Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii Tax names new partner

The tax arm of law firm Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has appointed Alin Chitu as tax partner, in a move designed to support the future development of this specialist division that is set to expand by 20 to 25 percent this year.

Chitu has previously worked for more than nine years for Big 4 companies, including the professional services firms Deloitte and KPMG.

“The decision came naturally. Alin was part of the start-up team of Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii Tax and he has made a significant contribution towards the achievement of our business development objectives over the past 12 months,” said Alexandru Cristea, tax partner at Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii Tax.

The two tax partners will coordinate all tax procedural maters of the tax arm and will support the law firm’s contentious administrative practice group and lawyers specializing in tax disputes.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii Tax was launched in March 2012 and has attracted specialists from Big 4 and the Ministry of Public Finances to fill its ranks. The firm currently has six permanent tax consultants, but is also working with experts on contentious tax of the law firm taking the total headcount to 13. It plans to recruit at least three tax consultants to meet the forecasted business growth. Meanwhile, the law firm has reached 100 lawyers.

Alin Chitu, tax partner, said: “This year we want to advance our practice in the area of compliance – this is a good area, one that provides constant income – as we have so far focused only on advisory services. We will also look to obtain revenues from current developing projects in sectors such as energy, agriculture, real estate and banking, as well as transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and privatizations.”

Last year, the tax arm was involved in the completion of the privatization of Automobile Craiova by US-based car maker Ford. Around EUR 38 million was generated for state coffers as a result of the negotiations.