Tax

Hannes Snellman’s Tax Team provides domestic and cross-border advice on all aspects of taxation, including corporate tax, indirect tax, and private wealth. The team is a trusted advisor to leading domestic and international corporations, financial institutions, investors, and family offices. The team has extensive experience in complex transactions and defending taxpayers’ rights in high-end tax litigation. Hannes Snellman’s Tax Team combines technical excellence with a pragmatic and business-oriented approach to deliver optimal results for its clients.

Tax Controversy

Hannes Snellman’s Tax Team has a proven track record of representing clients in demanding high-profile tax cases. Our team has the expertise to defend the taxpayer’s position in audits and disputes related to, for instance, corporate taxation, transfer taxation, personal income taxation, VAT and other indirect taxation, and transfer pricing. With our substantial experience, we assist clients at every step of the process.

We represent our clients in pre-emptive discussions with the Tax Administration and in applying for advance rulings from the Tax Administration and the Central Tax Board. In addition to representing clients in appeals before the Tax Board of Adjustment, administrative courts, and the Supreme Administrative Court, we leave no stone unturned in protecting taxpayers’ rights. We also have experience assisting clients in more exceptional processes, such as alternative dispute resolution, extraordinary appeals, complaints to the Chancellor of Justice, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, and the European Commission, and in appeals to the European Court of Human Rights.

Hannes Snellman’s Tax Team has acted as counsel for taxpayers in several significant cases that have resulted in important case law precedents in Finnish tax law.

Private Wealth

Be it passing on wealth to the next generation or finding a more tax-efficient way of managing your income and assets, private wealth tax matters can be highly complex. Individuals and families all have their unique needs and circumstances that require a personalised approach from expert legal advisors. Hannes Snellman offers a first-class client experience built on trust and long-term relationships.

Our Tax Team supports high-net-worth individuals and family businesses in a variety of matters, including tax matters of family offices and investment companies, succession, generation shifts, relocation, trusts, and investment structures. The team is experienced in handling complex cross-border matters, where needed, in seamless collaboration with our networks of foreign lawyers.

We also assist our private clients in tax controversy, in which frequent topics include, among other things, tax residency and insurance products. At the worst, tax controversy concerning private persons may lead to criminal proceedings. Should this happen, Hannes Snellman’s criminal law experts are ready to assist our clients.

Employee and Management Incentives

Incentivising key individuals and employees has an important impact on the success of a company. In this respect, it is crucial to build the incentives so that they create the desired outcomes. The Tax Team regularly advises clients on tax and social security consequences of incentive plans, such as bonus programmes, employee offerings, share awards, and options. Hannes Snellman also assists clients in obtaining rulings on tax and social security treatment and drafting plan documentation.

VAT, Customs, and Excise Duties

Businesses operating in any industry can, and likely will, encounter questions concerning value added taxation and other indirect taxation. Our indirect tax team offers personalised, first-class solutions tailored to address the client’s needs.

Our tax professionals have extensive expertise in VAT, customs, and excise duties with special proficiency in VAT questions concerning the real estate business, real estate transactions, and VAT exempt sectors such as financing. Our indirect tax experts are also well-versed in assisting clients operating in new, ground-breaking sectors where the tax questions are unchartered territory.

Our indirect tax team assists clients within a broad variety of industries with, for instance, transactional VAT advisory, deductibility of VAT, and detecting VAT risks. We also advise clients in excise duty, customs, and other indirect tax-related matters.

Our indirect tax experts Piia Ahonen and Marika Sorsa have published a hardcover book on value added taxation in the real estate business.

Transactional Tax

Hannes Snellman’s Tax Team provides advice in major public and private M&A, capital markets, real estate, infrastructure, and renewable energy transactions, and fund structures. Our experienced and dedicated tax practitioners help clients with, for instance, tax structuring, advance tax ruling proceedings, and tax due diligence.

Our Tax Team regularly advises clients in the largest and most high-profile transactions on the Finnish market. Hannes Snellman’s tax specialists are highly accomplished in advising taxpayers in cases involving complex cross-border tax elements. The team is trusted by clients to navigate new legal phenomena and find solutions to complex issues. With excellent understanding of our clients’ business, the team has great ability to provide practical, tailored solutions.