Real Estate Tax and Structuring
Our specialist corporate, tax and regulatory lawyers combine their industry experience to provide tax efficient investment structures to investors in real estate and their lenders. We will guide potential investors from their choice of initial structure to the ultimate exit.
Our teams work with institutions, banks, private equity investors, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals and family offices to assess their needs across relevant jurisdictions, advising comprehensively on all property taxation issues arising in all key jurisdictions.
We have particular emphasis on devising and implementing tax efficient structures for acquisitions, restructuring, refinancing and disposals of property including:
- choice of jurisdiction for the investor;
- appropriate investment vehicle (for example, a corporate vehicle, a partnership, a limited partnership or unit trust);
- acquisition structures;
- funding arrangements (both debt and equity);
- asset management and property management arrangement;
- exit strategies (whether at the level of the real estate asset or the investment vehicle);
- identifying opportunities for maximising claims for depreciation allowances for tax purposes in respect of fixtures etc;
- identifying opportunities and issues relating to taxation of property gains and rental or other income profits, including withholding tax if applicable, and on property related anti-avoidance provisions and advising on general tax planning for cross-border investment in real estate;
- advising on VAT issues arising out of property acquisitions, developments and disposals including maximising input tax recovery as well as sector specific issues (e.g. hotels and leisure);
- advising in relation to land transfer and registration taxes (including mitigation structures in relation to property acquisitions such as forward purchase arrangements and maximising use of group, acquisition and other reliefs); and
- advising on the tax implications of property acquisitions, financings or refinancing involving Sharia compliant structures.