Schoenherr hires several senior tax lawyers in Austria and Romania
Schoenherr, a leading corporate law firm in Central and Eastern Europe, is strengthening its offering in tax law and advisory services in Austria and Romania by hiring a team of well-established tax experts.
Michaela Petritz-Klar has joined Schoenherr as a tax partner in its Vienna office, while Theodor Artenie, Oana Manuceanu and Mihaela Popescu provide tax consulting services through Schoenherr Tax Bucharest SRL, a newly-launched separate legal entity affiliated with the firm’s Bucharest office. Building on these appointments, Schoenherr plans to further expand its offerings in the area by also establishing tax teams in Poland and Serbia during the course of next year.
“The newly-hired tax experts in Vienna and Bucharest represent the first step in our well-developed plans to strengthen tax law as a core offering at Schoenherr. Our ultimate aim is to offer top-tier tax law expertise and services across Central and Eastern Europe,” Sascha Hödl, the Schoenherr Corporate/M&A partner heading the committee shaping the firm’s offering in the tax field, underlines Schoenherr’s commitment to a comprehensive and sustainable offering in that area of law.
“One of Schoenherr’s most important goals is to cover the full range of commercial legal services. First class, sophisticated tax advisory services make us better equipped to handle all aspects of even the most complex mandate,” states Sebastian Gutiu, the managing partner of Schoenherr’s Bucharest office.
Austria: Experienced new tax partner
Michaela Petritz-Klar (35), who joined Schoenherr as a partner at the start of April, has over 10 years experience as a tax lawyer. In further developing Schoenherr’s tax practice in Austria, Michaela will focus on providing comprehensive tax advice in the area of corporate tax law, including any kind of transaction-related tax advice. She will also apply her extensive track record of advising domestic and internationally operating clients on cross-border strategic tax planning, as well was her substantial experience in developing tax-efficient finance structures for equity, debt and hybrid instruments and structured financial products. Tax and estate planning for private clients and high net worth individuals on both a domestic and cross-border level is a further key area to which Petritz-Klar, who worked as an associate and senior associate in the tax practices of both national and international law firms in Vienna and London, will apply her expertise. In addition, Petritz-Klar has a strong focus on representing clients in tax litigation matters.
Petritz-Klar holds a doctorate degree in law from the University of Vienna, as well as a business degree from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Before entering legal practice, Michaela worked as an assistant professor for tax law at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the latter university. She continues to holds lectures on Austrian and international tax law at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences. She also frequently publishes articles on tax-related topics in both Austrian and international law journals and is a regular speaker at international tax conferences and seminars.
In Romania, Schoenherr si Asociatii SCA has expanded its current practice in tax advisory services by launching Schoenherr Tax Bucharest SRL, which operates as a separate legal entity affiliated with the law firm. The firm’s tax practice in Romania comprises Theodor Artenie, Oana Manuceanu and Mihaela Popescu, all of whom worked as tax experts in the Bucharest office of the same Big Four accountancy firm before linking up with Schoenherr to form Schoenherr Tax Bucharest as a spin-off.
Theodor Artenie (30) has more than 9 years experience in professional business services, out of which 8 have been spent as part of the tax advisory practice of a Big Four accountancy firm in Romania. His main area of expertise concerns value-added tax (VAT) issues, in which he has extensive knowledge and experience with regard to the relevant Romanian and EU legislation. Theodor has extensive experience in managing complex cross-border tax projects after spending a year in the Big Four’s VAT practice in London. Over the years, Theodor has played an instrumental role in several initiatives to amend and modernise the Romanian VAT legislation in accordance with the requirements of the Romanian business environment and EU best practices. Theodor’s client portfolio includes multinational companies in the technology, real estate, defense, energy, industrial products, services and automotive sectors.
Oana Manuceanu (36) has over 11 years experience with a Big Four firm in Romania. Her experience includes complex advisory work related to structuring international assignments: salary tax, social security, immigration, recharge of costs, permanent establishment exposure, labor law requirements, the application of double taxation treaties, and social security agreements. Oana has extensive experience in working with major multinational companies active in Romania. She is also specialized in the tax treatment of various types of income derived by individuals (salary, investment, freelance activities etc), assessment and optimisation of the tax residency position, tax analysis of contractual relationships with individuals, as well as salary tax reviews.
Mihaela Popescu (33) also previously worked for the Bucharest office of a Big Four firm, where for the past 7 years she serviced a wide portfolio of clients, primarily in the financial services industry, real estate, IT, telecom and energy sectors. She has extensive experience in advising clients in domestic and international corporate income tax matters, withholding taxes and local taxes. Mihaela’s expertise relates in particular to tax reviews, the taxation of financial instruments, international tax structuring, M&A, deal structuring, tax due diligence, and transfer pricing. She also has significant experience in assisting resident and non-resident clients in successfully complying with their tax obligations in Romania or dealing with the Romanian tax authorities on various tax matters.