Portugal

Firm overview

Morais Leitão is a leading full-service law firm in Portugal, with a solid background of decades of experience. Broadly recognised, the Firm is a reference in several branches and sectors of the law on national and international level.

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 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 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.

Due to its network of associations and alliances with local firms and the creation of the Morais Leitão Legal Circle in 2010, the firm can also offer support through offices in Angola (ALC Advogados), Cape Verde (VPQ Advogados), Mozambique (MDR Advogados) and Singapore.

Firm overview

Founded in 1999, CMS is an integrated, multi-jurisdictional organisation of law firms that offers full-service legal and tax advice. With 70+ offices in 40+ countries across the world, employing over 5,000 lawyers, CMS has longstanding expertise both at advising in its local jurisdictions and across borders. CMS offers specialist, business-focused advice to clients - from major multinationals and mid-caps to enterprising start-ups - operating in complex business and constantly changing regulatory environments.

We are part of the CMS global team, a world leader in the ranking of the Top 10 Global Law Firms with in-depth local knowledge and local experience in over 40 countries.

Clients from CMS Portugal benefit from the experience, the legal know-how, the deep knowledge of several sectors in the industry and also an international coverage, unique in Portugal, that allows us to provide a truly global service with a rapid response capacity.

The high standards required by the digital and traditional world are transforming the markets and boosting new business models. On CMS, we provide a monitoring focused on the client, anticipating the market tendencies in order to develop quick and efficient solutions in the face of constant challenges.

Our office has been active for nearly 50 years combining an international outlook with deep local roots. CMS lawyers are recognized leaders in the field and ranked by the most prestigious international directories.

CMS, the largest organization of law firms in Europe, aims to be the best European organization for legal services, capable of providing legal and tax advice of undisputed quality and agility.

The unique way in which CMS is organized provides its Clients with high quality and consistent advice that is absolutely client-focused and coordinated across borders.

CMS is present in 73 cities, 44 countries.

Firm overview

TELLES is a Portuguese based law firm established 84-years ago, founded in Porto, where it is seen by other firms and peers in general as one of the most solid and reputable law firms. TELLES is a full-service law firm with offices in Lisbon and Oporto that has undergone an expansion strategy in the past years. From a 55-lawyer firm in 2015, the lawyer head count now stands at 22 partners and 98 lawyers, more or less equally divided between our two offices. With a client-oriented culture, TELLES is today one of the top-ten Portuguese law firms.

TELLES’s tax team is today one of the largest Portuguese teams with 5 tax partners and 12 lawyers. It has a track record in transactional tax, international taxation, indirect taxation, private wealth taxation and complex litigation, representing leading companies in some of the most significant pending tax litigation cases. TELLES’ tax team represents clients with an estimated amount of pending judicial and administrative litigation of around EUR 50 million.

TELLES’ tax practice has a wide client portfolio, some of them for more than 50 years, including blue-chip companies, international and Portuguese banks, multinational groups, mid-tier national champions and high-profile family offices. The tax team advises large Portuguese and multinational groups and can make output tax work in complex fields of tax such as debt work-out structures, cross-border business restructuring and acquisitions, private equity, international wealth planning and digital economy. We are today one of the largest tax teams in Portugal in what concerns private client and wealth management advisory.

Our top clients include banking and financial institutions, insurance companies, holding companies, venture capital and private equity management companies, industrial companies active in the textile, packaging, food and beverages, cable, paint and thermal insulation markets, as well as hundreds of private clients, including the wealthiest Portuguese and international families currently living in Portugal or seeking to relocate here.

Firm overview

KPMG is the leading Tax Firm in Portugal.
KPMG Portugal’s Tax team has been growing consistently throughout last decade, currently counting 310 professionals (193 female + 117 male).
Our professionals are specialized in several technical areas of practice and focused on delivering a full range of services: from Tax Advisory Services to Compliance and Risk assessment, Controversy, Employment & Mobility, M&A, Incentives or, more recently, Tax ESG, Governance and Technology.
Our teams operate in several lines of business, having achieved a remarkable position, working with the major players (local or global) but also with the middle market, aligned with KPMG’s strategy in Portugal.
All 310 professionals are deeply involved in maximizing value for the clients through a very challenging but decisive combination of a strong technical background, strict ethics and a clear problem-solving and result driven attitude.
KPMG Portugal is focused in transforming (tax) knowledge in value, supporting the set up or development of businesses while having the clients and capital markets in the center.
Because times are changing rapidly, a new are of practice has also been added, Tax Innovation, aiming to add a technological dimension and foster innovation both internally (resulting in a better user experience) and externally (with an increased offer to clients who KPMG Portugal may now help to rethink processes or governance of their own tax practices or introduce a technology layer).
It also should be stressed that each one of our 310 professionals is bound by the “Principles for a Responsible Tax Practice” of KPMG International, being required to “act lawfully and with integrity in dealing with tax authorities and our clients and we aim to be fully compliant with all relevant requirements”.