Thomas Lassey

Thomas Lassey has more than 14 years’ experience in indirect tax, both in the UK and the UAE, covering all areas of indirect taxation, including advisory, compliance and M&A work. Tom advises clients throughout the UAE and Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) region, with a particular focus on the Abu Dhabi market, where he has significant expertise.

Tom takes a pragmatic, risk-focused approach to business, ensuring that his advice takes account of the different commercial circumstances of each client. He knows that every business is unique and therefore provides concise, usable advice expertly tailored to each client’s needs. He has wide expertise advising all types of businesses, with particular knowledge of diversified sovereign wealth funds and holding companies, as well real estate, transportation and logistics, healthcare, and telecom, media and technology (“TMT”) sectors.

Having worked in the UAE since VAT implementation, Tom has a deep understanding of the UAE market and the tax issues faced by businesses operating in the region. He is experienced in working with the Federal Tax Authority (“FTA”) during audits and supports clients to achieve the best possible outcomes in disputes, up to and including litigation. His recent work in the UAE has focused on tax internal audit, health checks, e-invoicing and tax function transformation.

In a previous role, Tom led the tax practice of an Abu Dhabi-based consultancy firm, where he developed a strong working knowledge of corporate tax and transfer pricing that he uses to provide holistic and useful advice to clients.

Tom holds a B.A. with honors from the University of Durham and is a Chartered Tax Advisor in the UK.

Relevant Experience:

• Led VAT compliance and advisory work for an Emirate-level Government Department of Finance, covering more than 60 government entities
• Designed and implemented a tailored VAT risk register for a sovereign wealth fund, allowing easy comparison of tax risks across many different verticals
• Oversaw an extensive VAT internal audit project for a major diversified consumer business and retail group
• Worked with several large quasi-government corporate groups to design a transformed tax and finance function fit for the future