
11:00am-12:00pm GMT
Chair: Ian Kehoe – Editor: The Currency
Panellists:
- Niall Cody, Chairman of the Irish Revenue Commissioners
- Doug O’Donnell, United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Deputy Commissioner
- Edward Kieswetter, Commissioners of South African Revenue Service (SARS)
Topics:
- Digitalisation of tax administration
- Taxpayer behaviour in the modern economy
- The changing tax landscape and how it will impact Revenue authorities
Schedule
- 11am panel discussion begins
- 11.45am Q&A with audience
- 12.00pm event finish
Session two: Wednesday 24 November
11:00am-12:15pm GMT
Chair: Brian Keegan – Director: Advocacy and Voice, Chartered Accountants Ireland
The panel will be made up of the Global Accounting Alliance tax specialists, bringing a broad range of views and experiences from across the globe. See our speakers and their bios below
Discussion session for practitioners
Topics
- Tax consequences of hybrid working in our different jurisdictions
- Importance of cross-border collaboration for professionals
- The accountant’s role in a changing tax landscape
Schedule
- 11am panel discussion begins
- 12.00pm Q&A with audience
- 12.15pm event finish
DAY 1
PANELLISTS
Niall Cody,
Commissioner and Chairman, Irish Revenue Commissioners
Niall Cody is Chairman of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners - the Irish Tax and Customs Administration. He leads an organisation which is responsible for the collection of virtually all taxes and duties and the implementation of customs controls in Ireland. Mr. Cody is one of three Commissioners who form the Board of Revenue. He was appointed Commissioner in February 2012 and appointed Chairman in February 2015.
He has specific responsibility as Commissioner for direct and indirect tax policy and legislation, international tax and corporate services.
Douglas (Doug) O’Donnell,
IRS Deputy Commissioner, Services and Enforcement
Douglas (Doug) O'Donnell is currently serving as the IRS Deputy Commissioner, Services and Enforcement. In this role, he will work on the Taxpayer First Act, which included work to reimage the agency's tax administration and work to improve taxpayer service and enforcement.
Prior to his current executive appointment, Mr. O'Donnell served as the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service's Large Business and International (LB&I) Division headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Mr. O'Donnell began his career with IRS in 1986 as a revenue agent in Washington, D.C. He holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Maryland.
Edward Kieswetter,
Commissioner, South African Revenue Service (SARS)
Edward re-joined as SARS Commissioner on 1 May 2019. He had formerly served as the founding Group Executive of the SARS Large Business Centre and High Net Worth Unit, SARS Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Commissioner during the period 2004 to 2009. From 2010 to 2016, he was the Group Chief Executive for the Alexander Forbes Group Holdings where after a successful turnaround, the company was listed on the JSE. Edward also held senior executive roles at FirstRand Banking Group and Eskom. Most recently he managed his own investments and served on various boards which amongst others included NE: Transnet, Chair: Technology Innovation Agency and Lead Independent: Shoprite Holdings. He relinquished all these external roles when he took up the position as SARS Commissioner in 2019.
He is the recipient of several awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Management in 2017 from SAPSO, Finalist in the All Africa Business Awards 2016, ACO Dealmaker of the Year, 2015, and SA Boss of the Year, 1999.
DAY 2
PANELLISTS
Takae Akatsuka,
Chair of the International Tax Committee, JICPA
Takae started her career as a Japanese CPA at the international tax department at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Tokyo in 2000. Since then, she has been working as a Japanese and international tax advisor for more than 20 years providing various kinds of Japanese and international tax advice to Japanese and multinational clients. She has an excellent understanding of MNC’s cross-border structures/transactions and related international tax issues.
She has been giving lectures on international taxation including BEPS updates at professional institutions and regional taxation bureaus in Japan. Also, she has been contributing articles on international taxation including CFC rule and transfer pricing to professional tax magazines.
Takae is an Certified Public Accountant (Japan）/ Tax Attorney (Japan), she is chair of the International Tax Committee at JICPA (Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants) and a member of IFA (International Fiscal Association)
John Cuthbertson,
Tax & Financial Services Leader, NZ, CAANZ
John is responsible for leading CA ANZ New Zealand tax team and engaging with New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department and Treasury on tax law reform, policy settings and administration.
John’s focus is to contribute to the tax consultative process to ensure that a commercial and practical lens is applied to all tax legislation and pronouncements. He enjoys presenting on all matters tax and encouraging wider public debate on important tax matters through various media channels. He was responsible for facilitating CA ANZ COVID tax response both as a key stakeholder with Government to review and comment on urgent legislation and key tax measures, and to ensure members were updated on a timely basis with all relevant tax information via the member knowledge sharing webinar series.
John is an experienced taxation specialist and Chartered Accountant with deep industry knowledge gained over a career to date spanning 30 years. Prior to joining CA ANZ, John was a tax director at PwC, servicing a diverse client portfolio from high net worth individuals through to multinational corporations. Throughout his career John has been passionate about training and developing the next generation of tax specialists and imparting tax knowledge for the betterment of the accounting profession.
Charlotte Barbour,
Director of Tax, ICAS
Charlotte has worked for ICAS for many years in a range of policy and regulatory roles and for the last seven years has supported the ICAS Tax Board, which has overall responsibility for all tax matters affecting ICAS members and oversight of five technical Committees responsible for Scottish taxes, private client taxes, international taxes, indirect taxes, and small business taxes. She has extensive experience in dealing with tax issues and has represented ICAS at both the Scottish Parliament and the House of Lords.
Charlotte is the author of the Bloomsbury book entitled ‘The Management of Taxes in Scotland’; she is a member of the CIOT Council.
Gwenda Ho,
Partner of PwC Hong Kong’s Corporate Tax practice
Gwenda Ho is a Partner of PwC Hong Kong’s corporate tax practice, leading the technology, media and telecommunications sectors as well as the National Tax Policy Services in Hong Kong. She has over 20 years of experience in providing Hong Kong and international tax consulting and compliance services to local, regional and multinational clients. She has been actively involved in a number of tax due diligence, corporate restructuring, cross-border tax advisory, transfer pricing, tax investigations, IPO and blockchain / crypto-related projects. She has broad exposure in Asia Pacific and international taxation and frequently leads assignments involving regional and other overseas taxes.
Experienced in advising both overseas MNCs and Chinese companies on investing into Hong Kong as well as using Hong Kong as a platform for outbound investment, in the past few years Gwenda is also active in the startup community, eagerly assisting startups with their new business setups. Besides, she has been actively involved in providing comments on latest tax bills, and is a frequent public speaker on tax-related topics.
Gwenda graduated with a degree in Commerce from the University of Toronto and a degree in Laws from the University of London. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) and The Taxation Institute of Hong Kong. She is also a Certified Tax Adviser (Hong Kong) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. She is a Past President of the Association of Women Accountants (Hong Kong), and currently serves as a member of the Taxation Faculty Executive Committee of HKICPA.
Bruce Ball,
Vice President, Taxation, CPA Canda
Acting on the interest of the public, CPA Canada’s Tax group influences the development of an equitable, effective and efficient tax system in Canada, as well as delivers practical information and fresh perspectives on tax to members and the broader tax community. As such, Bruce leads a team of tax professionals who aim to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and recognition of CPA Canada’s work in the tax sector. Bruce also aims to increase CPA Canada’s reputation as the preeminent provider of core tax education in Canada.
Bruce was formerly National Tax Partner for BDO Canada LLP, and the head of the firm’s National Tax Department.
Edward S. Karl,
Vice President, Taxation, AICPA
Edward S. Karl, CPA, CGMA is Vice President - Taxation of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). In this position, he is responsible for the review, formulation, and submission to Congress, the Treasury Department, and the Internal Revenue Service of technical and policy recommendations for improvement of the federal tax process. Mr. Karl’s staff serves as the principal liaison for the AICPA with the Internal Revenue Service. He is also significantly involved in tax ethical issues including management of the AICPA’s tax standards, the Statements on Standards for Tax Services.
Mr. Karl was previously employed in the tax department of a large, national CPA firm as well as a smaller, local one where he established their tax department. He was a frequent contributor to The Certificate, a publication of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs, of which he was an editor for fifteen years. He has also spoken at numerous tax institutes, state CPA society meetings and IRS programs.
Joined by:
Frank Haskew,
Head of Tax, ICAEW
Pieter Faber,
Senior Executive, Taxation, SAICA
Michael Croker,
Tax Leader, Australia, CAANZ
SESSION
CHAIRS
Ian Kehoe,
Editor and co-founder of digital media business The Currency
Day 1 Chair
Ian Kehoe is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. The editor and co-founder of digital media business The Currency, Kehoe is also the deputy chair of the state broadcaster RTE. In 2014, at the age of 34, he was appointed editor of The Sunday Business Post newspaper, a position he held for the next four years. During that time, he was a board member of Sunrise Media, the holding company behind the newspaper and a related print activity. He is a former presenter and reporter with RTE’s Prime Time programme and has twice been named as Ireland’s Business & Economics Journalist of the Year. He has won a Miriam Hederman O’Brien Award for his original work in Irish fiscal policy. Kehoe has made several major television documentaries including Who’s Buying Ireland and The Great Irish Sell-Off. He is the co-author of Citizen Quinn, a bestselling book about the rise and fall of the industrialist Sean Quinn.
Brian Keegan, Chartered Accountants Ireland
Day 2 Chair
Dr Brian Keegan is Director of Advocacy and Voice with Chartered Accountants Ireland and leads the Institute’s public comment, information provision and representations work in these areas. Brian is well known as an author and lecturer. He has given evidence to parliamentary committees in Westminster, Stormont and Dublin on cross border tax issues, tax devolution, Brexit and other policy matters.
As a Chartered Accountants Ireland spokesman, he is a frequent media contributor and is columnist with the Business Post and contributor to the Irish Examiner.
