Meetings of EMEA and Montreal chapters confirm TEI's breadth and depth.

• Author: Penney, David M.
• Position: Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Tax Executives Institute - President's page

One of the truly enjoyable tasks of being TEI President is travelling to local chapters for their meetings. I have written previously about the role that my chapter--Toronto--played in my professional development, and it is gratifying to learn first-hand that chapters around the Institute offer their members the same high-quality educational programs and unsurpassed networking opportunities that I have experienced for two decades in my TEI "home."

In the early part of 2012, I travelled to chapter events in two locations where English is not the first language of most members: Madrid, for a meeting of the EMEA Chapter, and Quebec City, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Montreal Chapter's Quebec Tax Conference. While only one of the meetings--EMEA's--was conducted in my native language, I was made to feel at home in both locations by the participants' willingness to speak English. I am also pleased that my rudimentary French allowed me to properly thank my Montreal Chapter hosts in their native language.

The EMEA Chapter's meeting in Madrid was remarkable in many respects. Held in late January, the two-and-a-half day program was proof positive that TEI's excellence knows no borders. More than 70 European tax professionals participated in the meeting, which focused on responsible tax management and effective utilization of cross-border losses, topics that could easily find their way onto the agenda in all 55 of TEI's chapters.

Given its pan-European nature, the EMEA Chapter follows a different model from other chapters: Because practically everyone has to travel to the meetings, they last longer. The January 25-27 meeting featured a session the first day on the future of VAT, with representatives from the European Commission and members of the European Indirect Tax Committee making much appreciated presentations. The second day, styled "Committee Day," featured committee meetings, chapter updates, and other presentations, including an overview of the changing environment in Europe by Lluis Fargas, president of the EMEA Chapter. The third day, Education Day, featured technical presentations by subject matter experts from Garrigues, the largest legal and tax services provider on the Iberian Peninsula, which also hosted the meeting.

A separate story in this issue provides more details of the meeting, but I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the contributions of Pure Taxation, EMEA's largest dedicated tax search firm, as well as the...