Kunal Savani

Kunal has 18 years of post-qualification experience. In addition to being a lawyer, he is also a qualified chartered accountant.

He has expertise in various aspects of direct tax, such as corporate tax, international tax, in-bound and out-bound M&A transactions. His experience includes conceptualising and evaluating tax efficient alternatives and plans for acquisitions/divestments, mergers/ demergers and business/corporate reorganisation with a view to minimising transaction costs and/or tax exposure based on the commercial objectives of the stakeholders involved.

Relevant Experience

• Advised on matters related to compensation planning for multinational company executives, statutory compliances regarding corporate taxation and expatriate taxation, examining issues like permanent establishment on account of secondment / deputation (and more recently due to work from anywhere) and how to mitigate the same, etc
• Advised on a number of large and complex M&A and financing transactions having multi-jurisdictional footprints
• Advised clients across industries, including Aerospace, Automotive, Banking, Financial Services, Hospitality, Infrastructure, Insurance, ITES, Media & Entertainment, Mining & Metals, Pharmaceuticals, Private Equity, Real Estate, Telecommunications, etc.
• Part of the Private Client Practice team, specialising in tax laws related to family settlements / constitutions, trusts (onshore and offshore), wills, gifts and succession planning including US and UK tax laws since 2012
• Advised on various high profile family arrangements, partition of HUF’s and restructuring of family assets in a tax efficient manner

Kunal has written several articles / blogs on direct tax matters, which have been published in leading newspapers, journals and tax blogs. He has also spoken at various conferences and seminars

He has also been invited as a speaker at various forums like PHD Conference on Tax Aspects of Business Reconstructions, Acquisitions and Family Settlement, Confederation of Indian Industry– Family Business Network, Programme for Legal Education and Awareness, Bridge session at IMC.

He has also co-authored a detailed chapter on ‘Taxation of income from other sources– implications u/s 56 (2)(vii)/(vii/a)-A compendium published by The Chamber of Tax Consultants.

He has also authored or co-authored academic papers or articles on varied topics such as ‘Disclosure Regime in India’ published in the Oxford Journal Trust and Trustee; and ‘Application of the MFN Clause under India’s Tax Treaties’ published in Tax Notes International.

Awards & Recognition

• Recommended Lawyer Tax, Legal 500 Asia Pacific Rankings, 2022 and 2023.

Memberships

• Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa, India
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
• Chamber of Tax Consultants
• Bombay Chartered Accountants Society
• Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO)