Practices and Sectors

• Private Client & Family Office
• Tax

Profile

José Suárez joined Pérez-Llorca in 2007 and was named partner in January 2018.

Studies:

• 2006 Degree in Law, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, ICADE (E-3)
• 2007 Degree in Business Administration, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, ICADE (E-3)

He speaks Spanish and English.

Experience

With 20 years of experience in tax law, José specialises in the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, business families and family offices, with extensive knowledge of intergenerational estate and succession planning and in coordinating multidisciplinary teams to address the multidisciplinary needs of these types of clients.

He regularly advises UHNWIs and international families — primarily from Europe and Latin America — on the tax aspects of changes of residence and the international mobility of large estates, including the special regime for inbound assignees (the Beckham regime), the exit tax, and double-taxation treaties, as well as on the Spanish tax characterisation of foreign fiduciary structures (trusts, fideicomisos and private-interest foundations) and on the validation and adaptation of their holding structures to Spanish law in order to eliminate tax inefficiencies.

In designing wealth-management solutions, he works across practice areas with other departments at the firm — Corporate, Insurance, Litigation and Arbitration, among others — to deliver integrated responses in which the tax dimension is combined with the legal, corporate or contractual architecture that each case requires. Among the most innovative proposals he has developed in this context are the use of unit-linked insurance policies as an instrument of estate and succession planning, the design of intergenerational transfer structures separating economic and voting rights aimed at preserving the continuity and control of large business groups beyond the founder, the design of tax-risk-coverage policies for individuals, and the use of investment-protection mechanisms under bilateral treaties (BITs) for Latin American families with assets exposed to politically unstable environments. He also advises European and Latin American private banks, and domestic and international insurance companies, on the tax treatment of their products and investment structures for large estates.

He has also led numerous pre-litigation and tax-litigation matters at all administrative and judicial levels, including matters of particular complexity in the areas of tax residence, international tax transparency and the regularisation of structures and assets abroad. He complements his tax speciality with an extensive knowledge of accounting law.

José is deeply committed to the firm’s corporate social responsibility activities. In this area he has been involved in advising numerous not-for-profit organisations on the tax regime applicable to their activities, as well as in designing foundation structures for philanthropic purposes for private clients, including the establishment of foundations of general interest as an instrument of governance and estate planning.

Professional Organisations

The Madrid Bar Association (ICAM).

Academic and Publishing Collaborations

José has published numerous articles related to his practice area in the legal press and specialist publications, and has contributed to the editing and authorship of numerous works, including the various editions of the book “Jurisprudencia casacional en materia tributaria” (Case Law in Tax Matters).

Since 2020 he has been an associate professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where he teaches on the Master’s degree for Access to the Legal Profession course and on the specialist “Expert in Corporate Governane and M&A Transactions” course. He also teaches the “Family Business” module on the Advanced Specialisation Diploma in Estate and Investment Tax Optimisation at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid’s School of Legal Practice, and the “Professional Companies” module on the Master’s degree in Tax Advice at that same institution. He has also contributed to various courses and sessions organised by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. He regularly collaborates with family-business associations such as ADEFAM (Asociación de la Empresa Familiar de Madrid) in developing training sessions on tax and succession planning, family governance and the intergenerational transfer of wealth.

Recognition

José Suárez features in various legal directories such as:

• Chambers High Net Worth: ‘Private Wealth Law’.
• Legal 500 EMEA: Tax (Next Generation Partner).
• World Tax: Highly regarded (Private Client y Tax Controversy).
• Leaders League: ‘Corporate Tax’.
• Best Lawyers®: Corporate and M&A Law and Probates and Estates.