Avanzia Taxand’s Tier 2 ranking confirmed

Avanzia, the tax adviser, was awarded a Tier 2 ranking by the International Tax Review’s Tax Transactional Tax Survey.

The results of the survey are based on the considerations of tax executives, officials and advisers on tax firms’ advisory strengths. For the 2011 survey, 51 jurisdictions were evaluated to identify the leading firms in two tiers. Among these, over 70 per cent of Taxand jurisdictions were recognised, including Malta’s Avanzia Taxand.

Avanzia is part of international tax network Taxand, the world’s largest organisation of tax advisers to multinational businesses.

Avanzia Taxand managing director Walter Cutajar was delighted the market continued to regard the firm as one of Malta’s leading tax advisersas multinationals and larger organisations continued toseek its expertise with complex transactions.

Avanzia Taxand, which has plans to expand, currently employs a small team ofspecialised graduates and experienced professionals in accounting, financial services, company law and taxation.

Taxand is a global network of leading tax advisers fromindependent member firms in nearly 50 countries. The groupof tax professionals, which includes Malta, numbers over 400 tax partners and 2,000 taxadvisers.

The International Tax Review also recognised 34 Taxand firms in the annual poll of the publication’s readers, demonstrating the increasing recognition of the organisation’s innovative and complex work on multinationals’ transaction tax across the globe. The international network also saw three new jurisdictions – Denmark, the Philippines and Ukraine – join the list of recognised firms in 2011.

“In an increasingly complex global tax environment, independent, sound advice and innovative solutions are important commodities for multinationals,” Taxand chairman Frédéric Donnedieu de Vabres said.

He added that with merger and acquisition activity on the rise, multinationals need to ensure their tax structures are based on a sound commercial footing.

Robust advice can only be given with a clear understanding of a company’s structure to protect them from accusations that their structures are artificial and lack substance, he emphasised.