Agenda Day 1, March 10th, 2027: (see Agenda Day 2) (back to Event Summary)
08.30 – Registration and Coffee
09.00 – Opening Remarks from the Chair
09.20 – ViDA – Where are we now, and Where are we going?
· How implementation of ViDA is progressing, and what businesses can do to prepare
· What can be expected of ViDA once it is in place
· What can be expected after ViDA – what is the future of EU VAT
Matthew Snoding, VAT Policy Officer – DG TAXUD, European Commission
09.50 – The French Mandate: The State of Play, 6 Months Later
Estelle Prunier, Chargee de mission, Direction de projet Facturation electronique, French Tax Administration
10.20 – Reserved Sponsor Session
11.00 – Morning Coffee and Networking
11.30 – Sponsor Session
12.00 – Experience Implementing E-Invoicing Mandates (Lessons from Countries Already Implemented)
· Dealing with Tax Authorities having a Better View of your Company’s Data via e-Reporting and e-Invoicing than your own Tax Function
· IT infrastructure of the tax authorities
· Solution assessments ( New tool, AI applications and empowering enterprises current ERP systems)
· e-invoicing for Intercompany invoices
· Progress of experiences with implementing e-invoicing
· Structuring your indirect tax teams towards e-invoicing
Oliver Sachtleben, Head of Indirect Tax, Bauhaus
12.30 – Sponsor Session
13.00 – Keeping up Your Indirect Tax Departments with the Rate of Change
· Managing a lack of resources and specialized people
· Embedding automation in processes and other practical examples: impact on loss of junior staff members
· Preparing your function for the next 5 years
· Working with advisors that have not adapted to the new style of working (AI, Automation) and not adding value
· Dealing with increased reporting requirements competing with restricted budgets
Darren Mellor-Clark, International Tax Director, Amazon
13.30 – Lunch Break
14.30 – Data Model for Indirect Tax – Case Study
· A robust data model in place to handle high-volume transactional data, support real-time reporting and keep accuracy: with ERP integration and the use of Data Factories
· Incorporating master data, raw data, and correct attributes
· A succesful data model architecture
· Supporting CTC, e-invoicing and data analytics
Ingeborg Bosman-Molenaar, VP Tax, Global Tax Operations Lead, Cargill
15.00 – Innovative Vendor Competition:
Vendor Selection Process for Tax Technology
A competitive interactive session where a group of Tax Vendors will present their solution(s) on stage individually for 2-3 minutes, one after another. Then, the host will ask tough comparative questions to the vendors, just as in the investment reality show Dragon’s Den (Shark Tank).
Hosted by: Baran Sari, Cross Functional Lead – Tax - IT, Dell Technologies
(will be joined by participating technology sponsors together on stage)
15.40 – Improving Indirect Tax’s Visibility and Relationships with its Stakeholders
· How to become a valuable partner to the business
· Managing relationships with tax authorities
· Improving relationships with other stakeholders
· Dealing with poor visibility inside the organisation
Rafal Borowski, Director – Indirect Tax, Biogen
16.10 – Afternoon Coffee and Networking
16.40 – AI Programme with Top Down Approach - Educating the Tax Team with AI Proposals and ROI
· What is AI Programme v "AI Everyday"?
· Benefit of top-down approach
· Big question for AI use in scale - is it worth it?
· Everyday AI does not stop
Keiko Iwakawa, Global Indirect Tax Lead, Hitachi Energy
17.10 Tax Checks & Controls with Use of Agentic AI
· Tax Data Warehouse as the foundation
· Use of agentic AI for building internal tax checks & controls
· Automation of repetitive tasks and controls
· Increasing tax function efficiency
· Enhancing Compliance, Governance, and Risk Management
Michel Bulkmans, Head of Indirect Tax, Organon
Tomáš Kocman, Associate Director Indirect Tax, Organon
17.40 – Agentic AI and Chatbot Use Cases to Make Process Improvements in Indirect Tax
Practical use cases to improve accuracy, speed and control
· Indirect tax is moving towards real-time, transaction-level compliance. ViDA, e-invoicing mandates and tax-authority analytics require businesses to proactively prevent errors upstream rather than correct them during return preparation
· Chatbots and AI agents serve different purposes Chatbots provide controlled, source-based guidance, while agentic AI can coordinate multi-step processes across tax engines, ERPs, e-invoicing platforms and workflow tools
· The strongest initial taxpayer use cases are exception driven. Priority opportunities include invoice validation, e-invoice rejection resolution, VAT reconciliations, anomaly detection and evidence gathering—with human approval retained for material tax decisions
· Implementation should start narrow and remain under the control of tax. Successful deployment requires approved knowledge sources, restricted system access, confidence and materiality thresholds, complete audit trails, human oversight and measurable process outcomes
Ioan Sabau, Director – Indirect Tax/Tax Technology, Goodyear
18.10 - Closing Remarks and End of Day 1
18.10 - Reception
19.25 - 3 Course Dinner (included for all attendees)