This year’s Annual Tax Summit organised by the Kenya Revenue Authority seeks to explore solutions to various challenges facing tax administrators in Africa. The summit will be held on 13th and 14th October 2021. The 7th Annual Tax Summit, 2021 brings together global experts, tax practitioners, academia, private sector players, development partners, and senior government officials. The two-day event will be held virtually as countries continue to observe health protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This year’s summit is billed to be among the biggest events in tax this year, forming a key activity for KRA as part of the ongoing taxpayers’ month. The theme of the summit is Redefining the Taxation Landscape: Global Trends, Developments & Impact. The event will explore how best tax administrations can achieve their objectives, especially through tax base expansion, service enhancement, business process and people re-engineering, revenue protection, and trade facilitation.
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The event will be graced by Cabinet Secretaries Ukur Yatani (National Treasury), Joseph Mucheru (ICT), and Betty Maina (Trade & Industry) among a mix of local and international stakeholders. It will be hosted by the KRA Board Chairman Ambassador Francis Muthaura, and KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu. Other participants will include actors from various tax authorities, key stakeholders from private sector, policy experts, think tanks, academia, media and civil society.
The Summit is a public participation platform aimed at enhancing discussions, providing status of interventions in Tax and Customs administration and feedback from stakeholders on solutions to various tax challenges affecting tax administrations in Africa. It seeks to find ways of improving African tax systems by sharing ideas, innovations and strategies successfully implemented in other jurisdictions. Also, the summit explores ways to enhance the capacity of tax officials on the continent by interactions through networking, knowledge exchange and collaboration with the aim of positively enhancing domestic revenue mobilisation.
The Summit will also seek to establish a continental cooperative framework for addressing tax challenges and pursue more taxing rights for African countries, including taxing of the digital economy and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
Topics of discussion
The conference has an array of topics on tax administration in Africa and benchmarking of best practices. They include:
The OECD Inclusive Framework & its impact on Africa: Opportunities for Developing Countries: With Marcio F. Verdi CIAT, executive Secretary, American Centre of Tax administration, as keynote speaker, discussions will focus on a new two-pillar plan to reform international taxation rules and ensure multinational enterprises pay a fair share of taxes wherever they operate.
COVID-19 Recovery and Way Forward: people & processes: The keynote speaker Edward Kieswetter, Commissioner, South Africa Revenue Service (SARS), will headline this session, which will look at how Tax administrations have had to think through the role of re-skilling, safety and health, and adaptation for the modern tax profession.
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Taxation for Economic Diversification & Growth: Mrs Chia-Tern Huey Min, Deputy Commissioner Internal investigations and indirect taxes, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), will lead the session as keynote speaker. Discussions will focus on how taxation can enhance, and not compromise, economic diversification and capital formation. The session will also pick lessons from countries that have successfully implemented a taxation regime that supports diversified economies.
Enhancing Service Delivery in Tax Administration: The keynote speaker for this topic will be Chantel Botha, Managing Director, BrandLove Customer Experience South Africa. Panellists will discuss what constitutes exceptional service and how to take tax administration experience to the next level.
Other plenary topics include The Role of Tax Administration in Fighting Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs): The African experience. This comes at a time when estimates suggest that developing countries lose about $1 trillion each year due to illicit financial flows.
Impact of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA) in Intra-Africa Trade: Challenges & Prospects. The summit will assess Africa’s preparedness for this ground-breaking moment in the continent’s history.
The Tax Summit has evolved into a strong annual dialogue platform for exchange of ideas, knowledge, insights and solutions to support efficiency and effectiveness in tax administration.
To register for the 7th Annual Tax Summit, visit http://www.summit.kra.go.ke
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