The second meeting of the OECD Global Forum on VAT took place during April 17th and 18th in Tokyo, Japan. More than 250 representatives of close to 100 countries and international organizations attended the Forum. A major outcome was the endorsement of a new set of OECD Guidelines for the application of VAT or GST (Goods and Services Tax) to international trade.

Meeting topics included in the highly informative meeting were: Global VAT policy trends and developments; OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines: Setting the right standards and identifying options for their implementation; Applying VAT to cross-border services and digital supplies; Tackling VAT fraud; and The economy of VAT reform.

The two-day event included plenary and parallel sessions. The CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, was invited to Chair the session on “The Political Economy and Distributional Effects of VAT-Reform”. Panel members included representatives from the IMF, Inter-American Development Bank and OECD.

For more information, please see OECD’s Forum-related link.

Photo of the main table.