Eversheds has hired partner Karolina Stawowska to head up the newly established tax law practice in Warsaw. Karolina comes from PricewaterhouseCoopers tax department where she worked with the consumer brands team and the mergers and acquisitions team.
With the M&A team Karolina was responsible for tax advice on transactions conducted by private equity and venture capital funds, restructuring of capital groups, development of tax-effective structures for acquisition and financing of investments, and for tax-optimal exit strategies for sale of enterprises and shares by institutional and individual investors.
Currently, Karolina serves as the vice-chair of the National Audit Board of the Polish National Chamber of Tax Advisers.
David Jervis, Eversheds global head of tax commented:
“Karolina is well known in the Polish marketplace and having worked with Eversheds a number of times before, we knew she would be a great asset to the team. Karolina has been tasked with growing our Polish tax practice over the coming months to build on our European tax capabilities in line with our client service excellence strategy.”
BDO Hong Kong has appointed William Chan as a partner in its PRC tax division.
William brings with him 20 years of experience in tax services. He previously worked with big four firms in the UK, Hong Kong and China.
William’s expertises are tax due diligence and transaction-related tax advisory work. He also specialises in cross-border tax advisory work. While working in Shanghai, he had advised many domestic companies in their offshore acquisitions and was involved in the largest state-owned enterprise restructure.
William is a chartered accountant from the ICAEW.
Patton Boggs LLP has tapped veteran tax attorney Richard E. Andersen to serve as managing partner of its New York office, citing his extensive experience in the nation’s leading business and financial market to spur further growth.
“I am honored to have this opportunity and look forward to building on the work that has already been accomplished to position the firm’s New York office as the adviser of choice for businesses and investors from across the country and around the world,” said Mr. Andersen, who assumes his new role immediately.
“Patton Boggs enjoys a unique reputation among U.S. law firms, providing innovative solutions to the issues facing leading national and international enterprises at the intersection of law, business, regulation and public policy,” Mr. Andersen said.
The attorneys in the New York office bring experience and fine-tuned skill sets to bear on transactions and controversies connected to the nation’s financial hub, Mr. Andersen said. The office provides a gateway to the firm’s resources for international companies seeking to open or expand a presence in the United States.
In his new role, Mr. Andersen will work closely with James E. Tyrrell, Jr., who serves as the regional managing partner for the New York and New Jersey offices.
“Richard brings sharp business acumen to the table,” Mr. Tyrrell said. “We expect the office to grow in new directions under his leadership with more clients seeking law firms that possess a strong grasp of pending federal regulations and the intersection of Wall Street and K Street.”
Stuart M. Pape, the managing partner of the firm’s nine offices, noted that Mr. Andersen’s deep well of experience and knowledge about tax, finance and international law make him an invaluable asset to clients.
“Richard will play a vital role on our leadership team as our New York office continues to grow in both size and prominence,” Mr. Pape said.
The New York office is active in domestic and international corporate reorganizations; acquisitions and divestitures; joint ventures and technology transfers; commercial, asset-based and structured finance; securities offerings and other corporate finance transactions; project financings and privatizations; and private equity and investment funds. Its experienced litigation team provides advice and representation in civil, commercial and criminal law matters, including securities disputes, mass tort actions, commercial arbitration and internal and governmental investigations.
Mr. Andersen has nearly three decades of experience in both domestic and international tax matters. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Columbia University and his law degree from Columbia Law School. Mr. Andersen received his L.L.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law, where he has taught international tax law in the Graduate Tax Program.
Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of Beneficial Bank has announced that Thomas D. Cestare has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of both the Company and the Bank.
“We are pleased to welcome Tom to Beneficial. He brings a strong range of financial experience as well as a solid reputation,” said Gerard P. Cuddy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc. “We are confident his skill set and expertise will contribute to Beneficial’s continued stability and growth.”
Mr. Cestare previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of Sovereign Bank, headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania with approximately $83 billion in assets. During his tenure with Sovereign, Cestare successfully led financial integrations for two major acquisitions; improved operating inefficiencies and helped to restructure Sovereign’s balance sheet. Prior to joining Sovereign in 2005, Cestare was a Partner with the public accounting firm of KPMG LLP. He began his career in 1990 with Arthur Andersen LLP where he served as Staff Auditor, Audit Manager and Senior Manager.
“I am excited to be joining Beneficial,” said Mr. Cestare. “I look forward to furthering Beneficial’s 157-year mission of educating customers to do the right thing financially.”
Mr. Cestare is a Certified Public Accountant and received his BS in Accounting from the University of Delaware.
Charles River Associates, a worldwide leader in providing management, economic, and financial consulting services, has announced that it has strengthened its Transfer Pricing practice globally with the addition of eight new senior-level consultants during the past nine months.
These new hires include: Vice Presidents Richard V.L. Cooper and Debashis Ghosh in Chicago; Vice President Kathrine Kimball and Principal Aaron Bone in California; Vice President Brad Rolph in Toronto; Principal Nicole Bordeleau in Boston; Principal Alberto Pluviano in Paris; and Principal Paul Wilmshurst in London. In addition, Guy A. Kersch and Gregor Bruggelambert have become senior consultants to the Transfer Pricing practice in London and Frankfurt respectively.
“The global economy requires that international businesses address a range of transfer pricing concerns, and Charles River Associates offers comprehensive transfer pricing services to assist companies around the world,” said CRA’s President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Maleh. “The consultants we have hired in our Transfer Pricing practice bring exceptional expertise in their field and deep knowledge about the unique transfer pricing issues facing many industries. It is our pleasure to welcome them to CRA.” “We view transfer pricing as an excellent long-term growth opportunity for CRA,” Maleh said. “These new consultants greatly expand our practice’s global capabilities in both North America and Europe.”
The senior-level consultants who have joined the Transfer Pricing practice since September 2009 include:
Vice President Richard V.L. Cooper has more than 30 years of transfer pricing experience. Dr. Cooper has testified as an expert witness before such bodies as the US Tax Court, the US International Trade Commission, and the US Congress. He was named “one of the world’s leading transfer pricing advisors” by The International Tax Review/Legal Media Group. Dr. Cooper has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in such areas as international business, international tax, econometrics, and price theory at Georgetown University, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the Rand Graduate Institute, among others. He lectures regularly on such topics as international business strategy, transfer pricing, international finance, countertrade, doing business in China, and export trading companies. Prior to joining CRA, he was a managing director with Houlihan Lokey. He holds BA and MA degrees in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a PhD degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Vice President Debashis Ghosh has 14 years of experience providing business advisory services in transfer pricing and business analytics, using analytical approaches to leverage internal and external data, and developing customized tools to assist in strategic decision making. Dr. Ghosh has started and led economic consulting and business analytics practices, and he has participated in projects involving transfer pricing, business process improvement, strategic costing, business process outsourcing, and litigation support/expert testimony. Prior to joining CRA, Dr. Ghosh was a director with Houlihan Lokey. He holds a BA degree in Economics from Presidency College in Calcutta, India, and MA and PhD degrees in Economics from Rice University.
Vice President Kathrine Kimball has 16 years of experience in international and domestic transfer pricing, including documentation, planning, and controversy defense as well as supply-chain-based tax planning. She has served multinational clients in a range of industries and managed a multitude of global, pan-European, pan-Asian, and North American international supply chain projects. Prior to joining CRA, Ms. Kimball was a partner with Ernst & Young, where she was responsible for building the Global Transfer Pricing and Tax Effective Supply Chain Management (TESCM) Practice in San Francisco, which earned the 2008 International Tax Review Best Transfer Pricing Practice in North America during her tenure. She was also the founding practice leader of the Global Transfer Pricing and TESCM Group as well as the US Transfer Pricing Desk in Belgium. Ms. Kimball holds a BBA degree from Loyola Marymount University, and a MBA degree from the College of William and Mary.
Vice President Brad Rolph has over 20 years of experience as an economist, including 15 years as a transfer pricing specialist. Mr. Rolph is one of Canada’s leading transfer pricing advisors; he has helped numerous multinational companies prepare for and defend a variety of intercompany transactions across diverse industries. In addition to preparing transfer pricing studies for documentation and audit purposes, Mr. Rolph has led planning, implementation, taxpayer-initiated adjustments, voluntary disclosure, litigation, competent authority, and advance pricing arrangement (APA) assignments. Prior to joining CRA, Mr. Rolph was a partner and the chief economist of the National Transfer Pricing Group at Deloitte & Touche in Canada. Before that, he was an economist with the tax policy and fiscal policy branches of the Ontario Ministry of Finance. He holds a BA degree in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a MA degree in Economics from Queen’s University. Mr. Rolph has also completed the course work and theory comprehensive exams in Economics at the PhD level.
Principal Aaron Bone has 10 years of experience participating in global transfer pricing remediation for Fortune 500 companies and coordinating global transfer pricing engagements including documentation, planning, headquarters cost allocation, IP migration, FIN 48 analyses, and provision review. Prior to joining CRA, Mr. Bone was with Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he assisted with various international tax planning projects as well as transfer pricing and international tax services. Mr. Bone is also a licensed attorney with the State Bar of California. He holds a BA degree in English and Political Science from Drew University, and a JD degree from the University of California Davis School of Law.
Principal Nicole Bordeleau has 10 years of experience as a transfer pricing expert specializing in strategizing, managing, and implementing corporate transfer pricing policies that help clients mitigate risk, optimize efficiency, and support business operations. She has provided transfer pricing consulting services for national and multinational companies in an array of industries, including industrial equipment, consumer products, medical equipment, pharmaceutical, financial services, computer software, management services, and retail grocery. Prior to joining CRA, Ms. Bordeleau was the director of transfer pricing at Covidien, a multi-national healthcare products company, and before that, she was with KPMG’s economic consulting services group. She holds a BA degree in Economics from Dalhousie University, and a MBA degree from Loyola University.
Principal Alberto Pluviano has over 18 years of transfer pricing experience with extensive international experience in the development and implementation of transfer pricing policies. Mr. Pluviano has dealt with challenging transfer pricing issues in many countries, including developing new methodologies, supporting business restructurings, and managing large transfer pricing audits to successful conclusions. He has led centralized transfer pricing teams, directed country teams, and liaised regularly with tax authorities in many countries. Prior to joining CRA, Mr. Pluviano was head of transfer pricing in Europe for IBM. He holds a degree in Business Administration, specialization in Finance from Universita’ Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
Principal Paul Wilmshurst has over 10 years’ experience helping multinational groups in a variety of industries with many different transfer pricing issues. His experience ranges from designing practical documentation solutions to efficiently mitigate risk, to helping companies defend contentious transfer pricing arrangements. Mr. Wilmshurst’s tax efficient supply chain work has included identifying and valuing different types of intangibles, assessing and modeling economic risks, and designing commercial transfer pricing policies. Prior to joining CRA, Mr. Wilmshurst was a senior transfer pricing economist at KMPG and Deloitte. He holds a BSc degree in Economics from Manchester University, and a MSc degree in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from London School of Economics.
Senior Consultant Gregor Bruggelambert is professor of economics and international business relations at the Dortmund University of Applied Science and Arts. Dr. Bruggelambert is a transfer pricing expert and economist with more than a decade of experience. He has authored many articles on topics in the field of transfer pricing and is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars. Dr. Bruggelambert is highly experienced in all aspects of transfer pricing, from cost allocation over the design of controlling based transfer pricing systems to the remuneration of intangibles. His work has been prepared in the context of documentation studies, planning assignments, and in the audit defense of transfer pricing systems. In addition, he has extensive experience dealing with the German tax authorities, including in relation to APA negotiations. Previously, Dr. Bruggelambert held positions at Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, including as head of global transfer pricing and head of supply controlling. At KPMG, Dr. Bruggelambert co-led the creation of the transfer pricing team in Dusseldorf. He holds a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Essen.
Senior Consultant Guy A. Kersch is a tax and transfer pricing professional with more than 25 years of experience. As a current member and former vice-chair (business) of the European Joint Transfer Pricing Forum, he is actively involved in developing pragmatic, non-legislative solutions to transfer pricing issues within the EU. Mr. Kersch has applied his transfer pricing expertise in many areas such as mergers and acquisitions, tax optimization planning, and tax audit in various industries, including chemicals, agricultural products, construction, engineering, and pharmaceuticals. He is a member of the Tax Policy Group of BusinessEurope, the Tax Committee of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Working Group Ecofin and the Tax Committee of the Business Federation Luxembourg, and the International Bar Association. He is also a founding member and former president of the European Chapter of the Tax Executive Institute. Mr. Kersch is a former senior transfer pricing counsel at Grant Thornton. He is fluent in English, German, French, and Luxembourgeois.
About Charles River Associates (CRA)
Charles River Associates(R) is a global consulting firm specializing in litigation, regulatory, and financial consulting, and management consulting. CRA advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings, and guides corporations through critical business strategy and performance-related issues.
- Expect an announcement on increase in CGT;
- Possibility of £1,000 personal allowance increase;
- Announcement of VAT rise in the coming months;
- Corporation tax reforms discussion document will be issued.
Bill Dodwell, head of tax policy at Deloitte, considers what tax measures the Chancellor is expected to focus upon in the Emergency Budget:
Capital Gains tax
Most of the focus has been on the increase in capital gains taxation, with ‘generous exemptions for entrepreneurial activities’. We hope that shares owned by employees and unquoted shares in trading companies will benefit from lower rates. Both make vital contributions to entrepreneurial activities. We also hope to see relief for the effects of inflation – either through indexation (increasing the original base cost to allow for inflation), or through taper relief (reducing the gain, depending on the ownership period). Interestingly, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts lower CGT yields than previously calculated by the Treasury, due to lower prices for shares and property. This forecast definitely shows it will be hard to achieve the original hope of an extra £1bn-1.5bn annually from CGT.
Personal Allowances and National Insurance Contributions
The two big give-aways are the increase in personal allowances and the increase in NIC thresholds. Personal allowances are normally increased by the rate of RPI, in September. If we assume that inflation is about 3%, this would suggest an increase of around £200 (worth £40 for a basic rate payer) and it’s no doubt possible that the Chancellor may wish to announce a round £1,000 increase. Normally, increases in personal allowances benefit taxpayers at their marginal rate – so £200 for a basic rate taxpayer and £400 for a higher rate taxpayer. However, there have been signals that the benefit might be the same – £200 – for both higher rate and basic rate taxpayers. This adds to complexity in the tax system – but is cheaper to implement.
It is possible that the Chancellor will announce the married couples’ allowance put forward by the Conservatives. Under the Coalition agreement, the Liberal Democrats have agreed to abstain, rather than vote against the proposal. The allowance is intended to permit a spouse/civil partner with income below the personal allowance to transfer up to £750 of the unused allowance, provided that the recipient is a basic rate taxpayer. Consequently, the maximum benefit will be £150. Increasing the personal allowance will mean more married couples/civil partners will benefit. It’s thought that about one third of married couples will benefit from the allowance.
It’s likely we know what will happen to NIC. The rates for employers, employees and the self-employed will go up by 1% and the thresholds will be increased by £570 over the personal allowance for employees (the Labour Government plan) and £1,092 for employers (the Conservative plan). This should mean that employers would actually see an NIC reduction for employees earning up to £21,000 and employees earning up to £20,000 would benefit as well. Those earning above these thresholds would pay more.
VAT
The fourth major area of focus is VAT. Many expect that further tax increases will be needed. Consequently, it’s thought that there will be an increase in VAT – partly, no doubt, as the previous Government increased income tax and national insurance. Increasing the standard rate of VAT to 20% would cost someone on average earnings about £150pa.
We do not favour widening the VAT base, through adding VAT at 17.5%, in place of zero-rating. The key categories are food (£11bn); new housing (£4bn); public transport (£2.5bn) and water/sewerage (£1.3bn). Additionally, increasing the 5% charge on domestic fuel to 17.5% would raise £3.6bn. The difficulty with imposing VAT on these items is that the burden would fall disproportionately on the least well-off. Although benefits and tax credits could be increased to compensate the average household, the fiasco over the abolition of the 10% income tax band demonstrated that at least 1 million people (mainly those without children) do not receive benefits or credits.
Taking together the effect of a personal allowance increase of £1,000, the NIC changes and a VAT rise to 20%, those on median earnings (about £23,000) or below would be no worse off and those on more modest incomes could be £200pa better off. The top half of the earnings spectrum would see tax rises.
Pensions
The previous Government decided to cap tax relief on pension funding in respect of higher earners (principally those with income over £130,000). Regrettably the method chosen is complex and arbitrary. It has attracted widespread criticism from employers, pension providers and advisers. Most have suggested that a much better approach to reduce the cost of tax relief on pensions would be simply to set a much lower cap on annual pension contributions – say, £50,000. This would be much easier to understand; would not give anyone marginal tax rates of 100% and would not give pension trustees and employers significant implementation costs. We know that the new Government has been asked to reconsider the approach and it is to be hoped that a plan of this sort will be adopted.
Corporation tax reforms
Businesses will be keen to hear more about George Osborne’s five year plan to reform corporation tax. The Chancellor signalled at his recent speech to the CBI that his ambition is for the UK to have the most competitive corporate tax regime in the G20. This will clearly include rate reductions, a lighter CFC regime (the rules which charge UK tax on low-taxed overseas profits of UK groups) and incentives for managing intellectual property (patents, trademarks, brands and other intangible assets)in the UK.
At the same time, the Chancellor may consider implementing the proposals from the Dyson review, which include redirecting R&D tax credits towards Hi-tech companies, small firms and start-ups, as well as supporting manufacturing. Equally, it’s thought that part of the cost of these benefits will be paid through reducing some allowances. It’s clear that the Government will be issuing a discussion document for business to debate.
At the same time, we hope to hear more about the plans for a Patent Box regime (a special tax rate of 10% for royalties from patents) and also how the Government proposes to take forward the current plans to reform CFCs and the taxation of foreign branches. This latter area is critical for the insurance industry, which is facing changes to its capital requirements, in the Solvency II regime. Solvency II is pushing insurers to conduct their business through branches, rather than subsidiaries. Without an exemption for the income from foreign branches, insurers may well move activities to other EU states, which do offer an exemption or low taxation.
The Coalition agreement set out several other areas for consideration, including: anti-avoidance; the taxation of non-domiciled individuals; and the approach to taxing contractors and small business. Whether we see Discussion documents in these areas is doubtful, given the short time that the Treasury has had to consider such a wide range of complicated tax issues.
Baker & McKenzie has added Jonathan A. Stevens to its tax practice as partner in the Firm’s New York and Washington DC offices. Mr. Stevens was a partner in the tax group of Jones Day.
Mr. Stevens’ practice involves all areas of federal taxation, focusing on the US and international tax aspects of acquisitions and dispositions, post-transaction integration of acquired businesses and intellectual property licensing and planning. In addition, he has advised foreign entities on the tax efficient structuring of their investments in the US, including issues such as withholding tax, FIRPTA, treaty analysis, and compliance with US reporting requirements.
Mr. Stevens also has extensive experience in advising on multi-jurisdictional affiliated group restructurings, foreign earnings repatriation, subpart F and PFIC planning, foreign tax credit utilization, supply chain restructuring, cross-border tax arbitrage and other global tax minimization strategies.
“Jonathan has a strong skill set to further our core competency in tax and to expand our capabilities in areas of significant interest to our multinational clients, especially in international tax planning and tax planning for mergers and acquisitions,” said Len Terr, Chair of the Firm’s North American Tax Practice.
Commenting on his move, Stevens said, “Baker & McKenzie’s global tax practice will provide an excellent platform from which to discharge my work with multinational clients.”
Prior to joining Jones Day, Mr. Stevens was Senior Manager in the International Corporate Services Group with KPMG LLP in New York. He received a J.D. from Temple University in May 1997 and a B.S. in Business Administration (magna cum laude) and B.A. in History (cum laude) in May 1994 from the University of Richmond.
“We welcome Jonathan to the Firm,” said New York Managing Partner James C. Colihan. “His strong technical background and extensive experience advising on and executing international and transactional tax-related projects for major multinational companies fit well within the Firm’s core strategy.”
Recently, Baker & McKenzie’s New York office has added a three-person outsourcing team of lawyers led by Edward J. Hansen and including D. David Jackson and Jessica Lipson. Mr. Hansen has nearly two decades of experience representing clients in complex information technology and business process outsourcing transactions. The Firm also expanded its arbitration and commercial litigation capabilities with the joining of Junghye June Yeum as a partner.
Gary Todd has joined EY Jersey from KPMG.
Mr Todd, a specialist in Jersey financial services tax, will work alongside Neil Oliver providing clients with a wide-ranging service offering across the local, UK and international tax arenas.
Gary joins a growing Ernst & Young team and brings with him extensive knowledge of local tax, gained from 25 years’ experience at the States of Jersey Taxes Office. During this time he was involved in policy development and revising Jersey’s tax law.
Five years ago Gary made the transition from the public sector to KPMG.
“This is a time of great change for the Island as Jersey’s corporate tax system comes under review,” said Gary.
“As we await the launch announcement for the zero-ten policy consultation document this is a welcome opportunity to examine where Jersey is and ensure that we have the right tax system for Jersey.”
A Jerseyman, upon finishing his schooling in the island, Gary joined the Jersey Tax Office in 1979. Having qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) in 1998, he successfully worked his way up to the position of Fiscal Policy Director.
This role came at a time of much development for the island and its taxation policies including the Income Tax Instalment System (ITIS), the taxation of benefits in kind, penalties for late filing of tax returns and restriction of interest paid. He was also involved in the initial stages of planning zero-ten as the States began to formulate its policies, so is particularly well placed to understand the implications of any changes.
Channel Islands’ managing partner, Andrew Dann said: “Gary’s appointment is a reflection of our dedication to providing the highest levels of service in response to the growing demand for expert advice.
“This is a time when the Channel Islands are seeing historic changes to their corporate tax regimes as well as enormous changes to the tax legislation within the UK. Gary will provide clients with the insight, advice and guidance they require not only at a corporate level but also with regards to personal tax implications, drawing on his extensive experience and expertise of Jersey tax.”
