The Government of the People’s Republic of China and the International Tax Dialogue (ITD) were pleased to present a global conference on the topic of ‘Financial Institutions and Instruments – Tax Challenges and Solutions’. The conference took place in Beijing, China, on 26-28 October 2009 with an opening reception on the evening of 25 October 2009.
The conference provided a unique, and timely, opportunity to discuss aspects of the taxation of financial institutions and instruments, focussing not only on issues raised by the continuing global financial crisis but also on long-standing concerns in financial taxation. The conference explored the weaknesses, and strengths, of the existing international architecture of taxation in this area, question the extent to which tax policies may have contributed to the current financial crisis, and seeked to develop forward looking solutions to identified problems. The use of plenary and parallel sessions, with active country participation, allowed discussion of a wide set of tax instruments and institutions.
This was a government conference, with senior level representation from over 80 countries. A number of prominent business leaders, academics, and representatives of international institutions also addressed the conference.