Michel Abt

Practice Areas

Tax (Co-head of practice)

Banking and Finance

Family Estate Law

Professional Memberships

Geneva Bar Association

Swiss Bar Association

Association genevoise de droit des affaires (AGDA)

Association of international Business Lawyers (AIBL)

Swiss Funds and Asset Management Association (SFAMA)

International Bar Association (IBA)

Estate Planning Skill Group (EPSG)

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Tax law, in particular :

Natural persons taxation (including tax engineering and wealth management, transmission and protection of assets, delocalisation et

tax status)

Companies and managerial taxation

Property taxation (including structuration of real estate investments, and their financing)

Collective investment schemes taxation

Tax procedures (including unsolicited announcements and tax amnesties)

Banking and financial regulations, in particular in relation to collective investments schemes (securities and real estate funds)

Industry Sector Expertise

Michel Abt is the co-head of the Tax Group and a member of the Banking & Finance Group.

He advises both natural persons and legal entities such as banks, family offices and trusts, as well as investors and administrators whether in Switzerland or abroad, with a specific emphasis on asset holding structures.

Since 2009, Michel Abt has been advising a large number of French clients in their regularization process and has assisted them with their tax optimisation. He thus addresses all tax matters arising therefrom such as gift and inheritance issues in a cross-border perspective. He also assists clients in their voluntary disclosure to Swiss authorities as well as to foreign authorities enducting the same disclosure programmes, particularly in Italy.

Michel Abt has significant expertise in negotiating tax rulings with various Swiss tax authorities (Geneva, Vaud, Valais, Lucerne, Schwyz, etc.) for the account of foreign high net worth clients wishing to settle in Switzerland. He assists them in their asset restructuring before their relocation and within their estate and succession planning.

Furthermore, Michel Abt advises inheritors in the context of their international, multi-jurisdictional and complex successions both in a legal and fiscal perspective. He also advises on artistic heritages, their mode of ownership, their transmission and their sale.

Finally, Michel Abt is an expert in financial market regulation, particularly in investment funds.

Experience

Since 2010

Partner, FBT Avocats SA, Geneva

2001-2010

Associate, FBT Avocats SA, Geneva

2001

Admission to the Geneva Bar

Languages Spoken

French, English, German, Swiss-German

Publications

The following articles can be consulted on the FBT Avocats website: https://www.fbt-avocats.ch/en/medias-and-news/

- Échange international de renseignements fiscaux : mieux vaut agir tard que jamais - December 2023 / Michel Abt

- Entraide fiscale internationale : les droits procéduraux des tiers subissent une nouvelle restriction - August 2023 / Michel Abt , Romain Baume

- Recette d’un piège fiscal méconnu - August 2023 / Michel Abt , Romain Baume

- L'imposition des biens immobiliers français en Suisse - April 2023 / Michel Abt , Romain Baume

- Fiscalité à l’heure d’Internet: les leçons à tirer d’un redressement fiscal à 400 millions - October 2022 / Michel Abt, Romain Baume

- Investisseur dans les cryptoactifs: vous intéressez (vraisemblablement) le fisc - March 2022 / Michel Abt, Romain Baume

Education