Portugal

Firm overview

At Morais Leitão we have a substantial team of tax lawyers with a relevant experience in this area. Our clients include some of the largest national and foreign corporate groups, operating in a wide range of sectors, including industry, services and telecommunications, banking and financial services, securities and real estate investment funds and private equity funds, as well as medium and small companies, public institutions, foundations, non-governmental social support organizations and private clients.

Alongside the tax litigation, we also ensure the best integrated tax advice in relation to the most diverse operations, seeking, where required, to complement the tax analysis with an approach to the different relevant areas of law. Our expertise comprises tax planning in corporate restructuring operations, research and development activities, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, securitisation operations, structured finance operations, mortgage credit, debt issuance, derivatives, as well as specific tailored tax support within the scope of each client’s field of activity.

We also accompany, at the request of our clients, inspection actions carried out by the Tax Authority, ensuring a thorough knowledge of the substantive law and a wide experience of legal assistance in the most diverse inspection procedures. In the area of tax litigation, we are proud on having a recognized team, which has sponsored some of the largest and most complex tax complaints and arbitration processes that have been trialed by our courts.

Firm overview

Transformative Legal Experts

We are a law firm based in Portugal that combines a full service with bespoke legal craftsmanship. For more than 50 years, we have taken an innovative and creative approach that has produced specific, strategic solutions to effectively defend the interests of our clients. 

We are a full-service firm and we support our clients in all areas of the law, often with multidisciplinary teams, and always acting as a business partner in the most strategic decision-making processes. PLMJ has specialist lawyers that know the sectors and markets they work in well, and they always keep in close contact with the regulators for each sector.

With the aim of being close to our clients, we created PLMJ Colab, our collaborative network of law firms spread across Portugal and other countries with which it has cultural and strategic ties. PLMJ Colab makes the best use of resources and provides a concerted response to the international challenges of our clients, wherever they are. The national partnerships allow us to extend PLMJ’s presence from Lisbon, Porto and Faro to the Azores, Coimbra, Guimarães and Madeira.  International collaboration is ensured through firms specialising in the legal systems and local cultures of Angola, China/Macao, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tome and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.

We also have international desks specializing in Angola, China, France, Germany, Italy, Mozambique, Scandinavia, Switzerland and UK markets. Each desk focuses on a specific market and has a multidisciplinary team experienced in supporting and advising international investors. Besides knowing the idiosyncrasies of language and culture, these teams have a deep knowledge of the market, legislation and workings of the economy of the place where they work.

Firm overview

As the world continues to change and we witness the increasing role of technology, discussions around tax are getting more complex and intense.

Also, despite many domestic challenges, tax is more and more a global concern for global organizations (MNCs), demanding global action on managing tax issues.

On the other hand, transparency, ‘fairness’ and tax governance are now everyday topics in MNCs board agendas, as governments take effective steps to make this the new tax landscape for businesses: the BEPS action plan and other OECD statements are strong evidence of this new mindset.

It is in this context where leaders are being called upon to help drive tax uncertainty within their organizations and to make visible their “tax storyline” consistently with the organization’s principles and values, at the same time they are asked to have a positive contribution to society and to add value to the business.

Our tax professionals are forward thinkers with a strong understanding of this new tax landscape, as well as of the business drivers and conditions across the jurisdictions in which clients operate.

 At KPMG we take a holistic approach to tax planning, so that clients have a consistent, robust and effective view on their tax issues and concerns.

Because our tax professionals take the time to understand the clients’ business issues – not just the challenges related to tax – they also know when and how to draw on the experience and knowledge of other local and global service lines to help address these tax issues and concerns.

Firm overview

Abreu Advogados is a big four independent law firm with over 30 years of experience in the Portuguese market, navigating in tomorrow´s sectors and industries. As a full service law firm, Abreu is recognized as the 11th fastest growing Portuguese firm by The Lawyer Euro 100, with 51% growth in 5 years.

With offices in Lisbon, Porto and Funchal, Abreu has provided highly effective solutions in areas such as Corporate/M&A, Tax, Litigation and Competition. The team holds a high degree of specialization in key industries for the Portuguese and African economies, such as Energy and Natural Resources, Real Estate, Banking, Technology, Life Sciences, Projects, Tourism and Hospitality.

Its clients consistently choose the firm to seize growth opportunities and to assist on increasingly complex international transactions whilst working with the most prestigious law firms in the world.

The firm´s successfully implemented strategy is to be disruptive and challenge the status quo. Considered a leading Tech firm in the Finance, Fintech and TMT areas, its teams have analyzed the consequences not yet addressed of corporate models, such as cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Abreu Advogados is a member of several Associations of international Lawyers, such as Consulegis, AIJA, UIA, CIArb, ABA, amongst other, providing Clients with the benefits of global service. Its international visibility has been strengthened through the relationship with Multilaw, which has allowed the firm to assist clients from various jurisdictions.

Abreu Advogados is committed to setting the future in progress.

ESG DNA:

Powered by tomorrow’s challenges

Embracing sustainability is part of the DNA of Abreu Advogados. This is its identity and has led the firm to assume an active commitment towards its culture and people.

Since 2015, Abreu Advogados is the only Law Firm in Portugal certified B Corp and understands its practice as a force for good. Abreu Advogados aims to serve as an example in the construction of a law firm that values, supports and promotes best practices at a social, economic and environmental level.

By certifying its quality management system under the European ISO 9001 standards, the firm became the first law firm in Portugal to do so and to subsequently publish a Sustainability Report. Abreu Advogados is also the first (and still the only) Portuguese law firm to publish a Sustainability Report under the directives issued by the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), to publish its accounts and to measure its carbon footprint.

Abreu Advogados is powered by tomorrow´s challenges and well positioned to advise its clients on ESG matters, advising companies from many different sectors, as well as public bodies and non-governmental organizations on all aspects related but not limited to environmental law, including environmental impact assessments, prior information procedures, and licensing and certification of economic activities, effluent management and waste management.

30 years of sustainable growth

For the past three decades, Abreu has led the way in creating long term partnerships with its clients and relied on diverse talent and expertise.Abreu's core is deeply non-conformist and fearless when diving into what are now the most innovative sectors and industries.

Being recognized by the successful and sustainable regulatory solutions it presents, on different sectors and jurisdictions, Abreu Advogados aims at the continuity of its clients businesses - which have been its biggest champions.

Its strength? Truly challenging and winning business models. By embracing consistency and bold strategies, Abreu has paved the way for the next thirty years in the legal sector, as a leading law firm in the Portuguese market.

Firm overview

Vieira de Almeida (VdA) is a leading international law firm with more than 40 years of history, recognised for its impressive track record and innovative approach in corporate legal services. The excellence of its highly specialised legal services covering several industries and practice areas, enables VdA to overcome the increasingly complex challenges faced by its clients.

Our tax team has unique analytical abilities and is best known for its capabilities in structuring highly efficient innovative structures within a highly scrutinised and regulated environment, in every market where our clients operate. We are pragmatic and agile, working in cross-practice tailor-made teams that focus on the relevant demands of each matter and jurisdiction.

Firm overview

Durham Agrellos was founded in 2017, born of the aspiration to create a differentiated project of legal advice from its base in Portugal. We are specialized in tax law and private clients.

We place our experience at the service of our clients' needs, providing solid, innovative and creative legal solutions to particularly sensitive and complex matters.

We have adopted an institutional model of low leverage and high specialization, to ensure rigorous and personalized monitoring, guaranteeing that all hours dedicated to our clients result in effective value creation.

We believe that the solidity of the legal solutions we provide requires a constant effort to update and deepen our lawyers’ knowledge. That’s why we promote continuous training. The presence of our lawyers at the Academy reflects the genetic institutional value of our firm. We demand a culture of the utmost rigour, hard work and sense of duty.