The area of tax law is one of the major strengths of the Venezuela offices of Baker & McKenzie. Our Tax Practice Group has been selected by the International Tax Review as the number one tax practice in Venezuela among all law firms in the country. We offer counsel on all matters relating to tax, including income, value added, sales, estate and municipal taxes, transfer pricing, customs, and double taxation treaties.
One of our most important services is creating effective tax structures for business and projects. We work effectively with the tax, law and finance departments of clients and their external auditors. In conjunction with other departments of the Firm, our Tax Practice Group advises clients of the tax consequences of any proposed actions, including mergers, acquisitions and restructurings. In addition to tax structuring of business, we provide significant support to the Major Projects Group. We issue opinions on the application and interpretation of tax legislation and international tax treaties. We have been most successful in planning major projects in Venezuela and major mergers and acquisitions and restructurings in the country. We have handled restructuring projects for many domestic and foreign conglomerates.
Our group has successfully handled landmark cases dealing with the municipalities’ lack of power to impose taxes on activities reserved to the Federal Government, such as telecommunication activities, professional activities and activities carried out on waters.
We issue opinions on the application and interpretation of tax law and international tax treaties. We prepare formal ruling requests to Venezuela's Tax Administration and then counsel you concerning any tax risks. Further legal tax auditing then determines how well your company is complying with its tax obligations. We handle administrative appeals, from presenting the initial appeal to obtaining a final resolution. We also handle tax appeals, up to and including appeals to the Supreme Court.
Our Tax Practice Group also advises clients in transfer pricing issues. We design, implement, document and defend transfer pricing solutions that optimize your tax structure. Our ability to combine tax and economic analyses with legal implementation enables us to offer you the complete spectrum of transfer pricing services.
As the leading tax practice in Venezuela, we have acted as tax counsel for most of the major international corporations. Also, we have assisted government agencies in the drafting of tax laws, regulations and international treaties.