The Goltsblat BLP / Berwin Leighton Paisner Tax Practice consists of more than 60 lawyers qualified in English and Russian law and working from our offices in Moscow and London. We offer a full range of tax advice across corporate, finance, real estate, funds, indirect taxes, personal tax, trusts and charities and tax representation before different authorities. 

In addition to our own team of legal professionals, we also work closely with more than 60 law firms from 40 different countries, including all the key tax jurisdictions relevant for Russia-related transactions, such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cyprus and many others.

How we can help you

We provide the full range of corporate tax services, both domestic and international.  We work closely with the firm’s other practice groups, as well clients’ teams to provide a seamless transactional experience aimed to arrive at practical and implementable solutions.

The diverse experience of our tax lawyers (including experience not only in law firms but also Big 4 and Russian accounting firms) allows us to propose practical and viable solutions tailored to the needs of the individual client and addressing not only the legal side of the matter but also other practical aspects (e.g., documentation support).

We are experienced in:

• Advising on the appropriate form of establishing a business in Russia;
• Drafting investment agreements with regional authorities aimed at securing regional tax concessions;
• Tax efficient structuring of all sorts of agreements between the Russian subsidiary and its Russian customers and suppliers / contractors, including of the construction contracts for building manufacturing and retail facilities in Russia and corresponding negotiations with contractors;
• Tax efficient optimisation and reorganisation of existing Russian structures, with particular emphasis on preserving net operating losses and other tax and customs attributes;
• Recovery of input VAT (including early recovery prior to start of VATable operations), especially on construction-related projects, including claims resulting from deficiencies in documentation at the contractor level;
• Assistance in all stages of tax disputes, from tax and customs audits, to subsequent appeal procedures, as well as defending the clients in courts, with our tax lawyers having experience in representing clients in more than 250 tax litigation cases at all court levels, including the Russian Supreme Arbitrazh Court.

Our experience in Russia is particularly strong in consumer goods, retail, real estate, the automotive, telecommunications, media and oil services industries.