Ben Phillips

Ben has a general focus on international tax and mergers and acquisitions, and has focused specifically on advising technology, media and telecommunications clients.

More recently, Ben has had a specific focus on the introduction of corporate tax in the UAE as well as the Pillar One and Pillar Two initiatives announced by the OECD.

• Tax advisory on a significant investment by a UAE sovereign wealth fund in a global environmental commodities exchange and their re-domiciliation from Singapore to the UAE.
• Tax advisory on the applicability of the introduction of UAE corporate tax to a prominent UAE headquartered family business.
• Tax advisory to a UAE headquartered FMCG business on pre-implementation restructuring in light of the introduction of UAE corporate tax.
• Lead tax advisor to a UAE headquartered business on the application of the OECD Pillar II Model Rules (global minimum tax) and UAE corporate tax to their group operations.
• Acted as the ongoing tax advisor to a global leading ecommerce platform with a regional headquarter in the UAE and operations across the MENA region.
• Provided tax advisory, and implementation support, to a UK headquartered business looking to restructure its existing KSA JV operations.
• Tax due diligence, acquisition structure and SPA support on the acquisition of a UAE based, MENA operating, telecommunication operator.
• Performed initial assessments of the financial impact on businesses of the introduction of the Pillar One and Pillar Two measures, as announced by the OECD.
• Review of distribution agreements (for a number of different industries) across a number of MENA jurisdictions to understand key tax risks (such as permanent establishment) and tax leakage on payments.
• Review of existing business structures to identify any potential tax optimisation, especially in light of compliance with transfer pricing regulations.

• ICAEW - Chartered Accountant