At last week's very successful Berlin meeting, the finances were thrown of whack by the late discovery that the IETF had to pay 19% German VAT on the registration fee. At the IAOC session they said that about half of that is likely to be reclaimed from VAT paid, but the net amount is still a large number. In Buenos Aires, the VAT rate is 21% on most goods and services, with a special 27% rate on telecom services. Just saying, R's, John PS: In Vancouver last year there was a combined federal and provincial VAT, called HST, of 12%. Now they're split, with the 5% federal VAT, called GST, at 5%, and the 7% provincial sales tax (PST) applied separately.