Tax
With the largest international tax group of any single law firm and close integration with non-tax colleagues, we are able to deliver clients seamless and truly global tax advice.
The provision of cross-border tax advice is key to success and the firm’s unique global reach supports clients in a manner that no other law firm can match. We manage and deliver commercial advice across the full spectrum of international and domestic tax issues including:
• Banking & finance tax – Advising on the full range of financial products including lending, acquisition finance, real estate finance, asset finance, project finance, derivatives, insolvency & restructuring, and structured finance.
• Capital markets & structured debt tax – We provide tax advice on large and complex debt and equity market transactions. We have vast experience in advising on securitizations, debt and equity capital markets, repackagings, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), and derivatives.
• Corporate, M&A & joint ventures tax – Our tax teams advise in relation to some of the world’s largest and most complex M&A and corporate finance transactions including:
◦ mergers and acquisitions
◦ investment into and from Europe, the Middle East, the US, and Asia
◦ joint ventures
◦ partnership structures
◦ management buy-outs and buy-ins
◦ cross-border transactions
◦ corporate restructuring
◦ demergers
◦ IPOs and secondary offerings
• Private equity & funds tax – We provide full tax advice on private fund structures (including private equity, debt funds, real estate funds, infrastructure funds, and funds of funds) and on private equity/infrastructure deals.
• Real estate tax – We have built up one of the largest international real estate tax groups in the industry specializing in tax complex deal structures. We advise on a broad range of direct and indirect taxation issues, including establishing funds, joint ventures, real estate securitization structures, limited partnerships, unit trusts, and special purpose vehicles.
• Restructuring tax – Our restructuring tax expertise covers debt restructurings, workouts, reorganizations, and insolvency. We have advised on some of the largest and most complex restructurings in recent times, including restructurings and refinancings of corporates, funds, and structured investment vehicles. Our global practice means that we are used to structuring cross-border transactions, where one structure must satisfy the legal and tax requirements in a dozen or more jurisdictions.
• Stamp duty & transfer taxes – We offer specialist advice across all major jurisdictions on stamp taxes and other transfer taxes.
• Transfer pricing tax – We assist our clients to develop transfer pricing policies and advise on the transfer pricing implications of complex cross-border transactions, including in the fields of finance, corporate structuring, and intellectual property.
• Value added tax – We offer specialist VAT advice on cross-border supplies of goods and services and on all forms of financing, corporate, and real estate transactions. We also undertake VAT litigation work.
Tax Litigation & Disputes
Taxpayers, particularly those operating across national borders, are facing an increasingly hostile and complex environment. Public interest in supposedly aggressive tax planning has led to political pressure on tax authorities to tackle perceived abuse and tax authorities utilize an increasingly wide range of artillery to pursue taxpayers and to plug the perceived “tax gap” wherever possible.
We have particular expertise in the following areas:
Tax litigation before national and international courts, specialist tax tribunals, the courts of appeal, and the European Court of Justice;
Corporation Tax and VAT disputes;
Enforcement proceedings;
Negotiation and drafting of settlements with tax authorities (particularly on “big ticket”/high-value matters);
Cross-border disclosure requests from tax authorities;
Arbitrations with a significant tax component;
Advising clients on parliamentary and similar investigations;
Management of overall tax risk;
Cross-border issues including permanent establishments, employment;
Advising on the negotiation of tax treaties or bilateral/multilateral trade agreements with a significant tax component, and tax treaty disputes;
Lobbying revenue authorities on the formulation of tax legislation and guidelines.
Employment – Advisory, Litigation & Transactional
We not only cover the traditional areas of employment law that many firms focus on but also more specialist areas that are increasingly relevant in the current financial climate, such as remuneration reform, regulatory investigations, and corporate governance.
We have an established team of specialist employment lawyers, ensuring we provide 24-hour commercial advice. We provide strategic, confidential advice to help our clients deliver effective business solutions to their internal stakeholders.
We are completely integrated with our Corporate, Finance, Litigation, and Real Estate practices, regularly working alongside our colleagues as part of larger transaction teams.
We provide expert, commercial advice covering a wide range of employment law issues including:
• Advisory – recruitment and hiring, drafting and negotiating employment contracts, agency and contractor arrangements, secondments, employee relations, works councils and unions, flexible working, diversity and equality, hours and pay, corporate governance, boardroom and senior executive issues, grievance handling, whistle-blowing, and disciplinary issues
• Transactional – employment aspects of mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, relocations, and restructurings with extensive experience in the management of multi-jurisdictional projects. In countries where we do not have an office, we are experienced in coordinating and managing advice from locally qualified employment experts.
• Litigation – extensive experience in contentious matters and dispute resolution including litigation, arbitration, and mediation of employee claims including in respect of whistle-blowing, discrimination and equality, bonus disputes, protection of confidential information, and restrictive covenants
• Remuneration reform – working in conjunction with Clifford Chance’s banking regulatory practice, we advise on remuneration reform and compliance
• Regulatory investigations – advice in complex employment investigation disputes, which span multiple jurisdictions and often involve employee misconduct and/or whistle-blowing claims
• Corporate governance – boardroom diversity, remuneration governance, non-executive arrangements, senior manager regimes, director contracts
• Immigration – business immigration advice in various jurisdictions
• Employee Incentives & Pensions – employee share and incentive plans, innovative remuneration structures, pensions and employee tax, share plans and stock options