ABOUT LAURENT POUILLE Laurent Pouille is a 53 year old tax lawyer, attorney at law, member of the Paris Bar. He is evolving in complex organizations where he demonstrated his business management skills and a real strength to come up with innovative proposals, combined with a unique team spirit. Laurent graduated from the Sorbonne University of Paris with a PhD in Tax Law and also owns a Master II in tax law from the Sorbonne University and a Diploma from the Institute of business law of Paris II - Assas University. He is the author of several articles amongst which the two articles published in the French Revue de droit fiscal on the treatment of goodwill in French tax law. Laurent is a member of the French branch of the International fiscal association (IFA) and of the French Institute of tax lawyer (IACF). For over ten years, Laurent has been the tax expert of a law firm of twenty people, the Jean-Claude Coulon & Associates law firm. Laurent has actively contributed to the complete restructuring of companies at a national and international level for mergers & acquisitions, entities creation, and the reorganization of the financial flows. He is used to serve as an advisor to the Board of several companies. He also provides tax advices to companies in areas such as tax audit of the main commercial contracts and modifications, preparation and consolidation of transfer pricing documentation, coaching of companies’ financial directors. Laurent has acquired extensive expertise in tax inspection and litigation. He is the direct tax interlocutor to the French public administration. He acts as companies’ representative during tax inspections. A key asset in meetings with auditors, he reviews answers to their inquiries, identifying the most suitable response to reassessment proposals, observation letters and various appeals (escalation process and commissions for instance). Thanks to his broad experience, he is skilled in defining the most appropriate strategy for his clients. He is as well the contact point for all communications with the tax public administration, on the behalf of companies, negotiating with the French tax administration, sometimes to the level just below the Minister of Finance. He assists clients with claim preparation, court referrals and the procedure itself. In case of negotiation of an alternative settlement, he undertakes the necessary formalities with competent authorities. He has been in charge of litigations where the companies tax liabilities sometimes exceed one hundred million euros. One of the Laurent’s unique strengths is in his ability to undertake all forms of negotiations with the French administration. He also advises individual clients on tax issues. Areas of Expertise Corporate Tax | Tax Audit and Litigation | Individual Tax FIRM PROFILE The Jean-Claude Coulon & Associates law firm is located in the centre of Paris, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and is mainly specialized in distribution and competition law. The law firm founder, Mr Jean-Claude Coulon, president of the National Association of Legal Advisers, was a real visionary when it comes to foreseeing the future of the French legal advice profession. Even though Mr Coulon died prematurely in 1991, his spirit and his methods, relying on tailored and crossdiscipline legal advice to companies, are still present within the law practice, to the benefit of long term and new clients. The Cabinet Coulon is also a member of an international network of law firms established in January 2001: Pragma. Currently, Pragma has 48 law offices in 17 countries with a turnover of more than 100 million Euros. Laurent coordinates tax aspects of the international Pragma network for its French entity with respect to harmonization of tax advice to regional offices within companies and audits & tax litigation advice. 21 TAXATION AWARDS 2021 EUROPE | FRANCE
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