Alain Huyghe
Biography
Alain Huyghe is a partner in the Tax Practice Group of the Brussels office. He joined Baker McKenzie in 1986 and became partner in 1994. Alain has been mentioned consistently over the past 25 years as a leading tax lawyer in Belgium in publications such as the International Tax Review, Chambers and The European Legal 500.
Practice Focus
Alain advises clients on a broad range of domestic corporate tax and international tax issues. He also has extensive experience in tax controversy work (including transfer pricing audits and disputes, mutual agreement procedures, and the representation of clients before the European Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court) and has successfully handled a number of major cases. He also focuses on advisory and tax controversy work for insurance companies on specific tax matters inherent to the insurance sector.
Representative Legal Matters
- Advised two US multinationals in the medical sector on their worldwide spin-off of a division and obtaining the relevant tax rulings.
- Obtained a Belgian/Swiss bilateral advanced pricing agreement on the determination of the arm's length tolling and commission fee of the Belgian subsidiary of a US multinational active in consumer products.
- Successfully defended Cobelfret before the CJEU in a landmark case on the incompatibility of the Belgian rules relating to the dividend received deduction with EU law.
- Successfully defended a Swiss multinational before the Supreme Court in litigation on the usufruct of shares for a value of about EUR 100 million at stake.
- Successfully defended Nyrstar before the tax court and the constitutional court on the incompatibility of the foreign tax credit rules with the Belgian Constitution.
- Successfully defended a US multinational against a withholding tax claim of more than EUR 120 million based on alleged abuse of Belgian withholding tax exemptions and on the CJEU case law in the "Danish" cases.
- Representing Assuralia and four major Belgian insurance companies before the constitutional court in relation to a request for preliminary ruling on the constitutionality of the so-called 80%-rule for pension premiums.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- International Fiscal Association (IFA), Belgian branch - Past president and member of the board
- American Chamber of Commerce - Member
- Belgian Association for Tax Lawyers - Member
- Fiscoloog/Fiscologue - Editor
- Tijdschrift voor Fiscaal Recht (TFR) - Member (editing committee)
- Tijdschrift voor Beleggingsfiscaliteit (TBF)/Revue Fiscalité des Placements (RFP) - Member (editing committee)
- Tijdschrift voor Estate Planning (TEP) - Member (editing committee)
Admissions
- Brussels~Belgium (1986)
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center (International Tax Law) (1991)
- Fiscale Hogeschool of Brussels (Post Graduate Degree Taxation, magna cum laude) (1986)
- Catholic University of Leuven (Law Degree, magna cum laude) (1985)
- Catholic University of Leuven (Bachelor's Degree Philosophy) (1984)
Languages
- Dutch
- English
- French
Previous Offices
- Washington, DC