International
Virtual EY Luxembourg Tour One of the yearly highlights for the international students of the International & European Tax Law program is the long-awaited trip to EY Luxembourg organized by FIRST Maastricht. However, this year our trip was slightly different. It did not take place as previous years due to COVID-19. On the 26th the event took place in an online environment with a group of FIRST members, consisting of more than 15 different nationalities. It was an incredible opportunity to get in touch with an amazing potential employer. However, I have to admit that it was a shame we could not meet the EY employees in person and see the impressive headquarters of EY Luxembourg in its beautiful city.
By Maxime Cassiers
T
his opportunity was aimed at getting to know EY Luxembourg office and experience daily work life of an EY employee. The virtual EY Luxembourg office tour started off with a welcome session and presentation of the office in which Per Ohlin, one of the Associate Partners of the firm, explained the structure and organization of the firm as well as the career opportunities they are offering students of Maastricht University (UM). He explained to us what EY Luxembourg stands for: building a better working world! Moreover, he told us about EY’s Global Strategy for 2020-2026: an adjusting strategy needed due to COVID-19 and the digitalization of the economy. Additionally, new challenges imposed by international tax development such as BEPS and the mandatory disclosure regime of DAC6 were briefly discussed. How20
ever, he shared our regrets that the students could not visit them in their office in person. After this introduction of EY in which they explained more about their Luxembourg office and the general activities performed by the employees, the first (online) session on International Tax and Transaction Tax Services (ITTS) took place. Margherita Hausbrandt and Gea Saarva, Senior Tax Advisor and Manager at EY, gave us the first technical workshop in which they introduced us to the ITTS practice. Moreover they, as being also Maastricht University graduates, explained to us how the working life at EY looks like through a short case study. They told us about the Global Mobility Program, through which EY is giving their employees the possibility of working abroad for a year in any of the countries in which the company has a branch. We learned that this is a great opportunity to enhance your knowledge and meet new people. FEBRUARI 2021 FIRM
The second session that the EY staff had prepared for us was given by Susana Romero and Jean-Bernard Dussert, Manager and Associate Partner at EY Luxembourg. They provided us with the ins and outs of Transfer Pricing (TP) by explaining to us what TP exactly entails and how it operates within the Luxembourg office on a daily basis. TP is a fastgrowing department consisting of 50 to 55 persons, including people from all around the world. It is important to bear in mind that transfer pricing rules and regulations around the world continue to grow in number and complexity. The day continued and we were already at our third session, dealing with Tax & Tech. Johan Kristensson, Manager working in the intersection between IT and Tax, explained us his daily working activities, consisting of the development of digital services for clients and the digitalization of the tax department of EY. Johan thoroughly
