Practice area
Tax
Corporate and indirect taxation under Somali law, state-level taxation across the Federal Member States, and cross-border relief.
How the firm works in this area
Tax in Somalia is shaped by its federal structure: obligations can arise at the federal level and at the level of a Federal Member State, and the two do not always align. The firm advises on that overlap, including state-level taxation and public-private structuring at the decentralised level, work it has done for energy clients operating in South West State.
For international operators the firm handles the cross-border questions that recur in aviation, shipping and services, including the analysis and securing of treaty-based relief. It also secures tax-exempt status for non-commercial branch offices established under donor and USAID contracts.
Confidentiality is structural, not cosmetic. Representative work in this area is described by anonymized descriptor only. The firm never implies a named client without consent.
What the firm handles
A working list of the matters clients instruct the firm on in this area.
Selected matters
A development finance institution
Instructed through international counsel, the firm examined the legislative framework governing the concession of a major Somali port. The review assessed the concession against national procurement legislation and the constitutional requirements that govern the disposition of state assets, and set out where the arrangement conformed and where it was exposed. The analysis was delivered in a form the instructing counsel and the institution could rely on for their own decision-making.
An international port operator
The firm provided constitutional and regulatory analysis for a concession to construct and operate a port and an associated toll corridor. The central questions were land rights along the corridor and the allocation of oversight between the Federal Government and the Federal Member State in which the project sits. The firm mapped where authority genuinely lay for each element of the project, so that the operator understood which approvals were secure and which carried federal-state risk.
An international airline
The firm prepared the complete documentation required for the carrier to reach full operational status in Somalia, including the governmental licensing arrangements, and advised on aviation law, corporate structure and the double-taxation questions that cross-border carriers face. On the contentious side it handled high-value civil aviation liability claims, including the analysis of Somali jurisdiction rules on wrongful death and the assessment of damages. The engagement ran across the operational, tax and disputes sides of the airline in parallel.
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Instruct the firm on a matter in Somalia
The firm acts directly for clients and as Somali counsel to more than 140 international and regional firms. Tell us about the matter and the right lawyer will respond.