Al Tamimi & Company is one of the first law firms to establish an international tax practice that focuses on the Middle East region.

Our Tax Practice provides and manages cross border tax advice to multinational corporations, financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, private equity groups, investment funds, real estate investment houses, family offices, joint ventures and other regional organisations.

Typically our clients are either foreign multinationals seeking to invest or operate in the region, or organisations headquartered in the region that are making outbound investments or conducting business activities globally.

Our clients operate in a wide range of industries including financial services, real estate, investment management, oil & gas, construction, infrastructure, telecommunications, media & entertainment, aerospace and defence, technology, healthcare, consumer goods and energy & utilities.

Our Expertise

Our Tax offering includes the following services:

Inbound Tax Advisory

• Structuring of inbound investments and the tax efficient establishment of operations in the Middle East region.
• Local tax implications of investing and conducting business activities in the region.

International Tax Structuring and Planning

• Advising on tax optimal corporate group structure, holding structures, financing, intellectual property planning, leasing and other tax planning techniques.
• Advising on tax aspects of structured finance transactions including Islamic Finance.
• Tax implications of expansion into new territories.
• Tax optimisation strategies for your business model.
• Tax efficient profit repatriation from overseas territories to parent company jurisdiction and withholding tax mitigation.
• Double tax treaty issues.
• Managing foreign permanent establishment risks.
• Global tax developments including the impact of the OECD base erosion and profit shifting initiative on your operations.

Mergers & Acquisitions Tax

• Purchaser and vendor tax due diligence to identify any potential tax issues/risks and hidden tax liabilities.
• Tax efficient transaction structuring of mergers, acquisitions, disposals, reorganisations, joint ventures both inbound into the region and internationally and advising on the related tax risks and consequences.
• Exit tax planning.
• Tax input into the sale and purchase agreements and negotiating tax clauses on your behalf with other party’s advisors.

Value Added Tax

• Advising on the introduction and application of the new VAT law across the GCC and in Egypt as well as sales tax in the region.
• Advising you on your VAT compliance obligations and strategies to reduce the VAT cost.

Tax Disputes and Litigation

• Representing your organisation before, and negotiating on your behalf with, tax authorities in complex tax disputes.
• Tax litigation support.

Tax Risk Management

• Reviewing business contracts (including intercompany agreements) to minimise tax risk from transfer pricing, VAT and withholding tax perspective.
• Performing a tax health check to assess tax profile, compliance status and potential tax risks arising from your business operations.
• Developing a tax risk management framework and strategy in line with the corporate and business strategy.