The 2-week 2024 International Taxation Academy (ITA), held for the 40th years, starts on August 19. This year, there are two lecturers from the United States and the Netherlands; seven fiscal officials from friendly countries; and Taiwan government officials. In addition, four students from Taiwan’s universities were invited for the first time to participate in the grand event.
The MOFTI launched the ITA 40 years ago in 1984. We are continuously dedicated to cultivate Taiwan's international taxation officials and improve the professional knowledge and foreign language skills of tax personnel. We rigorously arrange courses every year, and invite foreign scholars and experts to teach the latest international economic and tax trends, and also invite fiscal and tax officials from friendly countries to discuss with our fiscal colleagues. So far, 1,376 Taiwan participants and 279 foreign officials from 63 countries have attended.
This year, the MOFTI invited two international scholars to give lectures in Taiwan. The first week’s lecture was by Professor Edward Weite Hsieh, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Statistics, California State University, Los Angeles. The topic was “Economic and Fiscal Challenges in the Fast-Changing World." The second week’s lecture was by Professor Kees van Raad, the chairman of the International Tax Center Leiden, pormer Professor of International Tax Law at the University of Leiden, and of counsel to Loyens & Loeff, and the topic was “Tax Treaties-theory and case studies.”
The 2024 ITA attracted foreign fiscal officials from seven friendly countries, including Estonia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Palau, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Turkey. In addition, there are also around fifty Taiwan officials from The Department of International Fiscal Affairs; Department of Planning; Taxation Administration; Customs Administration; five National Taxation Bureaus; Taipei City Revenue Service; New Taipei City Government Revenue Service Office; Department of Taxation, Taoyuan; Local Tax Bureau of Taichung City Government; Finance and Local Tax Bureau, Tainan; City and Revenue Service Office, Kaohsiung.
Besides, in order to cultivate domestic young tax talents, this year for the first time, the MOFTI has invited students from Taiwan’s universities to participate in the ITA. The MOFTI would like to especially thank to National Chengchi University and Taipei University for recommending 4 outstanding students to participate. We hope that young students can combine the theories learned in school with practical know-how taught by international scholars, take this opportunity to learn more about the tax business of the Ministry of Finance, and fully communicate with foreign tax officials to enhance each other's professional knowledge and cultural understanding.
The ITA of the MOFTI will continue to provide a learning platform for international taxation exchanges, allowing domestic and foreign participants to share experiences, understand the challenges and changes in international taxation, improve the professional capabilities, and make more contributions to the cultivation of international fiscal professionals.
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