VAT in the Digital Age – modern and digital VAT or "new definitive regime"

Patrice is the Head of Unit for VAT in DG Taxud (European Commission). He is responsible for the development of VAT policy, notably in the context of the recent tax action plan especially ViDA project. Patrice was previously head of DG TAXUD’s legal unit, where he was responsible for the management of complaints and the handling of infringement procedures, as well as other legal issues (including preliminary rulings) in the area of indirect taxation

Aida Cavalera holds a Master’s degree in European and International Studies from the University of Trento and a Bachelor’s Degree in Foreign Languages for Business and Economics from the University of Urbino with periods of study abroad at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena and Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. 

Doctor in Law from Paris University and Master Tax Program from Boston University. Odile is an Attorney at Law, Member of the Paris Bar.

She has worked as an Indirect Tax Partner for 30 years with Deloitte Paris getting involved on Indirect tax issues for clients in Manufacturing, Banking, Pharmacy or Aeronautic sectors. She has regularly been a speaker in Client meetings on EUCJ cases in the VAT field.

Marie Lamensch is a Tax Professor at the UCLouvain and a lawyer at the Brussels Bar (Arteo). Her research mainly focuses on digitalization and its effects on traditional tax systems (in particular VAT and other indirect tax systems but also corporate tax systems). She is the author of numerous articles and chapters in international publications and is a member of several experts groups within the European Commission, the OECD and the WCO.

Madeleine Merkx is a professor of indirect taxes, specializing in EU VAT. She is the program director of the Post Master EU VAT and top level seminar on EU VAT of European Fiscal Studies at Erasmus University. Madeleine is a partner at the Tax Research Center of BDO where she is responsible for VAT and customs knowledge and education. She is also a deputy judge at the Haarlem District Court.

Tax adviser, Partner MDDP, Head of the VAT Practice. VAT expert managing one of the largest and most successful specialist tax practices in Poland. He is responsible for the implementation of complex and sophisticated VAT projects in Poland and Europe. Tomasz has represented clients in many landmark or awarded proceedings before tax authorities, voivodship administrative courts, the Supreme Administrative Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union. He is the only Polish member of the VAT Expert Group established by the European Commission. 

Doctor of Law (Jagiellonian University, thesis on tax law formalism), graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Silesia. He is a practicing tax advisor - Associate Partner at Deloitte Poland Doradztwo Podatkowe, where he is responsible for part of the indirect tax practice. He is also active in academia. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications on tax law in general and VAT and is an active lecturer. Indicated as one of the best VAT specialists in Poland by leading Polish newspapers (for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).

Hans Joachim Narzynski deals with international VAT matters in particular with negotiations on European regulations, their application and related ECJ cases. He is a delegate to the European Union Council Working Party on VAT and the OECD Working Party No. 9. Hans Joachim joined the German tax administration in 1998, going on to work in a number of different local tax offices. He subsequently became an advisor in the Federal Parliament of Germany and has been with the Federal Ministry since 2013.

Paola Olivares graduated in Management Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and has been with the Digital Innovation Observatories since 2014. Currently, she serves as the Director of the Digital B2B Observatory, the Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Observatory, the International Observatory on Electronic Invoicing, and the Working Table on B2B Customer Experience. Additionally, she manages key client accounts and oversees the impact measurement of Observatories research.

Katarzyna Parodi is a lawyer, tax adviser with years of experience. She studied law at the University of Bialystok between 2006 and 2011. During her studies she lived in Italy, where she completed the Law School at the Pisa Regional Bar Council. Katarzyna worked in law firms and she collaborated with the University of Pisa at the Faculty of Law, leading a research project at the Scuola Normale Superiore.

Marcos Alvarez has been working as a tax auditor for the Spanish State Tax Agency for 20 years. His main duties has been preventing, detecting and assessing shortfalls and infringements of the tax law specially focused on VAT matters, aggressive tax planning in direct taxation and tax crimes.