On Wednesday 2 October, the Director-General for Taxation and Customs Union of the European Commission appointed Benoît Vanderstichelen and Dr. Stefanie Becker as members of the VAT Expert Group on behalf of the European Tax Adviser Federation (ETAF). The mandate of the VAT Expert groups will run from 1 October 2019 until 30 September 2022.
Philippe Arraou, the President of ETAF, welcomed the news: “The appointment to the VAT Expert Group is a great opportunity for ETAF to contribute to the strengthening of the EU VAT System. We know and rely on the vast experience of Mr. Vanderstichelen and Dr. Becker in VAT with particular regard to its international implications”.
Benoît Vanderstichelen, ETAF Board Member and former President of IEC-IAB welcomed his appointment: “I am proud to have the possibility to directly contribute to the policy-making work of the European Commission on VAT and I thank ETAF for the trust placed in me”. Dr. Becker, who has been a member of the VAT Expert Group during the last mandate, commented with delight “the possibility to continue the work undertaken in the last three years within the VAT Expert Group by collaborating with the European network of tax advisers of ETAF”.
Benoît Vanderstichelen is a member of the Belgian Institut des Experts-Comptables et Conseils fiscaux (IEC-IAB) with thirty years of experience in national and international VAT consulting. Mr. Vanderstichelen has authored numerous books in the field of VAT such as the “Nouveau Guide Pratique de la TVA”. He has been member of the editing committee of the “Revue Générale de Fiscalité” since 2001 and has published several articles in the field of VAT in specialised periodicals. Mr. Vanderstichelen is a scientific assistant at the Law Faculty of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), teacher at the ICHEC-ESSF (Enseignement Supérieur des Sciences Fiscales) and the Solvay Brussels School – Economics and Management, and a regular lecturer at seminars.
Dr. Stefanie Becker is a member of Bundessteuerberaterkammer (BStBK) with more than ten years of experience as a VAT specialist in national and international tax consulting. Dr. Becker is also a member of the of the VAT board of BStBK, former member of the EU VAT Expert Group (2016-2019) and Assistant Professor in VAT at the law faculty of Augsburg University (Germany). She has authored various articles and books on VAT.
The VAT Expert Group is responsible to advise the European Commission on the preparation of legislative acts and other policy initiatives in the field of VAT and to provide insight concerning the practical implementation of legislative acts and other EU policy initiatives in the field of VAT.
