The global team of Tax Practice focuses on  identifying unrecognized issues and designing solutions to difficult strategic corporate tax, VAT, customs and personal wealth challenges.

Our clients include Fortune 500 and FT500 companies which are household names (such as Mars, Kimberly-Clark, Shell, ABB and many other similar organisations), as well as large and medium Russian privately held companies, successful entrepreneurs, and families with net worth of eight to ten figures.

We work with strategic tax issues that may have a material impact on the bottom line. This includes helping clients realise greater value by focusing on:

• Maximising business income by helping clients increase their profit and improve their cashflow through optimal tax planning;
• Maximising value in a transaction by helping clients minimise the negative impact of taxes on the transfer of cash and assets in a transaction;
• Defending taxpayers against Tax and Customs authorities, starting from developing a defense strategy to representation during the appeal procedure and in Russian courts;
• Designing and revising corporate structures to manage transfer pricing issues and minimise the negative impact of taxes on business growth;
• Preserving and enhancing personal and family wealth by helping clients protect their assets, helping with succession planning or selling their business.

We always aim to achieve a significant payback that would cover the client’s investment in hiring us many times over.

As any Russian tax practitioner knows, tax litigation is an inevitable element of the Russian tax landscape. Russian tax authorities are notorious for having a fiscal focus during tax audits, with more than 90% of field audits resulting in an assessment. By extensively validating the conclusions through the relevant court practice, as well as addressing antimonopoly and civil law issues when necessary, we stand by our recommendations. If necessary, we will passionately defend the position in Russian courts. The exact number of cases won by our practice attorneys is well over 1,000.

Another significant differentiator is a strong customs team advising clients on the international trade puzzles created by Russian and the Russia/Kazakhstan/ Belarus Unified Economic Territory ’s legislation. The practical solutions offered by the customs lawyers are based on the profound experience and outstanding track record in tax and customs litigation.

On the international side we are supported by about 100 tax lawyers working from our London (which has the largest tax practice among City’s law firms), Abu-Dhabi, Berlin, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Paris and Singapore offices, as well as by our own Zurich based trust services firm (Paicolex). This provides a unique proposition for supporting Russian clients in designing and implementing efficient corporate and personal ownership structures and funds aimed at attracting foreign
investment into Russian assets.

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.

For more details about our international experience in tax consulting / tax litigation, please click here.