Germany

Deloitte Germany

Franklinstraße 50

60486 Frankfurt am Main

Germany

Tel: +49 69 75695 6204

Email: jdespiegeleer@deloitte.de

Website: www.deloitte.de

Johan has more than 20 years of experience in all areas of VAT. He is a partner at Deloitte Germany in Frankfurt am Main.

Having been with Deloitte since 2002, Johan is Deloitte Germany's Category Leader for Indirect Tax. He leads a group of 70 people located in eight offices across Germany. He is a member of Deloitte's EMEA and Global Indirect Tax Steering Committee. In this role Johan is responsible for the cooperation of the German indirect tax group with Deloitte's international member firm network, serving multinational and global clients.

Before joining Deloitte, Johan worked for Arthur Andersen for seven years in Brussels and Frankfurt. Before that, he served for two and a half years as a tax inspector at the Belgian VAT authority in the Brussels region.

Johan advises international and global clients in a wide variety of industries. His focus is on the financial services industry, advising multinational investment banks on many occasions. He also advises clients doing business in the manufacturing and consumer business industries. Johan has vast expertise in planning and coordinating large multinational engagements, focusing on efficient compliance, VAT-aligned supply chain and identification of VAT opportunities and risks (indirect tax review projects). Johan has also assisted clients in complex tax audits and tax litigation.

Johan has a master's degree in administrative sciences and a bachelor's degree in fiscal sciences. He is a Belgian certified tax consultant (Belastingconsulent). Johan is a frequent speaker at national and international tax seminars. Since 2012, he has lectured at the University of Wuerzburg, teaching VAT for master's candidates. His mother tongue is Dutch (Flemish) and he is fluent in English, German and French.

Flick Gocke Schaumburg

MesseTurm

Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 49

60308 Frankfurt

Germany

Tel: +49 69 717 03-0

Email: barbara.fleckenstein@fgs.de

Website: www.fgs.de

Barbara Fleckenstein-Weiland is an associated partner with Flick Gocke Schaumburg working at the firm's Frankfurt office. Barbara advises national and international businesses in all aspects of indirect tax law including VAT, excise duties and insurance tax. She has significant experience in the real-estate sector (rental services, asset management and real-estate transactions). Besides, Barbara has a strong focus on supply chain management. She frequently represents clients in VAT matters vis-à-vis the tax authorities, and before tax courts and the Federal Tax Court. Furthermore, she is experienced in providing consultancy services at the interface between criminal law and VAT.

Barbara is a qualified lawyer, a certified tax lawyer and a certified tax consultant. She is also a doctor of laws and has a master of laws degree (LLM UWE Bristol). She is a regular contributor to professional publications and lectures at tax seminars and conferences.

Deloitte Germany

Rosenheimer Platz 4

81669 Munich

Germany

Tel: +49 89 29036 8514

Email: eforster@deloitte.de

Website: www.deloitte.de

Eduard Forster, Deloitte Germany, has more than 17 years of experience in domestic and international tax covering a wide range of international tax planning issues. He is focused on VAT matters in general and on supply chain management as well as real estate in particular.

Eduard advices medium-sized and small enterprises as well as corporations related to domestic and foreign groups. He manages various VAT projects (for example, improving cash position, avoiding registrations, increasing of the ratio of input VAT deduction, tax code automatisation, supply chain management and so on).

Eduard has a master's degree in economics and a doctorate with a VAT focused thesis ('Public bodies and VAT harmonisation'). He is a certified German tax expert and is a regular speaker at external tax conferences (EUROFORUM, MangementCircle, among others) as well as at various client seminars (Annual Year End Tax Seminar, VAT Roadshows). He is a permanent author with Der Umsatz-Steuer-Berater and has authored articles in various tax journals.

Deloitte Germany

Loeffelstrasse 42

Stuttgart, 70597

Germany

Tel: +49 711 16554 7201

Website: www.deloitte.de

Thomas Knauer has more than 15 years of experience in all areas of VAT advisory and VAT recovery in Germany and Europe. Thomas is a partner at Deloitte Germany and serves as the head of the indirect tax service line in Stuttgart.

He is specialised on VAT advisory regarding tax efficient supply chains and has, in particular, special industry knowledge regarding the supply of hardware and software, the supply of pharmaceutical products and the automotive industry. His focus is on questions concerning the VAT finding in ERP systems (especially SAP) and VAT health checks and quick scans.

Before becoming a partner with Deloitte, Thomas was working in the VAT consulting groups of Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen.

Thomas has a degree in business administration from University of Saarbrücken (Dipl.-Kfm) and is a certified tax adviser (Steuerberater). He also acts as speaker on national and international VAT related events as well as on in-house trainings. In addition, he frequently holds readings at the University of Hohenheim regarding VAT.