The tax practice at Liedekerke has a good breadth to its work. The group comprises about 25 fee-earners and is headed by Daniel Garabedian, who specialises in tax litigation. He is seen as one of the stars of the Belgian tax market. "He is a very good ...
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The tax practice at Liedekerke has a good breadth to its work. The group comprises about 25 fee-earners and is headed by Daniel Garabedian, who specialises in tax litigation. He is seen as one of the stars of the Belgian tax market. "He is a very good tax professional," said one adviser. "According to our perception he is one of the top professionals in Belgium, easily."
The tax team is strong in tax litigation matters and is proud of its success rate in cases, which is above 75%. This year the firm was involved in what is thought to be the largest tax evasion case of the decade in Belgium. The Supreme Court agreed eventually that the criminal action was inadmissible since the evidence had been gathered irregularly.
Henk Verstraete also assisted a financial institution on a tax litigation matter. This raised the question of whether tax could be applied to stock exchange transactions online where buyers and sellers are located in different jurisdictions.
The bulk of Liedekerke's work still comes from advisory and transactional clients. Philippe Malherbe is advising a multinational group on a $1.4 billion restructuring to allow its foreign parent company to benefit from the new tax credit rules in its jurisdiction. The group also advised a major retail group on its European reorganisation, which involved a demerger.
Liedekerke has increased the scope of its indirect tax work this year in response to client demand.
A new VAT group in particular, headed by Stéphane Wilmet, will increase the scope of services the group provides to its multinational clients.
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