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Our 11th Annual Conference will take place on Friday 27th September at the Gresham Hotel, Dublin supported by Triodos (ethical bank www.triodos.co.uk) which has recently set up an Irish operation. The conference will look at the ongoing issue of VAT for charities and will report on our recent VAT campaign, the research currently being undertaken by Ernst & Young as well as looking at where we go from here. The keynote speaker is Irish EU Commissioner David Byrne on EU policy on VAT for charities and Kathy Sinnott will speak on sustaining a long term campaign.

To date over 12,500 people have signed our web-based petition www.vatcampaign.com and more than 19,500 emails have been sent to elected TDs in the new Dail. The campaign has proved very successful and we can be sure that almost all of our elected representatives are aware that charities want their VAT back! The next step is to make a submission to government on the VAT issue and this year's conference also highlights the problem. All of the supporters gained from the campaign will be invited to our conference and we shall be drawing on their support over the coming months as well.

Our sister organisation Irish Charities Tax Research Ltd has commissioned Ernst & Young to carry out a survey of Irish charities to establish how much is paid out in VAT each year. When the research is finalised the report will highlight the total VAT burden borne by the sector and how much of this comes out of fund-raised income as opposed to government grant income. If you are one of the few who have not returned the questionnaire can we urge you to do so as soon as possible. For more information contact 01-4531861 or email ictr@iol.ie