On October, 30th MarkPrior organized and hosted a round table discussion on "Current Trends of International Taxation" during the 8 Russian Tax Forum of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

Representatives of Russian companies and holdings, community organizations, government agencies and consultants were the guests of the round table. The moderator of the session was Dmitri Fadeev, Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the RF CCI. The event was covered by a wide range of issues - from global experience and the impact of the tax administration to more highly specialized issues.

So, the speech of Olga Maximova, dedicated to the best international practices of taxation - namely, Singapore, the UK and Austria, demonstrated the most interesting and convenient tools and approaches used in the tax administration of this countries. A special role is given to the simplification and automation of tax procedures - such as payroll and accounting for one-stop, provided in electronic form.

Maxim Pervunin’s (Tax & Finance & HR Managing Partner) issue “Impact of the international economic crisis on the standards and approaches to tax administration” recalled the direct dependence of the global financial turmoil tax system – already notorious and still current crises of different periods of the 20th and 21st centuries. The issues of competitiveness of various countries in terms of tax burden, corporate privacy and banking secrecy, and the risks of offshore use considered in the course of his speech.

Among the most interesting and practically useful trends in international taxation Natela Gvindzhiliya, MarkPrior Project Manager, noted the possibility of reimbursement of value-added tax on goods and services abroad - this also applies to private individuals and legal entities.

So, TaxFree shopping system, which is familiar for those who travel abroad, exists in Europe since the 60s. Among our neighbors just Belarusdecided to implement this system starting from 2013. It is assumed that this practice will be useful for Russian image and economy. There was also an interactive survey of visitors of the round table on this issue, and the results showed that 95% of the audience supported this innovation, and 5% expressed doubts.

During the speech, it was also noted that for businesses there is a possibility to optimize their budgets spent abroad – by refunding of VAT from the budget of a foreign state.

Recovery of export VAT from Chinawas cited as a particular species recovery. Since the dynamics of trade turnover between our countries only grows every year and the volume of goods and the equipment imported from Chinais steadily rising, there is also a right to optimize Russian company's expenses spending on procurement and export. MarkPrior director Valentina Enina told about it in her speech.

The issue concerning the explanation and application of the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation provoked a lively response and questions from the audience. Dynamic discussion was organized by a team of Executive Secretary of the International Fiscal Association Victor Machekhin, the head of the MarkPrior legal department Svetlana Serova, and InternationalTaxAssociates lawyer Ilya Vagin. The absence of statutory comments to an agreement on avoidance of double taxation was noted in the reports of the above management experts. The urgent question of the legal status of the OECD Model convention and its comments was also discussed. As a practical case study was reviewed judicial practice on the "thin" capitalization - the best-known lawsuits of the “Northern Kuzbass”, “Naryanmarneftegaz” and trading house “Monetka”.

According to results of a questionnaire on the basis of the round table, the guests marked given issues as interesting and useful, and the format and organization of the event also received excellent grades.