During the 13th annual general meeting of the Malta Institute of Taxation held recently, the president of the institute, Dr Renald Micallef, announced that the institute will be publishing a manual on Income Tax early next year.

This will be a historic milestone in Maltese taxation since it will contain contributions by 17 different local tax experts in 35 chapters that will cover all aspects of Income Tax law, application and jurisprudence.

He also announced that the Confederation Fiscale Europeenne, representing some 200,000 tax advisers in Europe, has accepted an invitation from the Malta Institute to hold its General Assembly and allied activities in Malta in September 2011. The Institute is expecting around 100 delegates from every country of Europe to attend.

Dr Micallef emphasised that the education of local professionals as well as the general public on taxation issues will always remain the Institute’s primary focus. All the activities in its 13-year history and all its resources have been, and will continue to be used, towards this aim. The large investment in the publication of the manual mentioned above is a primary example.

Another historic milestone for MIT announced by the Institute’s secretary George Farrugia regarded the Institute’s premises in Ta’ Xbiex which have recently been acquired on lease. In the coming months, these will be completely refurbished to bring them in line with the Institute’s current and future requirements.

Membership has also increased by 30 per cent over the past 12 months. The secretary announced that Edwin Vella, who had served as president for 10 years, has been appointed Life President in recognition of his great contribution to the development, study and practice of direct taxation in Malta over the past 60 years.

The financial statements of the Institute for the year were read and explained by the treasurer, Geraldine Schembri. These showed a healthy result for the year and were unanimously approved.

The following were elected to the council of the Institute for the coming year: Nikki Dimech, George Farrugia, James Farrugia, Marvin Gaerty, Renald Micallef, Geraldine Schembri and Christian Vella.