Luxembourg

Allen & Overy is one of the largest global law firms in Luxembourg, employing two partners and 14 other fee earners in the tax department alone. The team is led by Jean Schaffner, a previous member of the firm's global tax board. Funds and alternative investment firms remain the focus of the department, but it also assists a variety of other financial institutions such as multinational banks and fintech companies, as well as a small number of multinational corporations with operations in Luxembourg.

The firm has advised on a wide variety of transactions, including the acquisition of shipping loans by a pair of investment management firms from a multinational bank. It also acted on the transfer of a private banking business between two large banks and provided assistance to a multinational restaurant regarding a tax investigation by the European Commission.

Arendt & Medernach is a full service Luxembourg law firm, covering all areas of corporate taxation in Luxembourg. It also assists on cross-border taxation work, as well as advising clients on indirect taxation and assisting private clients. The team also offers financial reporting and accounting, as well as possessing housing a transfer pricing practice. The tax department is led by partner Thierry Lesage, a specialist in the private equity, real estate and financial transaction sectors. He is supported by a wider team of partners, counsels and associates.

The firm recently advised Sportradar on EQT VI's sale of its 35% stake in Sportradar to a consortium containing CPPIB and TCV for a value in excess of €1 billion, valuing the Sportsradar company at more than €2.1 billion. 

Client feedback

“Very professional, very responsive, excellent. A very good knowledge of the tendencies of the market.”

“Best tax firm in Luxembourg ever.”

Baker Tilly operates a small team in Luxembourg, which leverages its position within the wider Baker Tilly network to assist companies of all sizes with matters of international and cross-border taxation. The Luxembourg team specialises in advising funds and investment platforms in the acquisition of foreign real estate portfolios. The team is led by Delphine Deichtmann, who was appointed tax director in January 2019. She is supported by VAT specialist, Laura Poncin as well as Silindia Mathé, who joined the firm in 2019. 

As well as assisting in international real estate transactions, the firm has also advised in cases of inheritance planning for the French/Belgian owners of a pan-European industrial group. The firm also assisted in the creation of a Luxembourg-based holding company for a real estate group, in order to minimise the impact of Brexit on the company.

Bonn Steichen & Partners is an independent, full-service law firm with a highly regarded tax department. It is led by managing partner Alain Steichen, who is supported by senior counsel Cécile Jager and counsel Gaëlle Felly as well as a team of associates. The firm has a strength in tax litigation, as well as being strong in cross-border transactions, holdings and financial structures, as well as indirect taxation and wealth planning for HNWIs.

The firm recently worked with Goldman Sachs on its €1 billion sale of all shares in a Luxembourg vehicle holding a stake in the Channel Tunnel to Italian infrastructure investor Atlantia. The team is also acting as the sole adviser to the Luxembourg State in the ongoing state aid litigation before the European Commission, relating to the tax treatment of Fiat and Amazon.

Former partner Cécile Jager returned to the team in late 2018, having previously left the firm in 2016. She spent three years as a partner at AKD before returning to firm as a senior counsel.

Clifford Chance's tax presence is Luxembourg is focused within the areas of fund formation, real estate investment and transactions as well as local level litigation. The firm works with its tax advisers in various global offices to advise clients in the areas of international taxation and cross-border transactions. The Luxembourg tax department is led by partner Geoffrey Scardoni, who is assisted by counsel Maxime Budzin and senior associate Josselin Badoc.

The tax team advises a number of the largest investment management companies, including advising Rothschild Investment Management on the formation of its new Luxembourg-based private equity fund, which, with approximately €1.2 billion in investments, will acquire equity stakes in businesses across Europe. The firm has also assisted companies such as Blackrock and Hyundai Asset Management in various cross border real estate acquisitions.

Following the departure of partner François-Xavier Dujardin in December of 2018, the firm hired partner Geoffrey Scardoni from DLA Piper to lead the tax practice.

Deloitte operates one of the largest tax departments in Luxembourg, numbering more than 460 taxation professionals, including 32 partners. It advises on all aspects of taxation and transfer pricing and is led by M&A and alternative investment fund specialist Raymond Krawczykowski.

The firm has helped some of the largest international investment banks in multibillion-euro restructuring initiatives, in order to comply with the EU Capital Requirements Directive IV, while still aligning the group’s structure in a tax efficient manner. It has also assisted a wide variety of companies with their Brexit contingency planning, including the structuring and transfer of services from the UK to Luxembourg.

Dentons offers a strong practice within Luxembourg, operating a practice of 12 tax lawyers and professionals, including managing partner, Frédéric Feyten. Feyten, who also leads the tax department, is supported by a team of counsels and a number of associates. 

Dentons recently advised Terra Firma Capital Partners on its €1.3 billion cross-border sale of Italian solar energy company RTR to Italian infrastructure investor F2i. It has also advised Embridge on its well-publicised $1.3 billion deal with CPPIB for a 49% share of Embridge's Germany-based wind farm business, which is held through a Luxembourg structure.

DLA Piper operates a small Luxembourg tax team, headed by partner Jacques Wantz, which focuses its expertise on advising clients within the alternative investment field. IT advises on all indirect and direct taxation advice for alternative investment funds, including fund set up, fund structure and transactions.

The firm regularly works with international colleagues, including liaising with French colleagues in the establishment of a Luxembourg-based fund, operating as a RAIF and a OPPIC, in order to facilitate the launch of a multimillion-euro alternative fund focused on investment within the French real estate market. 

Following the departure of Geoffrey Scardoni to become a partner at Clifford Chance, the firm hired Jacques Wantz in 2019 from Allen & Overy as a partner to lead the tax department.

KPMG has a significant presence in Luxembourg, with more than 290 professionals, including 24 partners and directors. The Luxembourg tax team is led by financial sector specialist Sébastien Labbé. He also leads the corporate tax working group at the Luxembourg banking association, as well as being a board member of the Fiscal Affairs Committee at the same organisation. While the firm offers expertise in all areas of indirect and direct taxation, it is focused on the financial sector, which includes a strong department focused on the tax treatment of alternative investments, led by partner David Capocci.

Laurence Lhôte, partner and head of indirect tax, has been assisting a number of influential clients with regard to the recent implementation of Article 11 of the VAT Directive that deals with the application and creation of VAT groups in Luxembourg. The VAT department has also advised many large clients in relation to the treatment of digital investment platforms, following the recent litigation between Blackrock UK and HMRC.

Xavier Martinez joined the team at the end of 2018 as an associate partner. He had previously spent four and a half years at Deloitte as a tax director and had prior to that spent time at UBS Wealth Management and at PwC.

Client feedback

“Proactivity, high value added collaboration and very good human relationship.”

Loyens & Loeff is widely regarded as one of the leading tax firms in the Benelux region. It works closely with all other legal departments and offers advice in all areas of direct and indirect tax, including transactional tax, international taxation, corporate taxation, private wealth planning and tax litigation cases. The Luxembourg firm is led by partner Jochem van der Wal, while managing partner Thierry Charon splits his time between Belgium and Luxembourg. 

The Luxembourg team has provided numerous, major financial institutions with a variety of tax advice, including Berkshire Partners, whom they advised on the disinvestment from Husky Injection Molding Systems and from Canadian grocery store Farm Boy.

In mid-2018 the firm hired Christine Beernaerts to become a counsel at the firm, she had previously spent 18 years at Bonn Steichen & Partners. Cécile Henlé left the firm in late 2018 to take up a partnership at Ashurst.

Client feedback

“Loyens is a well-known law firm and its professionals are client oriented, experienced and knowledgeable. Definitely a very good choice of a tax law firm in the Netherlands and Luxembourg.”

“Loyens & Loeff are one of the best Luxembourg law firms, with significant experience and skilled professionals.”

“Outstanding – very responsive and creative and great value for money.”

Partner Pierre-Régis Dukmedjian leads Simmons & Simmons's local tax department, with the support of managing associate Nadejda Girleanu and supervising associate Alejandro Dominguez Becerra. Each member of the team specialises in advising financial clients and the firm has a strong reputation within the asset management and investment fund sector.

Stibbe is one of the best-known full service law firms operating in the Benelux region. The Luxembourg office operates a team of six tax specialists, led by partner Diogo Duarte de Oliveira. The tax department works closely with the firm’s own real-estate, corporate and investment fund teams to provide a full service offering to clients. It advises extensively on transactional tax, fund structuring, tax litigation and for private clients.

The firm recently advised AccorInvest, the hotel investment business of Accor, on its ambition to open its capital to market investors. The team assisted in all of the necessary internal restructuring required to maximise the efficiency of capital investment and further assisted AccorInvest on the opening of its share capital to investors.

Client feedback

“They are very open and comprehensive to the client’s needs and have a deep knowledge of the local law. They only make recommendations on a very secure and reliable basis and do not approach aggressive tax planning.”

“Very competent, very responsive, very professional.”

TS&P is a boutique firm, founded in 2018, focused on only tax law, financial law and M&A/corporate law. The firm was created by Torsten Schmitt and André Pesch, both formerly of Baker McKenzie. Pesch is the principle of the tax department, where he is supported by partner Arnaud Lebrave, as well as a further team of practitioners. Many of the senior tax team also left the Baker McKenzie tax department to join TS&P. The firm advises many large investment companies in Luxembourg on all aspects of general corporate tax, as well as with transactional taxation and transfer pricing. 

In addition to advising investment firms on a variety of cases, including numerous cases whose value exceeded €1 billion, the team has also advised a number of UHNWI and UHNW families with the structure of family offices and the structure of a variety forms of investment.

Client feedback

“Very thoughtful and careful planning with outstanding contacts in industry and government.”

“Great client service, consistent availability, sound and commercial advice. They are a pleasure to work with.”

“Excellent. They are a firm of highly pragmatic, solution-driven lawyers.”

“They provide excellent, timely service. Always available when needed. Their advice saved the company and the shareholders a lot of money.”

“Very pragmatic, straight to the point, solution and practice oriented. Very knowledgeable, technically strong team with deep industry knowledge and network.”

“Very professional and responsive. Excellent quality.”

“I'm working almost exclusively with Romain Jacques and André Pesch, but I'm very happy about their capacity to understand the issues that we as a client are dealing with and their capacity to address and tackle those issues within a short timeframe. Compared to other tax advisers in the market, they are much more close to the business and much more flexible in the way they operate.”

“TS&P is way more advanced in terms of innovation and capacity to adapt their products/solutions to the changes driven by the new regulatory requirements.”

“Strengths include accuracy, very strong knowledge in international taxation, pragmatism and a client-focused approach. I don't see any weaknesses, really.”

Van Campen Liem is a tax and law firm that specialises in advising private equity firms and advising on M&A Transactions. The tax function of the firm is led by partners Raffaele Gargiulo, Marcello Distasso and Andrew de Vries. They are supported by a small team of associates. 

Van Campen Liem recently advised Lexington Partners on the establishment of its most recent fund located in Luxembourg. The fund structure included a feeder fund, for limited partner investment, and the establishment of a master fund for the organisation of the investments. The team also advised Peninsula Capital on the exit from its €1.98 billion investment in the Italian high-speed train operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori.