International corporate tax planning & transactional

Understanding the business environment of the MEA region and its various countries, with its many nuances and foreign investment limitations, is a key requirement for regional inbound investors.

We are able to provide inward and outbound investors with full services for tax planning and transactional work, and we have the added advantage that we are an independent firm. In order to serve our clients with international tax advisory services, Cragus has well established associations with independent law and tax advisory firms in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Additionally, Cragus works with many of the world’s leading tax and transfer pricing alliances and networks.

Several of our advisers have been instrumental in the evolution of the region’s tax climate, providing advice on innovative tax structuring, and advising authorities on creation of tax treaties, international agreements, legislation, and free trade zones.

With a skill set drawn from 4 of the “Big 5” global accounting firms, and also from regional and European tax authorities, we are well prepared to serve our corporate clients with regard to international tax. The practice ranges from indirect tax to intellectual property, holding companies, financing and structuring of M&A transactions, and sectors of experience ranges from energy to capital markets, telecoms, manufacturing, distribution (wholesale and retail), governments and the financial services industries.

Our expertise in hydrocarbons is particularly significant, especially in the upstream market. We work together with our member and correspondent firms to assist our clients achieve their objectives on task, time and budget over the full cycle of the projects. Countries where we currently offer strong oil and gas local tax expertise are Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, the UAE, Nigeria, Algeria and Libya, and we work with our clients to ensure that our advice adequately covers all the relevant tax areas and in all the tax relevant jurisdictions (home and host country issues, withholding taxes, indirect taxes and transaction taxes).

Our aim is to ensure that we can serve our clients best in minimizing their global tax risk and cost.

Our approach is one of working with all relevant parties to ensure we provide the best in terms of ideas and solutions, whilst ensuring there is clarity and understanding with regard to all the implications on the business in terms of planning, supply chain, or transaction, so we can work successfully from theory through to implementation.

The majority of our tax clients are inbound, mostly from Europe, Asia and North America, and we provide advice to corporate entities within MEA in relation to their investments within these regions and outside.

Despite its independence the firm continues to support, and work as an informal correspondent to, multiple international (post-Andersen) tax and transfer pricing networks; in addition to these Cragus works with a large number of global law firms as their MEA tax resource.

The Cragus Group have been recognised consistently as a leading tax advisory firm, along with many of its individual advisers, by Euromoney’s Legal Media Group, International Tax Review, World Tax, and Expert Guides (‘Guide to the World’s Leading…’ advisers series), amongst other publications and industry media groups.