Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions concerning legal cooperation, the scope of an initial assessment and the nature of my advisory approach.

What is the purpose of this page?

The fol­low­ing ques­tions address recur­ring aspects of legal coop­er­a­tion, the ini­tial assess­ment and the scope of my prac­tice.
They are intend­ed to pro­vide ori­en­ta­tion and to help deter­mine whether legal sup­port may be appropriate.

What does an initial assessment include – and what does it not include?

The ini­tial assess­ment serves as a first legal ori­en­ta­tion. Its pur­pose is to deter­mine whether a mat­ter is legal­ly rel­e­vant and whether fur­ther legal sup­port may be appropriate. 

It does not replace a com­pre­hen­sive legal review and does not usu­al­ly include final legal con­clu­sions or con­crete rec­om­men­da­tions. Any in-depth analy­sis is car­ried out on the basis of a sep­a­rate engagement. 

Does contacting you already create an attorney-client relationship?

No. Con­tact­ing me via this web­site or request­ing an ini­tial assess­ment does not in itself cre­ate an attor­ney-client relationship.

A man­date is only estab­lished through an explic­it engage­ment and cor­re­spond­ing agreement.

How does the engagement typically work?

The engage­ment is han­dled in a struc­tured man­ner tai­lored to the spe­cif­ic mat­ter. Meet­ings may take place in per­son or by using appro­pri­ate com­mu­ni­ca­tion tools.

The deci­sive fac­tor is a care­ful and prop­er han­dling of the man­date in accor­dance with pro­fes­sion­al rules.

Do you represent clients in objection proceedings against the tax authority?

Yes. I rep­re­sent clients in objec­tion pro­ceed­ings against tax assessments.

This is based on a care­ful legal review of the assess­ment and the under­ly­ing facts and legal issues. The aim is an appro­pri­ate cor­rec­tion or legal clar­i­fi­ca­tion of the dis­put­ed points.

Do you handle proceedings before the Fiscal Courts?

Yes. I rep­re­sent clients before the Fis­cal Courts.

The deci­sion to pur­sue court pro­ceed­ings is made on the basis of a thor­ough legal analy­sis and a real­is­tic assess­ment of prospects and risks.

Which documents are typically relevant when reviewing a tax assessment?

The required doc­u­ments depend on the indi­vid­ual case. Typ­i­cal­ly rel­e­vant are the tax assess­ment, the explana­to­ry notes, the tax return or assess­ment return, and the key cor­re­spon­dence with the tax authority.

If the assess­ment is based on an audit, an esti­ma­tion, or spe­cif­ic find­ings, addi­tion­al doc­u­ments may be required.

Do you replace a tax adviser?

As an attor­ney, I am autho­rised to pro­vide com­pre­hen­sive assis­tance in tax mat­ters. This includes tax advice, the prepa­ra­tion of tax returns, and rep­re­sen­ta­tion before tax author­i­ties and the Fis­cal Courts.

Tax advice may there­fore be pro­vid­ed inde­pen­dent­ly or in coop­er­a­tion with an exist­ing tax adviser.

Where ongo­ing tax sup­port is already in place, my work reg­u­lar­ly focus­es on the legal assess­ment of com­plex mat­ters and on con­duct­ing objec­tion pro­ceed­ings and Fis­cal Court proceedings.

The scope of the engage­ment depends on the struc­ture, risk pro­file, and pro­ce­dur­al stage of the matter.

Do you advise on international or cross-border matters?

Yes. Cross-bor­der mat­ters form an impor­tant part of my practice.

I advise on mat­ters with an inter­na­tion­al dimen­sion, for exam­ple relo­ca­tion to or from Ger­many, cross-bor­der share­hold­ing struc­tures, or dou­ble tax­a­tion issues, and, where appro­pri­ate, work with tax advis­ers and for­eign coun­sel to prop­er­ly account for nation­al specifics.

Do you advise on corporate structures with tax relevance?

Yes. I advise on reor­gan­i­sa­tions, par­tic­i­pa­tion struc­tures, and wealth struc­tures with tax relevance.

This includes con­sid­er­ing tax law aspects as well as cor­po­rate and lia­bil­i­ty-relat­ed implications.

Do you also advise individuals?

Yes. I also advise indi­vid­u­als, in par­tic­u­lar on tax-relat­ed and legal­ly com­plex mat­ters, for exam­ple in con­nec­tion with assets, par­tic­i­pa­tions, or cross-bor­der situations.

Sim­ple every­day ques­tions or short one-off ques­tions with­out deep­er legal rel­e­vance are not the focus of my practice.

Do you take on short one-off questions or “quick assessments”?

My advice is not designed for short one-off ques­tions or gener­ic quick assessments.

I work in a struc­tured man­ner and review the rel­e­vant facts care­ful­ly. This requires time and in-depth analy­sis, but it is the basis for robust and sus­tain­able results.

When can a tax structure become legally problematic?

Tax struc­tures are gen­er­al­ly per­mis­si­ble as long as they oper­ate with­in the frame­work of the law. How­ev­er, issues may arise if tax author­i­ties assume that a struc­ture was cre­at­ed sole­ly to obtain tax advan­tages with­out a gen­uine eco­nom­ic purpose.

In such sit­u­a­tions, author­i­ties may exam­ine whether the arrange­ment con­sti­tutes an abuse of law or whether the intend­ed tax ben­e­fits should be dis­re­gard­ed. A struc­tured legal analy­sis can help clar­i­fy the legal and eco­nom­ic ratio­nale of the arrangement.

When is it useful to involve a lawyer in addition to a tax adviser?

Tax advis­ers play a cen­tral role in analysing and cal­cu­lat­ing tax con­se­quences. How­ev­er, when cor­po­rate struc­tures, share­hold­er arrange­ments or cross-bor­der sit­u­a­tions are involved, addi­tion­al legal advice may be advisable.

Legal coun­sel can focus on struc­tur­ing the arrange­ment in a legal­ly sound way, review­ing con­trac­tu­al aspects and assess­ing poten­tial lia­bil­i­ty risks.

Can tax structures be questioned during a tax audit?

Yes. Dur­ing tax audits, author­i­ties may exam­ine not only indi­vid­ual tax posi­tions but also the under­ly­ing legal and organ­i­sa­tion­al struc­tures of a business.

If a struc­ture appears unusu­al or par­tic­u­lar­ly tax-dri­ven, the author­i­ties may look more close­ly at its legal basis. A care­ful legal assess­ment can help explain the struc­ture and clar­i­fy its under­ly­ing rationale.

What happens after the initial assessment?

If the ini­tial assess­ment indi­cates that more in-depth sup­port is appro­pri­ate, we will dis­cuss the next steps and the scope of a pos­si­ble engagement.

Sub­stan­tive work on the mat­ter begins only on that basis.

Will you provide cost information before an engagement?

Before accept­ing a man­date, I inform clients about the applic­a­ble billing basis, in par­tic­u­lar under the Ger­man Lawyers’ Remu­ner­a­tion Act (RVG) or on the basis of a sep­a­rate fee agreement.

Where pos­si­ble, I pro­vide an ini­tial ori­en­ta­tion regard­ing the expect­ed cost range. Such an esti­mate, how­ev­er, requires suf­fi­cient knowl­edge of the rel­e­vant facts and is sub­ject to the pro­vi­so that no addi­tion­al or pre­vi­ous­ly unknown aspects arise dur­ing the course of the engagement.

Bind­ing fixed-fee com­mit­ments are gen­er­al­ly not appro­pri­ate in com­plex or con­tentious matters.

The deci­sive fac­tors are the scope, com­plex­i­ty and devel­op­ment of the spe­cif­ic mandate.