Nicosia – Ms. Artemis Kyriakou, Senior Advisor in the Accounting & VAT Department of Kinanis LLC scored the highest mark in the finals of the Diploma in VAT Excellence (DiVE), finishing first in her class.
Second overall and first in the oral exam came Marios Nikolaidis, VAT Advisory Officer of Chelco VAT Ltd.
DiVE is a high-level course spanning a period of 10-months, with emphasis on the Cyprus VAT legislation. Offered by the Chelco VAT International Academy, the 2022-2023 academic year was concluded early in the summer with the final exams. This was the second year in a row the coveted diploma is offered and five students managed to graduate.
At the DiVE graduation ceremony, which was held at the Metochiou 25 Lounge in Nicosia on 19 September 2023, Academy Lead Instructor, Alexis Tsielepis, awarded the graduates their diplomas and congratulated them for their achievement.
“We are not making it easy to graduate from DiVE. You have to achieve a high level of VAT proficiency to do so. You need to be at the top of your game. Welcome to the elite club of DiVERs,” he said.
Besides Kyriakou and Nikolaidis, the list of graduates included Christoforos Florou of Christoforos Florou & Partners LLC, Constantinos Antoniou of CSM Audit Tax Advisory Ltd and Yiannis Christofi, VAT Compliance Officer of Chelco VAT Ltd.
Each graduate received their DiVE diploma while Kyriakou also received a top mark award, an owl signifying the high level of VAT knowledge she acquired. The students reciprocated with a gift for their teacher, a set of Chelco VAT International Academy-branded cufflinks.
The graduation ceremony was followed by a dinner and cocktails reception at the Metochiou 25 gardens.
DiVE students were taken through the EU VAT Directive’s main chapters line-by-line and step-by-step, analysing how they have been transposed in the Cyprus VAT legislation. DiVE also examined around 30 key judgments of the European Court of Justice on VAT interpretation.
The Diploma covered such notions as taxable person, taxable transactions, place of supply, taxable amount, time of supply, exemptions, deductions, the various VAT rates and the obligation to pay VAT.
DiVE also covered the Tour Operator Margin Scheme (TOMS), the margin scheme for second hand goods (including art and vehicles), the capital goods scheme, the One Stop Shop (OSS), the Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) and more.
Lessons were delivered through a combination of full-day group classes, one-on-one workshops and online sessions.
The purpose of DiVE is to allow individuals and/or businesses to invest in a solid foundation on which they can then offer or apply the knowledge gained to address their own VAT requirements or those of their clients.
The diploma is geared towards industry professionals dealing with complex VAT issues, such as CFOs, Financial Controllers, tax lawyers, accountants and tax consultants.
The 2023-2024 DiVE is now under way in Limassol. For more information, visit www.chelcovat.com/vat-academy/.
