Ton van Doremalen

Partner
Head of Tax, Middle East
About

Ton advises both local and international clients in relation to operating their businesses, cross-border investments and activities in a tax efficient and compliant manner.

Ton's practice encompasses advice on cross-border tax structuring and tax advice relating to M&A transactions for clients such as Gulf-based corporates, sovereign wealth funds, private equity investors, high net worth individuals and family offices.Ton also advises corporate clients from Europe, North America and Asia on their inbound Middle East inbound transactions and investments, projects and company set-ups.

From a local business perspective, Ton is involved in providing tax advice relating to VAT in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman as well as to direct taxes, including corporate income tax and withholding taxes, across the Gulf countries. Most recently Ton has been advising many local and international businesses on the new UAE federal corporate income tax.  

Ton has over 20 years of experience specializing in tax structuring involving jurisdictions such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the UK and the UAE, and he has been working out of Dubai for the last 7 years.

Areas of FocusTax

EXPERIENCE

  • Advising one of the largest UAE family-owned business conglomerates on a variety of (technical) aspects of the new UAE corporate income tax.
  • Providing tax structuring advice to one of the UAE’s largest school operators by analyzing and comparing multiple jurisdictions for an education related holding- and IP operating platform.
  • Assisting a leading Saudi Arabian chemical joint venture on a >USD250m KSA tax dispute focusing on permanent establishment and withholding tax issues, including Mutual Agreement Procedure.
  • Providing GCC wide tax structuring advice to a globally active ecological farming business for an efficient corporate and tax structure across the Gulf region.
  • Advising a UAE headquartered design and engineering conglomerate on the tax efficient restructuring of the corporate group and intragroup arrangements, anticipating the new UAE corporate income tax and transfer pricing regime.
  • Advising an internationally active technology company on a tax efficient holding and IP ownership structure analyzing jurisdictions such as the UAE, UK, Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland, whilst considering economic substance, DEMPE and the principal purpose test under double tax treaties.
  • Providing tax structuring advice for a multijurisdictional M&A transaction relating to a USD2.4bn acquisition of a Middle East food producer and franchise business.
  • Advising one of the world’s largest tools manufacturers regarding their regional holding and IP structure from an international tax and UAE economic substance perspective.
  • Providing tax advice to a UAE based private equity firm in connection with the setting up of a renewable energy platform focusing on 10 project countries in North- and Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Advising a US oil and gas services group on the tax structuring in relation to the acquisition of a Gulf and North Africa based target group, involving subsidiaries and branches.
  • Advising a Gulf based financial group on tax structuring for setting up a Sharia compliant multi-country platform.
Languages
  • English
  • Dutch
  • French
  • German
Education
  • Leiden University, Master Tax Law

Publications

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Board Member and Chairman IFA UAE Branch
  • International Fiscal Association (IFA)
  • Dutch Tax Advisers Association (NOB)

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