Etienne Wong proves that it is never too late to re-train
The former head of VAT at Clifford Chance, Etienne Wong, has taken up fast track pupilage at Tax Chambers, 15 Old Square and is now able to accept instructions through the Chambers clerks. The pupillage formally required for a solicitor transferring to the Bar will be completed on 1 December 2014.
Etienne qualified as a solicitor in 1990, and was a partner and head of the international VAT unit at Clifford Chance LLP from 1999 to 2014. He was called to the Bar in 2014.
Etienne has been advising on all aspects of VAT since 1989, and appeared in Band 1 in Chambers Global as an “excellent choice for indirect tax matters”.
In particular, he advises on the VAT treatment of:
• financing transactions (including structured finance, securitisations, asset finance, commodities transactions, factoring and Islamic financing)
• real estate transactions
• insurance transactions
• corporate acquisitions and disposals
• funds
• private equity transactions
• outsourcing transactions
• transactions in the transport sector (including transactions in aircraft, vessels, trains and automobiles)
• e-commerce and other new media transactions
• transactions in the leisure sector
• transactions in the power and energy sectors (including solar panel financing, transactions in carbon credits and renewable energy projects)
He also advises on tax matters generally — in particular, the direct and indirect taxation of:
• real estate transactions (e.g. property development, property investment)
• outsourcing transactions
• transactions in the power and energy sectors (e.g. solar panel financing, biomass projects)
• e-commerce and other new media transactions and transfer pricing, insurance premium tax and customs and excise duties.
He also advises on disputes with HMRC.
Etienne has authored several articles and spoken at various conferences both within the UK and abroad, and was the author of the tax chapter of the Outsourcing Practice Manual and the co-author of the European Union chapter of the Inward Investment and International Taxation Review.