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CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre
Det er ingen hemmelighed, at vi har engageret os med Frankrigs førende ekspertise inden for skatterådgivning. For at give vore
medlemmer et mere detaljeret billede af vores samarbejdspartner, har vi interviewet vores derværende kontaktperson, advokat Dimitar
Hadjiveltchev, om virksomheden.
1. What is the position of CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre in the market regarding counseling in tax matters in general, and in particular for “expatriates”?
Name CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre Feedback on
last year’s directory
In Legal 500 EMEA 2010, Tax section, we were ranked tier 1 (sole law firm in the first band):
CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre has the ‘largest range of tax
specialists in France’, and advises a large proportion of CAC 40 companies. With a total of 62 partners, the firm provides a comprehensive and unmatched array of expertise.
Our leading position recognized by the market
The strategy adopted by our firm in recent years has enabled us to entrench our position as a leading tax law firm. It involves constant consideration to the market evolution and the client needs, specific attention to the scope and the content of the matters handled and regular reinforcement of our expertise. It allows us to make reliable recommendations based notably on our tax law doctrine department in the forefront of innovation. And its success can be measured by the quality of the projects we are involved in and by the market recognition we enjoy through our capacity to:
2 Manage major taxation of corporate groups (international taxation)
Build the taxation projects of national and international mergers
& acquisitions and restructuring
Consult a great deal on issues of wealth taxation Assisting impatriates and expatriates
Benefit from high value expertise in real estate taxation
An outstanding scope of expertise in tax
In fact, CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre is the only firm in France capable of dealing with all issues of tax law. The firm covers both contentious and non-contentious matters within all areas of tax law, and easily brings together different experts to manage projects as a whole: general taxation of private and state-owned enterprises including handling tax disputes; private clients/estate; taxation of national and international mergers & acquisitions and restructuring; taxation in the financial sector; property taxation; transfer pricing; VAT; Local taxes. And as tax law is a lively matter, our lawyers remain at the forefront of new legislation, assisting clients on green taxation; electronic invoicing; tax inspections of electronic accounting records and electronic archiving, among others.
A strong and recognized Doctrine department
CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre has historically a Tax Doctrine department, extremely effective in monitoring, analysing and summarizing the most complex business law issues. *) It is headed by Jean-Yves Mercier and Stéphane Austry (former Member of French Council of State). They are
backed up by Elisabeth Ashworth (former Divisional Director of the Subdirectorate of Tax Control) on all matters related to VAT
3 An important high-skilled team
172 lawyers (including 61 partners)help our clients in
all matters related to tax. The size of the team, its business scope and the matters we manage allows CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre benefit from the recognition of a growing number of clients: “They have a recognized name, a signature (…); a reputation precedes them”. The links our tax lawyers have built with official institutions also
represents a major asset for our clients: they are the guarantee to have an effective listening from the
administrative authority, the regulators (AMF….) and the public authorities.
Indeed we are satisfied with our ranking. However — and because of our leading position in several tax law matters and the outstanding size of our tax team— we
would appreciateto have more visibility on partners who
handled significant works in their specific expertise: tax litigation, VAT, private client /wealth taxation, local tax, transfer pricing, transactional taxation, real estate taxation, environmental tax etc.
Our tax expertise that would deserve to be mentioned in your coming edition VAT
As a matter of fact, CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre is one of the key players in the VAT field. Our lawyers are regularly called on by various bodies in this profession to participate in the implementation of new tax regulations. For example, having observed the slow development in the electronic billing area (particularly among small and medium
businesses) the European Commission has since January 1, 2008 assembled a group of experts, of which Anne Grousset, to recommend simplified electronic billing rules.
*) Denne afdeling er sammenlignelig med Karnow’s Lovsamling I DK
4 Local taxes
Very few Law firms provide such a full expertise in Local taxes for a so large range of client: our experts advise not only numerous industrial or service-providing businesses but also public or quasi-public organizations. Thus it involves itself in objection to the land valuation of premises; in calculation of the business tax base, in disputes about the calculation of taxable bases following restructuring
operations; and in assessment of added value applied for business tax purposes. The scope of our expertise has
strong implication on our business strategy (and vice-versa): Ability to give day-to-day advice on all Local taxes matters – as every year our team manages over 600 files and assist increasingly numerous tax audits in this field.
Negotiate at the highest level with taxation authorities – our Local taxes team, of which Laurent Chatel is often called upon to negotiate special solutions with taxation authorities, such as DVNI, DGE, DLF, and Minister’s office.
Represent heavy dispute matters in courts – on matters such as determination of business tax payable in the event of secondment; re-categorization of premises as industrial buildings in which only the provision of services is carried out; fixing of the cost base used in the calculation of the rental value of fixtures acquired at the end of restructuring operations (article 1518 B and 1469 3 quarter of the CGI1); calculation of added value (exclusion of taxes such as
TGAP2, capital gains on assignment of assets; territoriality of capital gain; etc…
Given this specific focus, our local taxes services are worth your attention
1General Taxation Code.
5 Real Estate taxation
The scopes of our expertise, the strength of our Doctrine team and our market recognition have always been a major asset for our real estate clients. Our specialized team works with the biggest French real estate companies as well as with major French and international institutional investors. Not only do we assist the groups acting in the Real Estate filed in their high-profile transactions, we also manage for them different Real Estate taxation matters where we have a rather unique expertise, such as REIT regime, OPCI's
(closed-ended fund), international tax, real estate VAT and Local taxes, tax litigation. This practice deserves to be mentioned in your directory
Private clients / wealth taxation
Due to the size of our portfolio, our tax lawyers are often asked to help their clients from a private
perspective. They therefore have developed for several years a private client portfolio they closely advise, and as an extension of this “handmade” capacity, have developed strong relationship with major banks by assisting their asset management department. As a result of the present tax situation and the measures adopted by the government following recent G20 summits, our firm has been consulted a great deal on issues of how wealth should be held, especially in the context of assisting taxpayers with the procedure for disclosing assets held in tax havens and abroad.
Due to the confidentially obligations relating to this practice area, we are not allowed to provide any matter.
Transfer pricing
Part of the firm’s strategy is to consolidate and improve its French leader position within transfer pricing matters. That strategy is grounded on our ability to provide advice at the highest level on transfer pricing, Moreover, it should be noted that our firm is endowed with economic
expertise, which is exceptional for law firms in France
(not to say unique). Given this specific development, our transfer pricing practice should worth your attention and be mentioned in your directory.
6 Taxation of national and international mergers &
acquisitions and restructuring
The importance of our portfolio allows us assist our clients on different phases of their business decisions. For example, during their M&A and restructuring conception and
implementation phases. Our tax experts’ intervention then covers 2 parts by
(1) assisting M&A corporate team on tax issues related to transactional deals and by
(2) handling entirely the tax structure of transactional operations.
Environmental taxation
As to environmental taxation, the firm’s “Customs –
Business Regulation” department is very active. It provides advice and litigation services in a number of areas. These include general taxation of polluting activities —liabilities to French environmental partnership Eco-Folio in respect of TGAP (general tax on polluting activities) on printed matters or on waste, emissions, detergents, lubricants, etc. They also include energy taxation (i.e. tax on gas consumption, on the consumption of oil and its derivatives), tax relating to electrical or electronic equipment and obligations to collect consumer packaging. This specific practice deserves to be mentioned in your directory.Michel Collet (Partner,
international taxation) chairs the working group ‘Finance Carbon” of Paris EUROPLACE.
2. The Bureau’s experience regarding the level of knowledge of the local French taxation authorities in the area of Danish pensions? How knowledgeable are they in your view?
CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre and I personally have assisted numerous Danes in their tax disputes with local tax officers. Such experience provides a good knowledge of what the French tax administration is mainly focusing on.
Despite the fact that tax inspectors may evolve from one tax office to another, a local practice may be identified, and namely a high sensitivity on foreign-source pensions and on real estate valuation (for wealth tax purposes).
3. Do retired persons from other countries have similar problems?
Persons receiving pension and/or private investment income from other countries may face the same problem as Danes. Pension payments from Belgium, Switzerland or Luxembourg may be scrutinized. Problems of a similar nature may also occur with payments coming from Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions.
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The specific case of Danes relates to the absence of a tax treaty protection (apart of the protection defined by the latest administrative guideline we have analyzed already).
4. What is your assessment of the future development concerning the kind of French taxation which is particularly relevant for us Danes (without prejudging in any way the study that we have in the pipeline.)
The general trend is orientated towards taxation and reduction of all possible tax loopholes. The consequence would result in an increased attention of the tax administration.
5. Since you are “our man” in Bureau Francis Lefebvre it would be useful to conclude with some more personal background
information.
You will find hereafter a brief CV in English and a photo.
Dimitar Hadjiveltchev
Senior associate, International taxation T: +33 1 47 38 43 45
F : +33 1 47 45 80 46
Dimitar Hadjiveltchev joined CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre in 2001. He
works in the international tax department. Education
• Université Robert Schuman de Strasbourg : certificat d'études spéciales en droit fiscal (1999)
• Maîtrise en droit des affaires (1999)
• DESS de juriste d’affaires (2000) et diplôme de juriste conseil des entreprises (DJCE, 2000)
Membership
• Member of the IBA (International Bar Association) • Member of the ACE
• Member of the Club Patrimoine Books & Papers
• Collaboration on « Steuern in Frankreich » (2006)
• Collaboration the French Fiduciary part of the book « Handbuch des
8 • Various papers in Option Finances (2006-2010)
• UK Non-Dom Rules or the New French "Impatriate" Regime? (Legal Week, 2009)
Languages spoken:
French, Bulgarian, English, German, Greek and Russian.
