Philippe Lion

Philippe Lion

Senior Counsel
Baker McKenzie BV/SRL

Biography

Philippe Lion is a senior counsel in the Tax Practice Group of the Brussels office. He was the head of the Firm's EMEA Tax Practice Group from 2010 to 2016. Prior to that, he headed the EMEA Tax Transaction Subgroup for three years.

Before joining Baker McKenzie in 2003, Philippe worked for more than 10 years in the tax department of a Big Four firm, including on an 18-month secondment to its Frankfurt office.

For more than 20 years, Philippe has been a lecturer on International Tax Law at the Tax Management Program of the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.

Philippe writes about domestic and international tax matters and has published landmark articles in relation to Belgian anti-avoidance provisions and the Belgian participation exemption regime.

Practice Focus

Philippe advises mainly on corporate and international taxation (both inbound and outbound tax planning), as well as on M&A and real estate transactions.

Representative Legal Matters

  • Led multiple acquisition structuring and due diligence projects.
  • Advised on complex acquisition or divestment structures in the real estate field.
  • Involved in a number of intragroup restructuring and pre-transaction restructuring projects.

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • International Fiscal Association (IFA), Belgian branch - Member

Admissions

  • Brussels~Belgium (2003)

Education

  • King's College London (LL.M. Taxation) (1991)
  • Juristenaustauschprogramm in Germany (Tübingen-Düsseldorf) (DAAD) (1990)
  • Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Fiscales of Brussels (Post-Graduate Degree in Taxation, magna cum laude) (1989)
  • Catholic University of Leuven (Law Degree, cum laude) (1988)

Languages

  • Dutch
  • English
  • French
  • German
Author, Belgian Report on the subject of "Conflicts in the attribution of income to a person," IFA Congress in Kyoto in 2007