International Tax Lawyer: Treaties, Structures and Cross-Border Flows
Alphard Law's practice is exclusively dedicated to international taxation: the firm acts only on situations involving a cross-border element, whether residence, assets, income or transactions crossing a frontier. This page sets out the scope of that practice, from advising internationally mobile individuals to structuring corporate groups, including French reporting compliance and litigation defence. The most frequent situations have their own dedicated pages: expatriation and international mobility, voluntary disclosure of foreign assets, international estates and tax litigation.
The foundation: residence, source and treaty
Every cross-border question comes down to three determinations. Where is the taxpayer resident under the domestic law of each state concerned (for France, Article 4 B of the French Tax Code)? What is the source of each item of income? And what does the applicable tax treaty, where one exists, provide as to the right to tax and the elimination of double taxation? These three questions look simple and in fact concentrate most of the risk: a poorly established residence, a mischaracterised source or a badly articulated treaty produces expensive double taxation or avoidable reassessments. The firm works daily with the French treaty network, one of the widest in the world, and with situations no treaty covers.
French reporting compliance is the visible face of the file. Foreign accounts, life insurance policies and structures, foreign-source income, holdings in foreign entities, trusts (Article 1649 AB of the French Tax Code): French obligations are numerous, backed by penalties, and disregarding them turns a substantively sound position into a high-risk file. We map each client's reporting obligations and support them year after year.
Individuals, executives and international families
The firm advises people whose lives or wealth cross borders: transfers of tax residence and the French exit tax (Article 167 bis), non-residents holding French income or real estate (Article 244 bis A), inpatriates (Article 155 B), dual-national families, holders of foreign structures, and French-American taxpayers whose FBAR and FATCA obligations must be articulated with French taxation. These situations are set out in detail on our expatriation and international mobility page and in our published analyses.
Companies and groups: establishment, flows and transfer pricing
For businesses, international taxation plays out on three fronts. Establishment first: choice of vehicle, subsidiary or branch, and above all control of permanent establishment risk, whose assertion by a foreign tax authority is one of the most frequent causes of double taxation. Flows next: dividends, interest and royalties, withholding taxes and their treaty reduction, the parent-subsidiary regime and tax consolidation, intra-group financing. Transfer pricing finally, which requires documentation consistent with the group's functional reality and not merely with its objectives. We also advise on anti-avoidance regimes, including Articles 123 bis and 209 B of the French Tax Code, which attribute to French residents income parked in lightly taxed foreign entities.
What we do not do
The firm does not design arrangements whose only justification is tax. French, treaty-based and EU anti-abuse rules make such schemes not merely risky but generally doomed, and they expose the taxpayer to heavy penalties while leaving the adviser unscathed. Our test is constant: a structure must have its own economic substance and rationale, and it must remain defensible before a tax inspector five years later. That is the point of our litigation practice, which shows us every year what holds up and what does not.
Our method
Every engagement produces a written, sourced analysis, drawing on legislation, treaties, case law and administrative guidance, delivered to the client and capable of being relied upon over time. We work with vetted local counsel in the jurisdictions concerned, without ever delegating the overall view, which remains the firm's. The criteria for choosing international tax counsel are set out in our guide on how to choose the best tax lawyer, and the firm's approach is described by its clients in their reviews, rated 5.0 out of 5 on Google.
Frequently asked questions
What falls within international taxation?
Any situation with a cross-border element: residing in one state and receiving income from another, holding assets abroad, carrying on activity across borders, inheriting from a person established outside France, transferring tax residence, or belonging to a group present in several countries. As soon as a border is crossed, at least two tax systems apply simultaneously and must be articulated, usually through a tax treaty.
What is a tax treaty for?
A bilateral tax treaty allocates taxing rights between two states and organises the elimination of double taxation, by exemption or by tax credit. It also resolves conflicts where both states claim the same taxpayer as a resident. It does not create tax and cannot worsen the taxpayer's position compared with domestic law: it allocates. France has one of the widest treaty networks in the world, but not every situation is covered.
What is a permanent establishment and why is it a risk?
A fixed place of business or dependent presence through which an enterprise carries on all or part of its activity in another state, entitling that state to tax the profits attributable to it. The risk lies in the fact that a permanent establishment can be found to exist without ever having been intended, for instance through an employee habitually concluding contracts, resulting in foreign taxation, local filing obligations and, frequently, double taxation to be unwound.
Is holding a structure abroad lawful?
Holding a company, an account or a trust abroad is perfectly lawful, subject to three conditions: the structure must have genuine economic substance and rationale, it must be reported in accordance with French obligations, and its income must be taxed under the applicable rules, including anti-avoidance regimes attributing certain foreign income to the French resident. It is the absence of substance or of reporting, not the existence of the structure, that creates risk.
How do you work with foreign counsel?
The firm handles the French side of the file and coordinates local counsel in the jurisdictions concerned, selected for their competence on the specific question. The client keeps a single point of contact who retains the overall view, which avoids the classic pitfall of cross-border matters: two advisers each excellent in their own law, with neither answerable for overall coherence.
Does your situation have an international dimension? Contact Alphard Law for a confidential initial discussion.