Dirk Van Stappen KPMG

Dirk Van Stappen is a Partner with KPMG in Belgium. He joined KPMG in 1988 and has over 30 years of experience in advising multinational companies on corporate tax (both domestic and international) and transfer pricing issues. He heads KPMG Belgium's Corporate Tax and Transfer Pricing Practice.

Dirk and his transfer pricing team have been involved in and conducted various transfer pricing assignments, ranging from the preparation of global transfer pricing documentation, domestic and international transfer pricing audit defense, double taxation relief procedures to the negotiation of (uni-, bi- and multilateral) rulings and advance pricing agreements (APAs). Another area of focus is Value Chain Management (agent/LRD-structures, contract or toll manufacturing arrangements, contract R&D arrangements, distribution and shared service centers, procurement entities, intellectual property planning including the innovation income deduction, principal and entrepreneur set-ups, etc.).

Dirk has excellent relations with the Belgian (central) tax and APA authorities. He is regularly presenting on seminars hereby teaming up with key members of the Belgian tax administration.

Dirk has a particular focus on the life sciences and chemical industry and is Belgian leader of these Lines of Business (LOB).

Dirk Van Stappen has also been appointed in 2002 (and reappointed in 2007, 2011 and 2013) as one of the (10 in 2002, 15 in 2007, 16 since 2011) European Non-Governmental Members of the EU Joint Transfer Pricing Forum of the European Commission (EU JTPF). The work of the EU JTPF has resulted in 2 Code of Conducts (one on the European Arbitration Convention and one on Transfer Pricing Documentation introducing the Masterfile-concept) and in EU APA Guidelines. The EU JTPF also issued papers on many other transfer pricing issues within the EU. Dirk has ended his membership on 31 March 2015.

Since 1996 Dirk is also a professor at the University of Antwerp (Faculty Applied Economics), teaching Tax Management to master and postgraduate university students. Dirk has also been a Faculty Member at the International Tax Center at the University of Leiden (2009-2013). He is a regular speaker on corporate income tax and transfer pricing issues. Furthermore, he has written various articles on the same topics in both national and international professional journals.

Dirk has been named in International Tax Review's "World Tax –The comprehensive guide to the world's leading tax firms", Euromoney's (Legal Media Group) "Guide to the World's Leading Transfer Pricing Advisers", ITR's/TP Week's "World Transfer Pricing – The comprehensive guide to the world's leading transfer pricing firms", Euromoney's "Guide to the World's Leading Tax Advisers and International Tax Review's Tax Controversy Leaders and Euromoney's (Legal Media Group) "Best of the Best".

Dirk holds a Master degree in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp (1987) and graduated in taxation from the "Fiscale Hogeschool" in Brussels (1989). He is a certified tax adviser and member of the Belgian Institute for Accountants and Tax Advisers (IAB/IEC) and of the International Fiscal Association (IFA).