Yerassimos is the co-managing partner and head of our tax & accounting practice. For more than 25 years he is focusing on tax planning for multi-national personal, active business and investment activities, with a particular emphasis on tax structuring for Greek and non-Greek business owners and investors. An important part of Yerassimos’ work involves assisting families and their family offices on asset structuring with the formation, management and periodic evaluation of multinational and multi-generational centralized control and management structures. In addition to numerous speaking engagements, organisation memberships and publications, Yerassimos has lectured at the Athens School of Economics on International Tax Law (Post-Graduate programme on Taxation) from 2003 to 2012.
Tax
Zepos & Yannopoulos
A cornerstone of the Zepos & Yannopoulos tax practice is its business tax advisory and compliance service offering, combined with extensive experience of handling complex claims in the Greek Supreme Court. The team represents a diverse array of clients, including global telecommunication companies, asset management firms, and investment banks, frequently overseeing VAT assessments and conducting tax due diligence. From Athens, Yerassimos Yannopoulos heads the outfit, being an expert in tax planning and structuring, whilst Maria Zoupa focuses on tax matters relating to corporate restructurings. Elina Filippou specialises in transfer pricing affairs, and Alex Karopoulos acts on behalf of the tax authorities in the context of tax audits.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team at Zeya are incredibly knowledgeable in the renewables industry; whilst providing strong technical advice they are also very practical and solutions based. Timeliness in advice is always critical and they respond very quickly and work in some cases to very tight timeframes. Their pricing is transparent and provides good value for money. On calls/meetings they always bring in just the relevant team members who all contribute to the task at hand; with the team members obviously having been briefed internal beforehand which brings efficiencies to the process.’
- 'The key thing is that all of the above individuals always make the time to speak/meet and freely provide their up front thoughts on the issue at hand in an honest, easy to understand way; follow on written advice is well crafted and fully explain sometimes complicated issues which can be shared with non financial/legal teams internally without the need for follow up explanations. They are all professional in the service they provide, like other advisors but the differentiating factor is that above all they really care about our business, where it is going so that we avoid any pitfalls before they are upon us and we can efficiently plan ahead.’
‘Zepos & Yannopoulos delivers an overall very good quality of service. We have had a long-term relationship with their team, they have a deep understanding of our needs and our business, they provide us with detailed answers and relevant suggestions. Their practice cover a wide range of tax services, including corporate tax, VAT, transfer pricing and personal tax aspects.’
‘Maria Zoupa stands out for paying special attention to some unique features of our business, she provides us with Greek tax context and quality recommendations but without guiding or forcing the decision on our side, she takes our request and parameters into consideration. On top of her technical skills, she is very nice, as is Alex Karopoulos whom we work with on VAT aspects. Both strive to deliver quality advice, even under urgency sometimes or with a short notice due to business unpredictability.’
‘Proximity, professionalism.’
Key clients
- Amadeus
- BIC
- Deutsche Telecom
- Fasanara Capital
- Gagosian Gallery
- Stavros Niarchos Foundation
- Trafigura
- Zoia
Work highlights
- Achieved a landmark win before the Greek Supreme Court, securing a €10 million tax refund for the client, over a controversial issue of international tax law relating to withholding tax on royalties.
- Represented a Greek subsidiary of a multinational company before the Greek Supreme Court in a breakthrough case to reverse for a client a multi-million VAT assessment.
- Advised a leading Greek-based contractor on corporate and international tax issues relating to its onshore and offshore activities, including in the US, as well as on the tax aspects of a double cross border upstream merger.
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Leading individuals
Elina heads the firm’s private client practice. She brings in years of experience in international tax matters and the way they impact the structuring of wealth and the performance of investment activity. She has been working with multijurisdictional family offices, asset managers and family-owned businesses on wealth structuring and estate planning, multi-generational governance and estate planning matters. She is active in the start-up ecosystem, working with start-ups and their investors, on tax aspects over the life of the activity from set up to exit, with a particular focus on compensation mechanisms for founders and executives. Elina is acknowledged as a highly regarded tax practitioner in Greece by a number of professional directories, such the International Tax Review (ITR), Legal 500, Who is Who Legal and Global Elite. She has been with Zepos & Yannopoulos since 2004 and is a member of the firm’s executive committee.
Maria leads our firm’s corporate tax advisory and compliance team. She advises multinationals on the full spectrum of corporate and international tax matters relevant to their Greek business, involving entry in the market/set up guidance, financing, operation, restructuring or exit of their Greek subsidiaries. Maria commonly advises clients on tax compliance aspects, assisting them determine tax risks and remediation measures and is handling corporate and international tax disputes. Maria is also active in M&As, assisting clients with tax due diligence, negotiations and structuring of transactions. She also specialises in energy taxation and has extensive experience in tax matters relevant to the acquisition, sales and generally restructurings of businesses active in the energy industry. She was admitted to the Athens Bar in 1999 and joined our firm in 1998. Maria is a member of the firm’s executive committee.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Yerassimos Yannopoulos