PORTUGAL CHINA CAPE VERDE
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE ANGOLA BRAZIL
TIMOR
MOZAMBIQUE
Tax & Business Care
The Firm
RFF & Associados is the first law office specialising in business and tax law within the world of Portuguese advocacy. Its base of operations therefore in both Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking countries, as far as legal and economic issues are concerned, lies in company law and national, Community and international tax law. The firm’s lawyers have originated from diverse backgrounds, but have become accustomed to working together over the years – in law firms, on working groups, or in other state or private entities and associations, and have now come together in this common project. Working alongside RFF & Associados too are several external consultants with different training backgrounds, in addition to the lawyers and other local lawyers in Portuguese-speaking countries. RFF & Associados seeks to foster lasting relations – of trust and sharing – and to provide the proper legal solutions for the very specific needs of each one of its clients, whether individuals or businesses. It seeks to anticipate situations, foresee problems and provide dedicated and competent advice and assistance – legal, business and fiscal. It is therefore committed to the quality and ef-
ficiency of the services rendered, acting with diligence, dedication, enthusiasm and competence, and in strict compliance with the highest moral values and ethical standards. The firm is connected with several universities and other national and international higher education institutions through Master’s Degree courses, post-graduate courses and specialist courses, thereby seeking to consolidate its expertise on a solid theoretical and professional base. In Portugal, the most noteworthy of these are with the Instituto Europeu (IE) and the Instituto de Direito Económico, Financeiro e Fiscal (IDEFF) of the Law Faculty of the Universidade de Lisboa, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences (PAFISC) of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, the Instituto para o Desenvolvimento e Estudos Económicos, Financeiros e Empresariais (IDEFE) of the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, the Law Faculty of the Universidade do Minho, and the Instituto Superior de Gestão. Connections of note with institutes on an international level include the founding partner’s link with the Cape Verdean Fundação Direito e Justiça, the Law Faculty of Universidade Agostinho Neto, in Luanda, and the Universiteit Leiden (International Tax Center).
Private Clients
EXPERTISE Accounting law
Social Security and L abour
PRIVATE CLIENTS
VAT
Internationalization
TAX & BUSINESS
CUSTOMS
Special consumption ta xes
Ta x litigation and arbitration
Energy and InfrAstructure Budget and Public Accounting
CORPOR ATE
RFF & Associados provides strategic legal advice in the area of Private Clients through a highly specialized team which ensures the necessary support on personal tax and legal matters, such as retirement or estate planning, the monitoring of non-residents, non-habitual residents, tax residence conflicts or double taxation issues. The Firm also advises on asset planning matters, namely those involving the regularization of foreign-held assets, or the structuring of movable (securities) and immovable assets, as well as on corporate matters, such as tax management of family-run businesses and activities carried out by sole traders or independent professionals.
Internationalization Through the use of multidisciplinary teams and the experience of its lawyers in the internationalisation processes of national and foreign investors, RFF & Associados provides support services for internationalisation, ensuring compliance with the legal, tax, customs, regulatory, exchange, corporate and labour requirements in the various countries involved, as well as defining the most appropriate structures of the business and assets for pursuing the private and commercial activity of its clients.
Tax Litigation and Arbitration Litigation
RFF & Associados provides tax litigation services at both the administrative and court stages as well as in arbitration proceedings, aiding and working alongside its clients to define the procedural strategies which are most appropriate for each specific case.
Customs Tax & Business RFF & Associados is primarily dedicated to the areas of tax, customs, finance and budget, and is equipped with teams specialised in working alongside companies on internationalisation processes, tax and customs litigation, and special consumption taxes, State budget and social security matters. As part of the services that are closely linked to its core business, it provides legal services in the fields of accounting, company and labour law and litigation, among others.
RFF & Associados provides advice on the setting up and running of customs warehouses, authorised economic operator status, customs procedures with economic impact, origin and classification of goods, preferential agreements, tariff quotas and other preferential customs arrangements, as well as customs litigation.
Special consumption taxes RFF & Associados provides consultancy and litigation services related to taxes on consumption, which includes all the special taxes that are harmonised at Community level – alcohol and alcohol beverages, oil and energy products, and manufactured tobaccos – as
Budget and Public Accounting well as tax matters related to automobiles, including the Vehicle Tax and the Road Tax.
VAT RFF & Associados provides legal advice on VAT matters, relying on a highly experienced team that provides general consultancy services, including the revision of procedures, refund of tax in case of irrecoverable debts and optimization of deduction and cash-flow methods, as well as optimization of supply chain structures and issues relating to invoicing.
Accounting Law RFF & Associados provide services in accounting law, more particularly related to the understanding, extent and application of the principles and provisions of the accounting legislation, and the legal and accounting treatment and framework for company mergers, acquisitions and reorganisation, as well as in relation to financial consolidation in company groups.
Social Security and Labour RFF & Associados provides consulting and litigation services with reference to Social Security contributions, as well as specialized multidisciplinary advice on fiscal, parafiscal and labour law aspects of expatriate taxation or company restructuring situations, including the drafting and revision of contracts, the supervision of human resources management and services related with the definition and regulation of fringe benefits for employees and other personnel of our clients.
Corporate RFF & Associados also provides advisory services for national and international clients, within the scope of commercial law and companies, on issues associated with the pursuit of their business activities and negotiations, including the incorporation, dissolution and liquidation of companies, investing and the establishment and pursuit of activities and projects in Portugal and abroad. The services rendered in this respect also include assistance in the restructuring of company groups, including mergers, splits, asset transfers and swaps of shares, as well as tax, commercial and corporate due diligence audits.
RFF & Associados offers legal support to its clients as regards applications for public tenders and licenses. The firm also assists its clients in the preparation of public accounts and on matters of financial and budgetary law, public finance and public accounting.
Energy and Infrastructure RFF & Associados provides legal advice on the areas of energy, environmental law and public infrastructure, offering its clients, through multidisciplinary teams, the necessary support in matters such as structuring of environmental management systems, urban operations, energy resources, energy projects, power plants, designing and licensing of infrastructures and environmental taxation.
Litigation RFF & Associados provides litigation services, in general, on the various matters related to the pursuit of the activity of companies or their workers.
Others The advisory services rendered to the clients by RFF & Associados are supplemented by the support of professionals of acknowledged competence in other complementary areas of activity, most specifically accounting, through its external consultants and international local lawyers, with the firm’s lawyers providing services in financial planning and succession, sports law, contract law, real estate law and energy law.
DESKS
African Desk
Italian Desk
RFF & Associates has a dedicated team to work with the PALOP (African Portuguese-speaking countries – Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe) which, besides being fluent in the local language, has deep knowledge of the local market and legislation. Through its office-based team and its local partnerships RFF & Associates is able to provide the necessary legal support to its clients, both from an international investment perspective, as well as from a domestic legislation standpoint.
RFF & Associates has a dedicated team to work with the Italian market which, besides being fluent in the local language, has deep knowledge of the local market and business culture. In accordance, RFF & Associados is able to provide the necessary legal support to its clients, in particular in their operations in the Portuguese-speaking countries, both from an international investment perspective, as well as from a domestic legislation standpoint.
Asian Desk
RFF & Associates has a dedicated team to work with the French market which, besides being fluent in the local language, has deep knowledge of the local market and business culture. In accordance, RFF & Associados is able to provide the necessary legal support to its clients, in particular in their operations in the Portuguese-speaking countries, both from an international investment perspective, as well as from a domestic legislation standpoint.
RFF & Associates has a dedicated team to work with the Asian market (China, East Timor and Macao) which, besides being fluent in the local language, has deep knowledge of the local market and legislation. Through its office-based team and its local partnerships RFF & Associados is able to provide the necessary legal support to its clients, both from an international investment perspective, as well as from a domestic legislation standpoint.
Brazilian Desk RFF & Associates has a dedicated team to work with the Brazilian market which, besides being fluent in the local language, has deep knowledge of the local market and legislation. Through its office-based team and its local partnerships (in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte) RFF & Associados is able to provide the necessary legal support to its clients, both from an international investment perspective, as well as from a domestic legislation standpoint
French Desk
German Desk RFF & Associates has a dedicated team to work with the German market which, besides being fluent in the local language, has deep knowledge of the local market and business culture. In accordance, RFF & Associados is able to provide the necessary legal support to its clients, in particular in their operations in the Portuguese-speaking countries, both from an international investment perspective, as well as from a domestic legislation standpoint.
Partnerships
From its office at the very heart of Lisbon, in Praça do Marquês de Pombal at the top of Avenida da Liberdade, and its associated offices in Oporto and Funchal in Portugal, RFF & Associados maintains a network of international and institutional relationships with local lawyers in other jurisdictions, namely in Brazil (São Paulo and Belo Horizonte), Angola (Luanda), Mozambique (Maputo), the Cape Verde Islands (Praia), Macao, East Timor (Dili) and S. Tomé and Principe (São Tomé) and in China (Pequim, Xangai, Shengdu and Shenzhen). The international network affords the company a presence in the Portuguese language world and allows RFF & Associados to take note of and meet the needs of its clients, which is a decisive reference factor in its areas of competence and operations.
Team
RFF & Associados is equipped with a team of internal lawyers and local, national and international lawyers with diverse skills and specialisation areas. Moreover, because tax law, including the finance and budget areas, and company law, including litigation, negotiation and contracts, labour and taxation, are directly related to management and accounting, it also has external consultants with specific and complementary economic and accounting backgrounds, with a wide range of experience working for the tax authorities.
Rogério M. Fernandes Ferreira
Currently, the firm has a total of twenty-five staff, apart from the back-office support base of four secretaries, fifteen of whom are lawyers, five are trainee lawyers and seven local lawyers – in Funchal, São Paulo, Luanda, Maputo, Praia, Macao and Dili – and four external consultants. The team combines experience in company litigation and assistance with the background of some of its members in the major multinational auditing and consultancy companies and in the government and tax authority itself with the expertise and experience acquired in providing a framework and support for investment abroad and in Portuguese-speaking countries, particularly in Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde.
Apart from being a lawyer specialised in tax law, having participated in several committees on taxation studies and reform and being a consultant for the Instituto de Seguros de Portugal for a decade, the main and founding partner of RFF & Associados is connected with the most prestigious universities in Portugal and was also Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs in the XIX Constitutional Government of Portugal (2001-2002), which has afforded him in-depth theoretical and practical knowledge of how the tax authority functions and operates, as is also the case with two of the firm’s external consultants, former Directors of the Division of Income Tax and Oil and Minerals.
Lawyers: Rogério Fernandes Ferreira, Francisco de Carvalho Furtado, Ana Moutinho Nascimento, Mónica Respício Gonçalves, Marta Machado de Almeida, João Mesquita, Pedro Saraiva Nércio, Sérgio Brigas Afonso, Nuno Jorge Barata, José Mègre Pires, Catarina Ribeiro Caldas, Francisco Mascarenhas de Lemos, Pedro Fonseca Pires, Filipa Belchior Coimbra. External consultants: António Alves da Silva, Jaime Ramos Guerra, Manuel Teixeira Fernandes, Tiago Souza d’Alte, Olívio Mota Amador, João Costa Andrade.
awards
Best Lawyers “RFF Tax Lawyer of the Year” 2014 Legal 500 Band 1 Tax “Portuguese Law Firm” Band 1 Tax “RFF Leading Individual” 2013/2014 International Tax Review “Best European Newcomer” (shortlisted) 2013 Chambers & Partners Band 1 “RFF Leading Individual” 2013 Who´s Who Legal “RFF Corporate Tax Adviser of the Year” 2013 IBFD Tax Correspondent Angola and Mozambique 2013/2014
L IS B OA P O RTO F U N C H A L S ÃO PAU LO LUA N DA M A P U TO P R A I A M AC AU DÍ L I São tom é P equim S hangai
Praça Marquês de Pombal 16 · 5º recepção/reception · 6º 1250-163 Lisboa · Portugal T: +351 215 915 220 F: +351 215 915 244 Skype: rff.advogados contacto@rffadvogados.pt www.rffadvogados.pt www.rfflawyers.com