Baker & McKenzie executes TP coup in Japan

Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Koma Law Office (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise) announced today that Ken Okawara has joined the Tokyo office as head of transfer pricing and economic analysis.

A team of tax professionals (zeirishi) and economists will also follow to the Tokyo office as members of the global transfer pricing practice and economics group. The new group joins the firm’s transfer pricing and economics group. They will team with tax advisers and economists in the firm’s global tax practice to provide comprehensive economic and valuation services in connection with transfer pricing planning, documentation and controversy resolution and other international tax planning matters involving similar economic issues.

Jeremy Pitts, managing partner, Tokyo said: “We are very excited about the prospect of Okawara and his team joining us. With changes to the Japanese transfer pricing rules proposed in the next year or two, and the increasing focus on transfer pricing issues in many Asian jurisdictions in which Japanese companies own businesses, we believe that the time is right to expand this practice.”

Okawara joins from Shin-Nihon Ernst & Young where he served as a senior partner and headed the firm’s transfer pricing practice in Japan, responsible for advanced pricing agreements (APA), competent authority (CA) assistance, audit defence, transfer pricing planning and tax effective supply chain management.

Prior to that, he served as a partner of advisory group of strategy for international transactions at Arthur Andersen. He has extensive experience representing Japanese and international clients in negotiations with the tax authorities of Japan and other countries and has helped clients to obtain resolution of transfer pricing disputes at bilateral and multilateral competent authority proceedings.

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