The first Annual Congress of the African Tax Research Network (ATRN) is to take place in Zimbabwe on 2 to 4 September 2015. The ATRN has been established to continue dialogue, research and collaboration on tax matters between tax administrators, tax policy makers and researchers.

The ATRN is currently located within the offices of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF). ATAF exists to encourage exchange of knowledge and experience between tax administrations and works with international organizations such as the OECD to provide input on knowledge of tax administration and international tax for tax administrations across Africa. Collaboration on issues concerning tax administration is especially important for the tax administrations of smaller countries that do not have the resources to devote to training of their staff in administration or policy making.

The ATRN has been set up as a result of the need for the identification of potential links and synergies between academics and policy makers in areas of tax research among the member countries of ATAF. The Annual Congress will bring together researchers, students, academics, decision makers, consultants and tax practitioners to consider national, regional and international tax issues.

The theme of the 2015 Congress is to be “Contemporary Tax Challenges for African Countries” and the ATRN is inviting papers from academics and practitioners on topics related to that theme. The topics of interest are very wide-ranging and include taxation of natural resources, local taxation and fiscal decentralization, international taxation, customs, indirect tax, treaties, tax in the digital economy, compliance, environmental tax, tax incentives and taxation of banking, telecoms and insurance.

Registration for the Annual Congress is to begin on 1 March 2015.