Further to our announcement last month of the speakers signed up for this year’s Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™, from 7-9 April in Cape Town, South Africa, the programme has now been finalised.
This article describes the new additions to the programme since last month, in the form of seminars, standalone papers, and panel discussions.
Closed seminar for revenue authorities On the morning of 7 April, the International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) will be holding a closed seminar for tax and customs authorities and ITSA members, on the risks associated with using digital- only tax stamp solutions with no physical security features.
The seminar will describe what a digital- only system could typically consist of, and what type of fraudulent schemes could thrive, undetected, under such a system. It will then go on to present use cases that have combined physical and digital technologies to positive effect, in terms of increased revenues and taxpayer compliance.
On the same subject, a panel discussion will be held during the plenary sessions on 9 April on the subject of the digital/physical debate in the face of threats from artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
During the plenary sessions starting on 8 April, Hana Ross of the World Bank Group will present Poland’s journey towards regulating its raw tobacco market. She will describe how the country experimented with a series of measures before ending up with a solution that involved affixing tax stamps on cured tobacco.
The vaping – and illicit vaping – boom Sven Bergmann of Venture Global Consulting will look at how illicit vapour products are quickly becoming a critical threat to communities, countries, tax authorities and law enforcement in the United States and across the globe. Especially in the US, illicit vapes are at unprecedented levels, with a marked increase in cross-border illicit trafficking.
Sven will provide an overview of recent public policies that have caused an increase in illicit vape trafficking, as well as a review of data and evidence with regard to the illicit marketplace, and its impact on different stakeholders.
Francisco Mandiola of FMA Secure will use Chile as a best-practice study on how tax stamps and traceability systems do more than increase tax revenues. He will describe how stamps are also designed to reduce illegal sales and criminal activity, protect brands, establish clear operating parameters for competitors, reduce health costs for governments, and assure the quality of potentially harmful goods.
Francisco will highlight examples from Chile, including an existing tax stamp programme that helped tax authorities to uncover a formally run illegal operation, and a potentially enormous fish traceability programme that will open the door to ensuring that the illegal fishing of protected or otherwise restricted species is monitored more effectively. And yes, revenues will be protected too!
Chile’s fish inspection system based on AI algorithms.
These are just some of the topics to be covered at the next Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum. Registration is filling up quickly, so please visit https://taxstamptraceabilityforum.com/#fees-anchor to see the fee categories!
Revenue, customs, and other government authorities can register for the event at no charge.
