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

The tax team at DLA Piper Horváth & Partners is one of the strongest among the international law firms in Hungary. Levente Torma leads the practice which has six fee earners. Torma is often praised by other professionals for his international structuring ... [more]

The tax team at DLA Piper Horváth & Partners is one of the strongest among the international law firms in Hungary. Levente Torma leads the practice which has six fee earners. Torma is often praised by other professionals for his international structuring work.

The tax team is trying to build a stand-alone practice and is particularly strong in structuring, M&A, real estate and litigation. Ákos Becher is advising a Hungarian company on a partial migration to Luxembourg to realise a step-up in asset value under Hungary's capital gains rules. Torma is also advising a client on a restructuring to would allow for a tax neutral exit.

The group has also been busy with tax disputes work. It is advising Vienna Capital Partners in a dispute about withholding tax recovery, which is now before the Supreme Court. Other clients that the practice has represented this year include Fibria, IKO Group, ENI and Carion.

DLA Piper's Polish tax practice has been noted by competitors for its development over the last two years. It has clients including oil and industrial companies such as PKN Orlen, Statoil, Bassel Orlen and Arcelor Mittal. Department head Marcin Matyka ... [more]

DLA Piper's Polish tax practice has been noted by competitors for its development over the last two years. It has clients including oil and industrial companies such as PKN Orlen, Statoil, Bassel Orlen and Arcelor Mittal. Department head Marcin Matyka has been particularly active in tax litigation this year. He advised Bassel Orlen in a case before the Provincial Administrative Court related to recovery of corporate income tax. After the dissolution of the group, the Polish tax authorities had denied the companies tax refunds which the group was due. Polish tax law does not cover such situations and as such Matyka cited both European case law and the Polish Constitution to convince the court that the individual companies were entitled to proportions of the refund the group was owed. The firm was also successful in representing BP Techem in the Supreme Administrative Court over the incompatibility with EU law of taxes levied on lubricant oils in Poland. This is likely to set an important precedent for the taxation of these products in Poland.The case was one the most important the tax department has been involved in over the past year. The firm covers a full range of tax issues and has particular expertise in capital markets tax matters..

DLA Piper's tax team consists of three partners and three other fee earners divided evenly between Moscow and St Petersburg. Ruslan Vasutin leads the tax team in St Petersburg and Igor Venediktov heads the Moscow tax department. The firm provides clients ... [more]

DLA Piper's tax team consists of three partners and three other fee earners divided evenly between Moscow and St Petersburg. Ruslan Vasutin leads the tax team in St Petersburg and Igor Venediktov heads the Moscow tax department. The firm provides clients with a range of tax services including international tax planning and structuring for both inbound and outbound investments, restructuring, M&A tax advice, tax due diligence, indirect tax and tax controversy. The firm's tax department generates its own work but much of its work is related to its corporate and real estate departments' activities. This year, the firm advised luxury hotel brand Swissotel on its management agreement with Ukrainian real estate investment company KDD Group for a hotel development in Kyiv. The firm handled all aspects of the transaction, but the tax issues presented required substantial coordination with the firm's Ukrainian tax team to ensure efficient compliance with both Russian and Ukranian tax law.

Svetlana Musienko is the sole partner and head of DLA Piper's tax practice. The firm has bolstered its practice this year with the addition of two new associates, bringing the total number of fee earners in the department to five. All members of the ... [more]

Svetlana Musienko is the sole partner and head of DLA Piper's tax practice. The firm has bolstered its practice this year with the addition of two new associates, bringing the total number of fee earners in the department to five. All members of the team are capable in both transfer pricing and indirect tax and three also deal with international tax issues. The firm also conducts corporate support work and restructuring matters. A recent restructuring highlight for the firm was the reorganisation of an Ukranian company's operations by merging two of its brewery groups. The team had regard to VAT, corporate tax and tax compliance issues throughout and was able to ensure that the merger did not create any additional tax liability and minimised the group's tax exposure in the process. The team sought and obtained several rulings from the tax authorities to ensure compliance throughout. Clients praise the tax team for its commercial awareness and ability to deliver results quickly. One company's financial officer said, "This team is an excellent choice for tax law advice in Ukraine. They are highly professional, fast-moving and responsive. When offering the solutions they always take into account the commercial aspects of our business."