IEEE CONFERENCE NEWSLETTER News and Information for IEEE Conference Organizers November 2007 (2007-11-29) - Vol. 6, No. 3 ************************************************************************ NEW VAT PROGRAM FOR EUROPEAN CONFERENCES FINANCIAL UPDATE/ACCRUAL/1099 REQUEST ASSIGNING FINANCIAL ANALYST TO SOCIETIES/CONFERENCES PANEL OF CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS (POCO) 2008 NEW TRAVEL CENTER FOR IEEE TRAVEL NEWS: NEW ENTRY PROCEDURES IN JAPAN FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS IEEE CONFERENCE NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION IEEE CONFERENCE NEWSLETTER INDEX ONLINE ************************************************************************ NEW VAT PROGRAM FOR EUROPEAN CONFERENCES: IEEE's conference business in Europe has been growing tremendously during recent years. In order to streamline the Value Added Tax (VAT) processes for Conference Organizers, we are working closely with Deloitte and Touche and their European indirect tax compliance centre. We have developed a comprehensive VAT program to provide guidance on complying with existing VAT requirements for each European Country where IEEE has conferences. We will be rolling out this program for 2008. More details will be communicated to Society leadership, Regional Conference Coordinators and Conference Organizers over the next month. Please contact Lucia Servus, VAT Analyst at +1 732 465 6608 or email to with any questions or concerns. Please include your conference number and the note "VAT" in the subject line. FINANCIAL UPDATE/ACCRUAL/1099 REQUEST: As our fiscal year end approaches, we would like to remind all conference organizers to submit either an updated forecast or complete actuals for all conferences that have concluded. Your assistance in this greatly enhances the accuracy of our year-end reporting. We have a new web-based form available at . Please submit your financial documentation by 15 December 2007. In addition, for tax purposes we must request that a schedule 1099 be sent to for all conferences where a U.S. person or resident alien received monetary compensation. Examples include awards, grants, honorariums, prizes, commission payments, hourly compensation payments and lump sum payments (do not include expense reimbursements). If your conference HAS NOT made any payments to U.S. citizens or resident aliens, please enter "NONE" on line 1 and forward to . For all conferences that take place within the United States, please also complete the 1042 Schedule of Payments for any non-U.S. citizen or non-U.S. resident alien (a.k.a. non-U.S. person) who received monetary payments, except for expense reimbursements, from the conference checking account during the calendar year. If your conference HAS NOT made any such payments to individuals, please enter "NONE" on line 1. ASSIGNING FINANCIAL ANALYST TO SOCIETIES/CONFERENCES: To improve customer service and streamline our internal processes, Conference Services will be assigning a specific Financial Analyst to each Society. With this new approach, a single individual will be able to support all conferences that are significantly sponsored by one Society. This will allow each analyst to serve Conference Organizers from the beginning through the end of their conference cycle and to become very well acquainted with the unique benefits each Society brings to IEEE. Questions? Please contact Rebekah Kerstetter, Senior Manager, Conference Finance at +1 732 562 5486 or . PANEL OF CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS (POCO) 2008: POCO 2008 will be held in Seattle, Washington, USA, in July of 2008. This is an annual conference for all Conference Organizers to learn how to create a best-in-class technical conference. Learn what's new in event, financial, tax, international planning from the experts. Meet with others who are planning similar events in other technical areas. More details will be available on the IEEE web site under Organize A Conference. We are collecting ideas for topics through the web site, so please come visit and give us your best ideas! NEW TRAVEL CENTER FOR IEEE: Beginning 1 October 2007, all travel-related business -- including airline, train, and hotel reservations -- will be handled by the IEEE's travel partner, World Travel Inc. All members, volunteers, and staff can use World Travel connected with IEEE for their travel arrangements. Benefits of using World Travel are: - Lowest Airfare Guarantee - 24-Hour Emergency - Flight Change Notifications Electronically - Proactive Approach to Clients in the Event of Weather Delays/Cancellations - Dedicated, experienced travel counselors - Passport/visa service To contact World Travel within the United States, call 800 879 4333. To reach them from outside the U.S., call +1 717 556 1100. Or, visit them at . Hours of operation are M-F 8:00am-5:30pm ET. TRAVEL NEWS: NEW ENTRY PROCEDURES IN JAPAN FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS: Beginning 20 November 2007, Japan will initiate new entry regulations that will require all foreign visitors older than 16, except diplomats, to be digitally fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival. The new entry procedures are being implemented as a security precaution and those refusing to comply will be denied entry. Please see the press release dated 2007-09-20 at the Japan Travel Information website at . IEEE CONFERENCE NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION: The distribution of this newsletter includes all Conference Chairs, Conference Information Contacts, Conference Treasurers/Financial Officers, TAB, Society Presidents, Society Treasurers, and Regional Conference Coordinators. The distribution list is refreshed for each issue and includes only those volunteers involved with open conferences. Additionally, any volunteer wishing to receive continued delivery of this newsletter may opt-in at any time by sending a request to . IEEE CONFERENCE NEWSLETTER INDEX ONLINE: All back issues of the IEEE Conference Newsletter are available online. The newsletter index can be accessed from the Conference Organizers Web Site , or directly at . ******************************************************************** Editor: John Wettlaufer IEEE Technical Activities telephone: +1 732 465 7809 email: (Anyone wishing to opt-in or opt-out for this newsletter's distribution may do so at any time by sending a request to .) (This newsletter is intended for the interest of IEEE conference volunteers and may be shared with other volunteers. The newsletter, in its entirety or in part, should not be sent to public bulletin board systems.)