December 12, 2022
Ankur Jain is a Senior Director at MMJS and leads the indirect tax practice in the UAE. He is a VAT / GST Implementation expert and Indirect Tax Senior professional with over 14 years of experience of multiple Jurisdictions. He has been ranked as ‘Highly Regarded’ in Indirect Tax in UAE by International Tax Review (ITR) World Tax in 2022-23, the world’s leading tax and accounting practice directory and ‘Rising Star Indirect Tax’ in 2021-22.
July 5, 2022
Luc is a Director of VAT and Manager at Kreston MDS in Belgium and a Certified Tax Adviser ITAA. He is very well known and respected in Belgium as a result of many years in the profession, including a Big 4 firm, in the Tax Administration in Brussels and for his profile as a result of publishing a large number of books on international and domestic VAT matters and having presented and lectured on the subject.
Luc wanted to join the leadership team given his experience in previously seeing an international network move from being a group of local specialists to a collaborative team with an international VAT and other indirect tax network. He knows what we need to do to continue to grow and wants to help us achieve our goals.
Luc said, “It is an honour to be appointed as the Global Technical Director and exciting that I am part of a network which is dedicated to developing its indirect tax services. My job will be to identify things happening around the world that may be of interest to future clients and to help Rupert in raising the profile of indirect taxes through webinars, live conferences and publicity. I have spent my career raising knowledge of VAT as it is complex and, from my experience in similar networks, I have seen significant collaborative projects that can be won and delivered effectively if a network of professionals are committed to each other. It takes a desire to be a part of a team where members know and can rely on each other. A team is successful because all members know that their piece of advice or compliance service must be of quality and delivered quickly. Clients expect a responsive, joined-up service and if one element fails it lets the whole team down.”
Geoff is a Senior Managing Director and the National State and Local Tax Practice Leader at CBIZ MHM. He has been in his current role for 10 years and before that his experience includes for a number of years within a Big 4 accounting firm and in industry in the retail/hospitality sector.
Geoff has been a participant in the VAT/indirect taxes group for a number of years, having presented to the group on US Sales Tax in Zurich in 2018. Since then, having raised awareness of catches for overseas businesses trading with the US he has developed a number of client relationships through European Kreston associates.
Geoff took the North American role saying: “From my experience in the European VAT group, I’ve realised the benefit that raising awareness of US Sales Tax can have in business generation. If others are prepared to join us and talk about the local issues that foreign businesses may have in their country I am sure, in time, they too will see an uplift in indirect tax work and in cross-selling other accounting and advisory services. Success for me has been about putting in the effort and being persistent, which has led to work and fees. I’m looking forward to developing a regional group that continues to raise awareness of local issues and identifies issues for our own clients abroad; there’s got to be many more referral opportunities out there for us.”
Eduard Pavel has been an owner and Tax Partner at Kreston Romania for 18 years. He specialises in taxation, with a focus on VAT and Corporate Income Tax (CIT). Eduard has been an active member of Kreston’s VAT group in Europe since 2011 and plays a key role in expanding its influence.
His expertise lies in helping businesses navigate complex tax regulations and optimize their financial strategies. He is committed to strengthening Kreston’s VAT group by encouraging collaboration among professionals and promoting the strategic value of indirect taxes within firms.
Rupert has over 30 years of experience as a VAT specialist and has been Head of VAT at Kreston Global member firm Kreston Reeves since 2015, becoming partner in 2017. His work focuses on owner managed businesses and international groups, and he has extensive experience advising businesses on the consequences of trade between the UK and EU post Brexit.
Prior to joining Kreston Reeves, Rupert worked for PwC for six years, and then Baker Tilly (now RSM) for eight years as Director of VAT services in the Southern UK Region. There he was responsible for a broad client base of owner-managed businesses, property companies, international groups and charitable/not-for-profit organisations, advising on transactions, reliefs and handling negotiations with UK’s Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
