The 26th Forum of IOTA Principal Contact Persons (PCPs) was held in Zurich on the 12 and 13 March 2019, hosted by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration. The event was jointly designed and delivered by a group of PCPs and members of the IOTA Secretariat, covering the main areas of activity of the organization.
In their opening speeches, Mr. Marc Bugnon, Deputy Director of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (pictured on the left) and Mr. Miguel Silva Pinto, Executive Secretary of IOTA mentioned the relevance of this event to strengthen the cooperation among members of IOTA, providing PCPs with updates and on-going projects thus allowing them to promote better IOTA in their home tax administrations.
Over 50 participants from 41 members of IOTA participated in the Forum. They attended 8 Deep Dive Sessions mostly targeted at new PCPs and Shadow PCPs allowing for a quick introduction to the main features of the IOTA, which included general information, the work programme cycle, how to organize an IOTA event, technical enquiries, publications, ISORA, the web site and the country experience of the work of an IOTA PCP.
The Forum itself was divided in 13 different session, comprising plenary, break out and parallel sessions. PCPs were consulted on the preparation of the Work Programme 2020 and the drafting of a PCP Statute. They had a chance to learn more in-depth about the technical assistance project, how to submit and answer the IOTA Technical Enquiries and were updated on ISORA and on the new financial framework of the organization.
This edition of the Forum displayed several novelties, such as the introduction of the “PCP to PCP mentorship”, an ice-breaker with dedicated International Taxation Experts and a Questions and Answers session, where the Executive Secretary, the Manager of the Work Programme and the Manager of Finance and Business Administration answered openly a variety of questions raised by PCPs.
The Executive Secretary thanked Mr. Adrian Hug, the Director-General of the Federal Tax Administration of Switzerland for the strong connection of his organization with IOTA, being a committed member and an active participation in the statutory bodies since the moment they joined, in 2006.
