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Ludger Wellens

Grant Thornton

2026_ITR World Tax Highly Regarded Practitioner.png
Position: Partner - Head of Transfer Pricing
Rating:
  • Highly Regarded
Practice Areas:
Tax controversy
Transfer pricing
Jurisdictions:
Languages:
German
English
Biography

Dr. Ludger Wellens is a Tax and Transfer Pricing Partner with Grant Thornton where he leads the Transfer Pricing practice. In the past he worked both as an in-house consultant in industry and tax/transfer pricing expert for PwC and EY.

Ludger has spent decades in international tax and transfer pricing. He has planned, documented and implemented numerous transfer pricing systems. He has worked extensively on Value Chain Transformation projects both inbound and outbound. This includes the optimization of value chains, tax/TP procedures and processes. Additionally, the identification and valuation of IP as well as business restructurings is an important element of his work.

Ludger has extensive experience solving controversies through defending tax audits/joint audits and supporting mutual agreement procedures (MAPs) as well as advance pricing agreements (APAs).

Ludger is certified as German Tax Advisor (Steuerberater) and holds a Diploma in International Business, a Masters degree in Business Administration and a Ph.D.

Recent matter/case highlights
  • Advising a large US multinational with strong presence in Germany on restructuring issues following an APA as well as tax audit defence
  • Advising a large Swiss multinational with strong presence in Germany on the introduction of a new TP system including an APA
  • Advising a large German multinational on TP design and defence for a global TP system
Key practice areas
  • Compliance management: Business model optimisation, IP management, Policy design
  • Corporate tax matters: APAs, Corporate taxes, Cost-sharing arrangements, M&A, Restructuring, Value chains
  • Dispute resolution: Arbitration. Audit defence, Audit support, Controversy management, Dispute resolution, Litigation, MAPs/ADRs, Pre-litigation
  • Tax advisory: International tax advisory, Tax consulting
Sector expertise
  • Arbitration
  • Audit defence
  • Audit support
  • Business model optimisation
  • Business restructuring
  • Controversy management
  • Cost-sharing arrangements
  • Dispute resolution
  • International tax planning
  • IP management
  • Litigation
  • TP policy design
  • TP risk management
  • Automotive
  • Banking
  • Construction and materials
  • Consumer goods and services
  • Energy
  • Financial services
  • Food and beverage
  • Healthcare
  • Insurance
  • Mining
  • Natural resources
  • Oil and gas
  • Pharmaceutical and life sciences
  • Technology and telecommunications
  • Tourism
  • Transport
Academic qualifications
  • Diploma in International Business, University College Dublin, 1995
  • MBA, RWTH Aachen, 1996
  • Ph.D., University of Bayreuth, 2001
Bar admissions
  • Steuerberater / Certified Tax Consultant, 2001
Address:
Johannstraße 39
Düsseldorf, 40476
Tel:+491731723031 Email:Contact this practitioner Website:http://www.gt.de