Tax

Salans’ Almaty office has a team of lawyers experienced in the full range of tax-sensitive commercial transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and restructurings, real estate and other partnership ventures, bankruptcies and compensation matters. We give local tax advice to our clients in many diverse fields.

We regularly represent and advise investment banks and other financial institutions in the development of financial products and transaction structures providing high tax value.

Almaty Tax Law Services

Our experience and areas service in tax law include:

• Providing advice on takeovers, legal mergers, separations of businesses and the creation of tax effective holding structures;
• Developing tax efficient strategies for acquisition and disposal of company assets, as well as carrying out tax due diligence projects; and,
• We handle complex, multi-jurisdictional projects focused on developing optimal tax structures and guiding foreign investments in Kazakhstan. 

Our Tax Practice Group is very familiar with comprehensive tax audits designed to verify legal, customs, and tax aspects of cross-border transactions performed by multinationals operating in Kazakhstan.

Almaty Tax Law Clients and Expertise

• Representing major oil services operating in Kazakhstan includes Agip, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Aker Solutions, BJ services, and Halliburton;
• Representing the Kazakh branch of Italian-based petroleum company Snamprogetti S.p.A. in tax litigation against a tax assessment by the Atyrau Tax Committee/Tax Committee of the Ministry of Finance;
• Representing St. Petersburg-based Baltika Brewery OOO in a court dispute with the Customs Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• Assisting and advising Bansard International SAS, a French transporter of merchandise in over 70 countries, with its acquisition of 30% of the participatory interests of Alternativ Kazakhstan LLC, stucturing of the deal and related corporate and tax issues;
• Assisting BNP Paribas, a large French banking group, with the review of the subsoil contracts of several Kazakh entities to which BNP had previously extended loans, concerning the implications of a new tax on the exportation of oil;
• Advising Coca-Cola on tax matters in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan;
• Advising Energy Investments International Ltd., a Kazakh investment firm, on the taxation of dividends and capital gains under Kazakh law;
• Advising the Eurasian Pipeline Consortium, owned collectively by Russia, Kazakhstan, Oman and private investors with regard to tax issues;
• Representing a leading global cargo transporter and logistics manager in a dispute with the Customs Control Department of the Mangistau Region (Kazakhstan) concerning errors in a tax assessment;
• Advising Fleishman-Hillard, a leader in international marketing and communications, with regard to tax matters in Kazakhstan;
• Advising Flick Gocke Schaumburg, a German law firm specialising in corporate and tax matters, with regard to the tax consequences arising from a donation of interest in a German limited partnership in Kazakhstan;
• Advising INEO Energie Export, a company specialising in the design and installation of communications systems, energy networks, and information systems and provider of systems integration and engineering services to the industrial, energy and utilities, and transportation sectors, in connection with tax issues;
• Contesting the results of a customs audit by the Astana Customs Committee on behalf of Air Astana;
• Advising JSC Chimkent Cement, on general regulatory issues, labour and tax matters under Kazakh law, in connection with its corporate restructuring;
• Providing JSC Kazmunaigas Exploration Production, the second largest Kazakh oil producing company, with an analysis of five subsoil use contracts involving the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, with respect to the stability of the respective tax regimes of the contracts;
• Advising the Kazakh branch of Knauf International GmbH, a multinational manufacturer of construction materials, with respect to the taxation of dividends to be paid by Knauf Gips Kapchagay LLP;
• Advising Newell Rubbermaid, manufacturer and marketer of brand-name housewares, hardware, tools, home furnishings and office products, with regard to tax law in Kazakhstan;
• Advising Nokia on corporate and consumer issues, data protection, regulatory matters, tax and customs issues in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine;
• Advising the Russian branch of an international employment agency with regard to income tax withholding issues in Kazakhstan;
• Advising a major Kazakh oil production company with regard to excess profit tax;
• Advising Prime Aviation JSC, the leading VIP & business aviation services specialist in Central Asia and the only commercial operator of western aircraft in Kazakhstan, on tax issues;
• Providing general legal and tax advice with regard to the structuring of activities in Kazakhstan and the registration of a subsidiary or branch in Kazakhstan to a marine geophysical company;
• Assisting RG Brands Kazakhstan, a member of Resmi Group Ltd., with the drafting and negotiation of an agreement concerning the recording of personal image and voice and rights of usage of same, as well as with regard to related tax issues;
• Representing Schlumberger Logelco Inc. Oilfield Services, in a court case against the Atyrau Customs Authorities;
• Assisting SDT Group LLP, a Kazakh soft drinks producer, with its restructuring and advising on tax and licensing issues;
• Advising Shearman & Sterling, a British law firm, as to the regulatory and tax implications of establishing a fund in Kazakhstan on behalf of its client, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), a state enterprise which is responsible for all foreign investments in the oil and chemicals sector in the United Arab Emirates;
• Assisting Sun Mining, a Russian mineral exploration and production, with the review of the tax and regulatory aspects of the proposed reorganisation of their gold mining assets in Russia and Kazakhstan;
• Assisting Temenos UK Ltd, the British branch of Temenos Group, a leading Swiss-based producer of software for banks, with a review of its contracts in Kazakhstan with the banks ATF, Bank Center Credit, National Bank of Kazakhstan and Halyk Bank with regard to tax and employment issues;
• Advising a division of one of the world's leading global shipping lines with regard to tax issues;
• Advising Vitol SA, a leading trader, transporter and investor in oil and gas, with regard to tax and customs on trade between Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan;
• Representing the world's largest geophysical services company in a tax litigation matter in Kazakhstan;
• Representing BJ Services International SARL, the Geneva branch of the American producer of equipment for the extraction and transportation of gas and oil worldwide, in a dispute on tax issues with the Russian Tax Committee of the Ministry of Finance;
• Representing the Kazakh branch of Italian-based petroleum company Snamprogetti S.p.A. in tax litigation against a tax assessment by the Atyrau Tax Committee/Tax Committee of the Ministry of Finance;
• Advising on tax and civil law issues related to Agip, acting as the Single Operator under the North Caspian Sea PSA; and,
• Advising Aker Solutions on a tax dispute with the Atyrau Region Tax Department.