Tax

With several of our experts having a double professional qualification (attorney at law and tax advisor) and long-time working experience in international leading tax advisory firms, our focus in the tax advisory practice is the development of tax-optimized strategies and solutions.

The Tax team keeps sight of international and national tax risk management in particular. Furthermore, we record our clients’ income in cross-border tax cases, provide our specialist knowledge in tax audits, and provide opinions on capital investments from a tax perspective.

We further provide tax-law opinions before, or assist our clients during, international cross-border activities. We obtain binding rulings and negotiate with the tax authorities in order to avoid time-consuming disputes.
Our advice also includes management equity participation structures (MEP), allowing management teams to participate in the growth and value of a business alongside its shareholders. We structure these arrangements from the acquisition vehicle through to the individual management investment, with a focus on tax efficiency, flexibility and the practical requirements of the transaction.

Schindler Attorneys’ Tax Practice is closely involved in the planning and structuring of acquisitions and corporate reorganizations in domestic and cross-border transactions. We help clients determine the most tax efficient transaction structure. Many of our projects have a cross-border element, which requires close alignment with foreign tax regimes, which we cover through our international network. In the context of LBO transactions, we regularly advise clients in relation to the acquisition structure and the tax aspects of the funding structure.

Drawing on our extensive experience in transaction structuring, our tax advice includes roll-over arrangements and reinvestments, in particular under the Austrian tax reorganization regime. These provide greater flexibility in shaping the transaction and structuring participation at a higher level, giving clients greater optionality when considering different transaction structures.

As an integral part of our legal transaction advice, we also provide tax due diligence with a clear focus on identifying material tax exposures and assessing their relevance for the transaction. By combining tax analysis with the drafting and negotiation of transaction documents, identified risks can be directly reflected in SPAs, tax covenants and indemnities. Our clients therefore benefit from integrated legal and tax advice from one team.

We regularly assist our clients with tax litigation, in particular in a post transaction or post reorganization or restructuring context. Where tax disputes are imminent, we usually work closely together with the current tax advisors and accountants of our clients. In more complex matters, we are retained to review existing structures independently of tax audits.

Although we aim to prevent disputes in the advice we give our clients, conflicts cannot always be avoided. Our tax-law experts have broad experience of litigating before the Federal Fiscal Court, the Administrative Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. We represent our clients in litigation, arbitration, fiscal criminal law and mediation proceedings. Our experience with tax controversies encompasses both substantive issues and procedural matters.

We also support our clients in the preparation of voluntary self-disclosures in order to avoid fiscal criminal charges or penalty payments. If fiscal criminal law proceedings are already initiated, we represent our clients even before fiscal criminal authorities and in connection with investigations conducted by public prosecutors.

Tax implications related to DLT (commonly referred to as block chain technology) are manifold and are increasingly in the focus of regulatory and tax authorities. In addition to general aspects of income, taxation concerning mining, acquisition and sale of cryptocurrencies, or crypto assets (e.g., Bitcoin, Ether or Monero) DLT becomes increasingly relevant for fund raisings (e.g., via Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)). The structuring of ICOs triggers complex tax questions from an issuer as well as an investor perspective which Schindler Attorneys Tax Team is prepared to advise on.

The main objective in restructuring transactions is to minimize transfer taxes, stamp duty and corporate income tax on debt forgiven by creditors as part of the restructuring transactions. Some restructurings require that assets or debts are migrated, which is another area that raises complex tax questions which our experienced tax team is positioned to answer.

The main issues in relation to financing transactions are withholding tax on interest payments, taxation on deemed distributions, deductibility of interest and off-setting with ordinary income, as well as stamp duty (which is inter alia assessed on deeds on sureties, assignments and out-of-court settlements).

Austria is a popular jurisdiction for international holding structures, this is due to a vast number of double tax treaties concluded, as well as, the availability of binding tax rulings in various areas (including transfer pricing).