Tax

Weil's Tax practice, mirroring the Firm's profile, is global in scope. Our more than 50 lawyers located throughout our U.S. and European offices regularly work with multinational clients and private equity sponsors to navigate the often complex tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions that cross national borders. Our Tax lawyers in the United States advise both U.S. companies investing abroad and non-U.S. investors in the United States. Similarly, our Tax lawyers in London, Paris, Munich and Frankfurt advise local clients on the national tax impacts of their international transactions. We pride ourselves on working together as one integrated team.

Weil’s global Tax Group advises on some of the biggest, most complex and highest profile domestic and cross-border transactions. We not only understand the nature of our clients’ transactions, but also understand their businesses, and are a critical part of the team that works to accomplish each client’s business goals. Our clients rely on us to deliver innovative, comprehensive, and tax-efficient solutions on nearly every type of domestic and cross-border transaction presenting significant tax issues, including:

• Complex M&A;
• Private Equity and Private Funds matters;
• Restructurings and Recapitalizations;
• Securitizations;
• Real Estate and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs); and
• Capital Markets and other financing matters.

Our global tax practice is largely a transactional and financing practice. We provide sophisticated, deal-specific tax advice that allows our clients to accomplish their commercial objectives on a tax-efficient basis. Our extensive deal experience and deep bench allows us to provide real-time advice that takes into account current tax developments. We regularly counsel clients across multiple jurisdictions in connection with acquisitions and dispositions of global business operations, spin-offs, joint ventures, financings, and offerings of both debt and equity.

Weil’s Tax Group is a critical partner to Weil’s Private Funds Group. We advise on all tax aspects related to fund formation, fundraising and investment into domestic and international private funds, from large multi-billion U.S. Dollar/Euro funds to smaller growth capital funds for emerging managers.

Weil’s Tax Group has a diverse range of experience in all major industry segments– buyout funds, growth equity funds, middle market funds, infrastructure funds, real estate funds, debt funds, fund-of-funds, secondary funds, special situations funds, hedge funds and other industry-specific funds, and in the entire fund life cycle, from formation to exit. We take full advantage of our global presence in designing investment vehicles to meet diverse needs. On the fundraising side, we are able to offer, and negotiate, a wide range of structures tailored to the needs of the important constituencies – U.S. taxable, U.S. tax-exempt and non-U.S. investors and sponsors. For sponsors, we also design general partner and management company arrangements to maximize the after-tax returns for the lead individuals and the investment professionals who support them. We work with large, middle market and small funds. In all our projects, we strive through our extensive experience and up-to-date knowledge to create structures that are acceptable to investors and that enable our clients and transactional tax lawyers to efficiently enter and exit investments, both onshore and offshore.

Weil's Tax Group regularly counsels large investors in funds. Our tax teams in the United States and United Kingdom, in particular, have extensive experience counseling institutional and sovereign investors on the particular tax consequences of investing in private equity funds, REITs and co-investment opportunities globally.

Weil’s Tax Group also has extensive experience in the bankruptcy tax field, advising debtors, creditors (including creditors committees, banks, financial institutions and insurance companies), equity holders (including fund sponsors), investors, buyers and sellers alike.

Our tax lawyers assist in all phases of a restructuring (whether in or outside of bankruptcy), including:

• Advising in connection with modifications of debt, and debt/equity exchanges;
• Structuring tax efficient plans of reorganization and liquidation, including evaluating and designing structures to retain valuable corporate tax attributes and to protect debt holders and equity holders from phantom income;
• Working to align or otherwise take into consideration the needs of all parties-in-interest in tax matters;
• Pre-bankruptcy planning to manage sales and employment tax liabilities to protect management and controlling persons from personal liability for such taxes;
• Representing debtors before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other tax authorities in resolving disputes over prepetition and administrative tax liabilities; and
• Dealing with the IRS and other tax authorities in obtaining rulings and closing agreements where appropriate.

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