Slovakia or abroad? What the Asset Protection Conference showed

With over 450 attendees, the conference brought a wealth of practical questions on taxes, structures and business protection. In this post-conference Highgate Talks special, Tomas Demo and Peter Varga follow up on the discussion and address questions from attendees that, due to their scope and complexity, were not covered during the conference itself.

Legal pragmatism: not circumventing the rules, but working with reality

The tone of the conference and the discussion that followed was based on what we at Highgate Group have long called legal pragmatism: seeking solutions that are legally defensible, economically sensible and “defensible” even in the procedural reality of inspections or litigation.

Holdings and transfers of structures: there is no one-size-fits-all recipe

One of the most frequent lines of questions was where to hold the holding (SR/EU/non-EU), how to “put the company under holding” and what about mergers. The answer was repeatedly the same: there is no black and white solution – it is the combination that decides:

• legitimate reasons (asset protection, investment logic, financing),
• time factor (what is “just before sale” and what is already a defensible structure),
• and procedural reality (what the state is able to effectively verify and from whom to enforce).

In practice, therefore, when dealing with holdings and tax-legal structures with an emphasis on legal protection and tax optimisation, we typically deal not only with tax effects, but also with corporate set-up, documentation, substance financing, risks from affiliation for legal purposes and transfer pricing. It is this “complexity in one package” that is why we do it together at Highgate Group – law, tax and accounting under one roof.

“Paper can take it all”: questions on Dubai, US LLCs and intercompany invoicing

At the conference and in the podcast, model scenarios like:

• “Can I invoice a licence from Dubai to a Slovak company?”
• “Is it OK to cancel everything in Slovakia and go through a US LLC?”
• “Can my two companies invoice each other for services?”

Common denominator answer: yes, sometimes it may be possible, but only if there is real performance, economic substance and a proper grasp of the tax resident/source of income/procedural risks behind it. Otherwise, “optimization” becomes a problem, including criminal consequences.

What does this imply for the entrepreneur

1. Abroad is not automatically “better” – it also brings discomfort, administration and new types of risks.

2. Slovakia is not automatically “bad” – with the right set-up, predictability and protection can be greatly increased.

3. The biggest mistakes occur when only tax is addressed – without the legal, accounting and procedural context.

You can watch the full interview of the 34th episode of Highgate Talks with Peter Varga and Tomas Demo here:

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If you are interested in this topic, please do not hesitate to contact us:

• Peter Varga, e-mail: peter.varga@highgate.sk

Alternatively, you can address your specific questions in a consultation with our partner Peter Varga, who specialises in financial regulation and tax law. You can book a consultation here: