ATAF and the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law conclude a Memorandum Of Agreement

PRETORIA - The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) and the WU Global Tax Policy Center, at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business agreed to establish a joint project identifying and evaluating the tax and revenue implications of the Agreement constituting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). 

The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed on 1st December 2021. The MOA set into motion a series of planned activities to achieve the objective of identifying and evaluating tax and revenue implications of the AfCFTA.

The first major event in the pipeline is a joint technical and consultative webinar, which will be held on the 23 June 2022, which will engage experts on the African continent to provide input into the first draft of the background paper for the project and the draft agenda. A second major event planned is the African Tax Research Network (ATRN) which will be held jointly from 5 to 7 September 2022.

The call for papers for this Congress can be accessed on the ATAF website available here. Thereafter, a validation webinar is scheduled for 22 November 2022. 

The expected products from the MOA include: A research paper on the revenue and broader legal implications of the AfCFTA; Two tax policy briefs (trade principles and tax principles) and a comprehensive guidance note on the implications of the AfCFTA. The latter will incorporate the policy briefs and targeted research papers from the ATRN Congress.

The two institutions look forward to engaging the relevant strategic partners such as African supranational organisations, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and other interstate institutions working on aspects that affect the intersection between AfCFTA and taxation. The final products are expected to be completed by 31st December 2023.