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

This 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. However, 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.

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

told us about what he is doing from a technological side in the tax department, introduced us to digitalization and data analytics, and what his team has done in the last 3 years around automation in the tax department.

Last but not least, Olivier Lambert, who has worked in EY Luxembourg for 18 years and is currently acting as Indirect Tax Leader for the Financial Sector at EY Luxembourg, gave us a presentation on the topic of VAT. He gave us an overview of the different practices in the Indirect Tax group as well as a case study in which we had to determine the VAT treatment of various transactions. Moreover, in doing so, we were able to demonstrate our VAT knowledge we had already acquired. Artur Kasprzak, Assistant at the Indirect Tax Department and who was also in our shoes last year, was also present at the workshop. Artur was happy to answer all our general and more specific questions regarding working at his department and living in Luxembourg. All the sessions gave us an in-depth view of EY Luxembourg, and everyone was very kind and open to answer all our questions.

The day came to an end with possibly the most important part of the tour, the Alumni & HR session, in which Senior Recruiter Esther Niwemubyeyi provided us with the opportunity to speak to people working at EY, described to us what it means to live in Luxembourg, to be part of such a big family and the international opportunities that EY offers to its employees. After giving us very useful tips and tricks regarding the application procession, Esther stressed that we can always contact her or the speakers, either by connecting to them on LinkedIn or directly through e-mail. Many thanks therefore!

Unfortunately, this year there was no possibility to interact and to talk to the EY staff in person, neither to stroll around in the vibrant city of Luxembourg. Despite the online setting, all employees were very enthusiastic about the work as well as about the working environment. Overall, I think the virtual EY Luxembourg office visit has been a very enriching experience because it gave the IETL students an idea of the atmosphere in the office and to get a better idea of EY Luxembourg itself. Thank you EY for organizing this office visit despite the challenging circumstances we are currently facing!