Postcard from Prime Global’s International Tax Session

Every January, Prime Global hosts its annual North American Tax and Business Assurance Conference.  This year is no exception. Well, except for the location, of course! No warm climate or sunny locale this year; I participated from my home office.

On January 5, the International Special Interest group held its ½-day technical session via Zoom. The online format allowed for a record number of attendees. Our afternoon included a presentation about the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Sanction rules, COVID-19 pandemic stimulus programs around the world, a Brexit update, and an open discussion forum which focused on some of the changes in tax laws, compliance matters and growing tax complexity relating to international tax.  

The session reinforced a few things:

1. No matter where we are in the country and the world, we are all dealing with tax ramifications from the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to its impact on global health and our daily activities.

2. The U.S. tax rules continue to become more complicated. (There is no issue with job security for tax professionals.)

3. Although the remote nature of the conference allowed us to include more participants, we all miss meeting in person!

We did manage to include an optional remote happy hour at the end of the day. Here’s hoping next year’s seminar can be live and in 3D!