Tax and customs

Partner, Head of Labor & Employment, Healthcare, Medicine & Pharmaceuticals.

Rustam Ospanov is a Senior Partner in Sayat Zholshy & Partners.  The tax practice of the Firm headed by Rustam Ospanov was justly recognized the best in Kazakhstan in 2009-2012. The team lead by Rustam advises numerous clients on tax issues and successfully protects the rights and interests of taxpayers in administrative and court proceedings. Rustam acted as a legal counsel in the liquidation procedures of a major Kazakhstan bank and a number of large companies in the phosphor and power sectors. Rustam has an extensive experience in structuring and performance of M&A transactions in compliance with tax, corporate and antitrust laws. On numerous occasions Rustam performed the due diligence of major Kazakhstan companies with regard to potential legal risks associated with business acquisition. He designed and implemented transactions for purchase of large-scale facilities in the power and gas transportation sectors and for reorganisation of individual entities and holdings. Rustam also handled cases on protection of clients’ (natural monopolies, dominants and other market players) interests in their relations with antitrust and fiscal authorities with regard to challenging and reversal of the decisions and acts issued by the above-mentioned authorities and officers.

Partner specialising in Dispute Resolution and Litigation, Finance and Tax. Talgat has wide experience in the field of dispute resolution and litigation including appeal of actions of state authorities regarding taxation, transfer pricing, customs duties. Talgat has represented clients in administrative proceedings on violation of tax, customs, environment, licensing, immigration, labour legislation. He has consulted clients on taxation issues.

Yelena Tyureikina is a Partner in Sayat Zholshy & Partners. Yelena has extensive legal experience spanning over 22 years, including 12 years in Sayat Zholshy & Partners, and specializes in tax and corporate laws. Yelena’s tax practice is broad-based and encompasses advice on various taxation issues, corporate tax planning, pre-assessment of transactions with regard to tax implications, consulting on transaction structuring in terms of tax optimisation (including foreign jurisdictions), legal support of clients in connection with tax audits and challenging of audit procedures and/or findings in higher-level tax authorities, and successful representation of clients in courts in connection with tax disputes.

Managing Partner specialising Subsoil Use, Finance and Tax, Contracts and Business Law and Mergers and Acquisitions. Sofiya has advised numerous international oil and gas and mining companies on various subsoil use issues for more than 20 years including on strategic acquisitions, whether by assignment, takeover or otherwise. Sofiya has a versatile client base, including a number of publicly listed companies. She participated in drafting a number of regulations related to the subsurface use, M&A and tax matters. Sofiya particularly focuses on the subsoil use taxation, including transfer pricing and international taxation. Clients highly value her for being not only technically strong but also for her commercial experience, and business adviser approach, as well as dealing with officials. Corporate issues, including optimization business, are also among her key and basic practices. Recently, Sofiya had several tax litigations including successful representation of two international E&P companies in their court claims against tax authorities on PSA stability matters. She has a number of publications on issues related to the oil and gas topical issues and is a frequent speaker in oil and gas and related conferences. Sofiya participated in several governmental law-making working groups for drafting laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan.