Nicosia – Thomas Thoma, Chief Tax Officer with the Cyprus Tax Department, scored a near perfect 99% in the final exams of the Diploma in VAT Excellence (DiVE) 2024-2025, finishing first in his class.
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 2024-2025 academic year was concluded early in the summer with the final exams. This was the fourth year in a row the coveted diploma is offered and 11 students managed to graduate.
At the DiVE graduation ceremony, which was held at the Metochiou 25 Lounge in Nicosia on 18 September 2025, Academy Lead Instructor, Alexis Tsielepis, presented the graduates with their diplomas and congratulated them for their achievement.
“Thomas’ near perfect score is the highest in the history of the DiVE program, making him my top student ever,” he said, adding: “This was my strongest DiVE class so far. Welcome all to the elite club of DiVERs.”
Besides Thoma, the list of graduates included Elena Zampakidou and Pola Yiannopoulou, both from the Cyprus Tax Department, which this year sent three of its tax officers to further specialise in VAT. Also, Aliki Ioannou and Dimitris Krilov from LIS Primus Audit and Tax Ltd, Georgios Matsoukas, George Savvides of Fincrew Ltd, Kyriaki Voutouri-Papadaki of TG Tax Genius Ltd, Maria Nearchou of Solvio Services Ltd, Marinos Michael of G. Michael Ltd and Panagiota Iakovou of Meridian Trust Ltd.
Each graduate received their DiVE diploma while Thoma also received a top mark award, an owl signifying the high level of VAT knowledge he acquired.
Zampakidou also received a special award for VAT Excellence by the Cyprus Tax Commissioner, Soteris Markides himself, who said he was proud of his tax officers and the high caliber of the Department’s personnel.
The graduation ceremony was also attended by former DiVERs from the years 2021-24 and 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 secondhand 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 DiVE program will be repeated in 2026-2027 and advance registrations are now open. For more information, visit www.chelcovat.com/vat-academy/.
