World Tax - Home
The comprehensive guide to the world's leading tax firms

KPMG has an all-Ireland tax practice. The team advises a broad range of clients including partnerships, publicly quoted companies, multinational corporations and state-sponsored bodies. Mergers and acquisitions, cross-border structuring, structured finance ... [more]

KPMG has an all-Ireland tax practice. The team advises a broad range of clients including partnerships, publicly quoted companies, multinational corporations and state-sponsored bodies. Mergers and acquisitions, cross-border structuring, structured finance and private equity areas are strong points of the firm's advisory services. Mike Farrell is the head of tax and legal. His practice lies in advising some of the firm's largest clients in the banking, manufacturing, retail and distribution sectors. Mike Gaffney was described by a peer as "the strongest in the market". His strength is in M&A and he advises clients in the property and communications industries. Pat O'Brien is well regarded for capital markets and financial products tax advice. Terry O'Neill is highly rated for VAT.

The Irish Times reported in March that 40 of the 200 staff that KPMG had announced it was making redundant, were managers in the tax practice.

The tax practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers is split into five groups: financial services, technology and infocomms, consumer products, indigenous and private wealth. The head of tax and legal is Colm Kelly. International tax specialist Denis Harrington ... [more]

The tax practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers is split into five groups: financial services, technology and infocomms, consumer products, indigenous and private wealth. The head of tax and legal is Colm Kelly. International tax specialist Denis Harrington has advised on a number of the redomiciliations of multinationals from Bermuda, the Caribbean and the UK to Ireland. The team can boast a number of specialists in different areas, such as Feargal O'Rourke in R&D, Stephen Merriman and Liam Diamond in intellectual property, which has become a key area for multinationals since the budget in April, and Gavan Ryle in transfer pricing. The practice also has a strong VAT team where John Fay is well known. O'Rourke was the only adviser from a big-four firm to be a member of the Commission of Taxation, which reported in September. "Clients want work but at cheaper prices," a partner of the firm told World Tax. Terry O'Driscoll for M&A is another who wins praise in the rest of the market.

The four tax partners and the other consultants at A&L Goodbody had plenty of opportunities to use their skills over the last year in M&A, securitisation and capital markets, restructuring and insolvency, and corporate migrations. Peter Maher is the ... [more]

The four tax partners and the other consultants at A&L Goodbody had plenty of opportunities to use their skills over the last year in M&A, securitisation and capital markets, restructuring and insolvency, and corporate migrations. Peter Maher is the head of tax. While transactional work has been lighter, which is true for all other advisers in the market, other areas have become more prominent such as advising private equity groups on purchasing the distressed debt from their own investments and setting up Irish structures to invest in China because of the favourable tax treaty between the two countries. Andrew Quinn advised the receiver to Waterford Wedgewood, the luxury goods group, on asset disposals. Quinn was retained by Elan, the pharmaceuticals company, when Johnson & Johnson acquired its Alzheimer's Immunotherapy Programme and bought a $1 billion stake in the company. Capital markets work included a series of four residential mortgage-backed securitisations (RMBS) for Irish Life and Permanent that involved floating rate note programmes worth between €1.5 billion ($2.1 billion) and €6.5 billion ($9.3 billion). The practice also advised Allied Irish Banks and Clogher Securities on a €2.3 billion securitisation of a portfolio of residential mortgages that was documented under Irish law so that it qualified for the Eurosystem. James Somerville advised WPP, the advertising and marketing communications group, on the establishment of an Irish-resident holding company when the company moved its tax domicile to Ireland.

Arthur Cox was also to the fore in the redomiciliation-to-Ireland work that took place over the last 12 months. It teamed up with PricewaterhouseCoopers on many of the transactions. For example, Fintan Clancy advised Covidien when it announced the first ... [more]

Arthur Cox was also to the fore in the redomiciliation-to-Ireland work that took place over the last 12 months. It teamed up with PricewaterhouseCoopers on many of the transactions. For example, Fintan Clancy advised Covidien when it announced the first move to Ireland by a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and incorporated in Bermuda. Covidien plc, an Irish entity, will be the new ultimate holding company of the group, replacing Covidien Ltd. Conor Hurley provided the tax advice for the merger between Sachsen LB Europe and LRP erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, two subsidiaries of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. It was the first transaction of its kind to be carried out in Ireland under the recently enacted European Communities (Cross-Border Mergers) Regulations 2008, which implement the Cross-Border Mergers Directive 2005/56/EC. The firm is working on similar matters. Caroline Devlin advised on the tax issues to do with the recapitalisation of the Bank of Ireland. Outbound and inbound advice on China is an area that the team says is growing. The provision for lower withholding tax in the Ireland-China tax treaty helps this. Aircraft leasing is a good example of the kind of issue the practice has been dealing with in its China work. "I was very impressed with them on a restructuring assignment, both technical and delivery," said a peer.

Pádraig Cronin leads Deloitte's tax practice in Ireland and he himself has been to the fore in transactions such as the exit of a private-equity purchaser from an investment before its sale to a trade buyer, and the merger of two complex property portfolios. ... [more]

Pádraig Cronin leads Deloitte's tax practice in Ireland and he himself has been to the fore in transactions such as the exit of a private-equity purchaser from an investment before its sale to a trade buyer, and the merger of two complex property portfolios. Another partner, Joan O'Connor, has stepped down as president of the Irish Taxation Institute after her one-year term. Peers think it will not be long before she is as prominent as an adviser as she was before.

The reorganisation of Ernst & Young globally has helped the international tax practice, including the team in Ireland, believes Kevin McLoughlin, the head of tax services. "We're all singing from the hymn sheet," he says. The tax practice consists of ... [more]

The reorganisation of Ernst & Young globally has helped the international tax practice, including the team in Ireland, believes Kevin McLoughlin, the head of tax services. "We're all singing from the hymn sheet," he says. The tax practice consists of corporate, indirect, human capital and private wealth services. The changes to the IP tax regime in April 2009 budget has boosted the leading position of the R&D team. The Irish Tax Desk in New York has been active in advising clients contemplating an inversion and those wanting guidance on the effects of President Obama's international tax proposals on their Irish operations.

The range of work dealt with Matheson Ormsby Prentice's tax practice, the largest in any law firm in Ireland, in the past 12 months went from the $485 million acquisition by Oak Tree Capital and Irving Place Capital of Chesapeake Corporation, a multinational ... [more]

The range of work dealt with Matheson Ormsby Prentice's tax practice, the largest in any law firm in Ireland, in the past 12 months went from the $485 million acquisition by Oak Tree Capital and Irving Place Capital of Chesapeake Corporation, a multinational consumer packaging company, to advising Allied Irish Banks on a $15 billion medium-term note programme, to advising on a VAT case that went to judicial review. That part of the practice also has two cases before the European Court of Justice relating to customs law. The Irish tax advice in the Chesapeake transaction, was provided by a team led by Turlough Galvin, the head of the practice, who is also a structured finance practitioner, on a referral basis for Kirkland & Ellis, the lead counsel for the two private equity purchasers. It centred on the structuring of a new European holding company to transform Chesapeake from being a publicly quoted US company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to a private company headquartered in Europe. The €123 million ($176 million) acquisition by Western Union of Fexco's money transfer business involved some complex restructuring tax issues to ensure the deal was tax efficient. The transaction was a cash deal which saw Western Union giving up its stake in the Fexco group holding company. And the Aviva purchase of Vivas Healthcare was the only domestic insurance company takeover in Ireland in 2008. The tax group acted for Aviva in the matter. Issues included the special tax regime for insurance companies in Ireland. Predictably, restructuring, refinancing and consolidation work has been strong in the last 12 months. Irish banks looked for the tax group's advice in the work-out of substantial non-performing property loans, for example. While most of the practice's finance-based work is private, it is for most of the significant global investment banks. Other industrial and technology clients include Google, EMC, Warner Chilcott and Johnson & Johnson. The practice has also contributed to the development of tax legislation, particularly in the finance area. Alan Connell joined the partnership in 2009, while well-known partner, Caitriona McGonagle, left it.

William Fry Tax Advisors - Taxand spent some years building a domestic practice and has now set its sights on becoming a leading practice for cross-border work. Its link-up, in 2008, with Taxand as the Irish member of the global network of independent ... [more]

William Fry Tax Advisors - Taxand spent some years building a domestic practice and has now set its sights on becoming a leading practice for cross-border work. Its link-up, in 2008, with Taxand as the Irish member of the global network of independent tax firms is helping it towards achieving that goal. Martin Phelan is the head of the practice. He and Michael O'Connor, who is well known as a VAT adviser, advised Barclays on the Irish aspects of the sale of iShares, its asset management business. CVC had made a $4.4 billion bid for the business, which involved a substantial amount of tax work for William Fry in separating the iShares and noniShares part of the company, until BlackRock, the investment management company, stepped in with a higher offer for the whole entity. Other work saw Anthony Smyth and Deirdre Finn advise Reinsurance Group of America on its takeover of the European life, accident and health business of XL Re. The key to the advice in this transaction, which involved the purchase of a business with operations in a number of EU member states, was minimising the transaction taxes in each jurisdiction. Other insurance and reinsurance clients the practice has taken on recently include Atradius Re and Swiss Life. Smyth, O'Connor and Finn advised Endesa, a Spanish electricity company, when it bought two power plants, two peaking plants and two sites from the ESB (Electricity Supply Board), Ireland's leading indigenous utility group, for €450 million ($645 million). The complexity of this transaction lay in the restructuring that took place before the sale and the fact that it changed from being an assets-based sale to a shares-based one. Members of the team has also been prominent in advising the Revenue Commissioners on issues such as stamp duty and VAT and property. Brian Duffy and Sonya Manzor make up the five-partner corporate tax team.

Ciaran Medlar became the head of tax at BDO Simpson Xavier in August 2008. The team has six other partners and advises in areas such as structuring, reorganisation, M&A and compliance.

Dillon Eustace's strength is in tax advice for financial markets transactions. The practice, led by David Lawless, represents a substantial number of structured finance, private equity and hedge fund clients, such as BNP Paribas Fortis, Natixis, Advantage ... [more]

Dillon Eustace's strength is in tax advice for financial markets transactions. The practice, led by David Lawless, represents a substantial number of structured finance, private equity and hedge fund clients, such as BNP Paribas Fortis, Natixis, Advantage Partners and Mizuho Bank, reflecting the particular expertise the practice has built up in advising on Japan and China work. Hedge funds looking to establish their domicile in Ireland also look to the firm for tax advice.

The international tax practice of Grant Thornton in Ireland has strengthened in recent times. The team was well known as an adviser to entrepreneurs, but now it is adept at cross-border work and its tax services also include tax accounting and insolvency ... [more]

The international tax practice of Grant Thornton in Ireland has strengthened in recent times. The team was well known as an adviser to entrepreneurs, but now it is adept at cross-border work and its tax services also include tax accounting and insolvency tax advice during receiverships, examinerships and liquidations. Bernard Doherty and Peter Vale advised various clients on refinancings involving the use of securitisation company rules to protect interest relief for trading companies. Frank Walsh, the head of the practice, leads an international team of more than 50. He specialises in inbound and outbound investment, and structured finance.

A team of nine professionals, including three partners, make up McCann Fitzgerald's tax team. Six other partners and two consultants also have tax practices but also work in other areas. Reorganisations, M&A, management buy-outs and private equity investments ... [more]

A team of nine professionals, including three partners, make up McCann Fitzgerald's tax team. Six other partners and two consultants also have tax practices but also work in other areas. Reorganisations, M&A, management buy-outs and private equity investments are strong points of the corporate side of the group. Finance tax work includes structured finance, securitisations, asset finance, project finance including public private partnerships (PPP), derivatives, investment funds and capital markets. Michael Ryan is the head of the group. Consultant Eleanor MacDonagh advised EBS Building Society and EBS Mortgage Finance Advising on the establishment of a €6 billion ($8.6 billion) mortgage covered securities programme, the first time an Irish entity with mutual status had issued covered securities. She also advised Bord Gais Eireann and BGE Finance Company Limited, a state owned company and a subsidiary, on a €200 million debt issue that entailed securing exemptions for which the minister for finance had to give the go-ahead.

To act as a support function firstly and then to win tax-driven work are the two functions of Mason Hayes & Curran's corporate tax team. Cormac Brown is the director of taxation. He advises on inward investment, including M&A, and employee equity ben... [more]

To act as a support function firstly and then to win tax-driven work are the two functions of Mason Hayes & Curran's corporate tax team. Cormac Brown is the director of taxation. He advises on inward investment, including M&A, and employee equity benefits.