Olivier Thevoz
Partner & Founder | THEVOZ & Partners
Swiss and US Attorney-at-law
When clients have financial interests at stake, attorney Olivier Thevoz acts to protect those interests and resolves to fight when those interests are infringed or challenged. He has negotiated with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to produce favorable settlements even when evidence was limited. He safeguarded millions of Swiss francs bound to be lost in a third-party bankruptcy by fighting and winning on appeal. He has helped clients navigate different tax jurisdictions to minimize tax obligations and optimize tax benefits. Whether it is thousands or millions of dollars at stake, attorney Thevoz is thorough and strategic.
Tax and Commercial Lawyer with Real-World Accounting and Business Experience
Olivier Thevoz will do for you what he has done for his other clients: win by getting the best outcome in your unique situation. And he accomplishes this by leveraging more than 20 years of experience in the law, business, and accounting practices. As a young professional in 1996, he joined Fibexa SA where he assisted small to medium-sized enterprises with their accounting needs. Within a few short years, he moved on to Groupe Gestion Conseil SA where he founded and managed the Department of Accounting – proving his capabilities yield results.
Over the years, Olivier Thevoz continued to evolve and find new ways to assist his clients. He founded and managed firms where he handled tax, banking, and commercial law matters. Of particular interest and after he obtained his law degrees at the University of Lausanne, attorney Thevoz joined Heim Paschoud & Associés as a partner and was soon managing nearly 120 cases annually with the support of his team.
These combined experiences provide insight that help him continue to provide quality services to his growing clientele. With a solid vision for the future and a strong mission for his clients, attorney Thevoz founded THEVOZ & Partners in 2015.
Multi-Lingual, Multi-Talented Corporate Lawyer Serving Austin, Texas
Olivier Thevoz, fluent French and English speaker, is more than a resourceful commercial and tax lawyer. He is also more than an accomplished business owner and partner. He is a presenter. He gives back the knowledge he has acquired to help others and is trusted by many because of it.
He has lectured on U.S. law at the University of Texas, his alma mater. He has also lectured and instructed courses on accounting and banking-related topics in Switzerland. Further, attorney Thevoz has led seminars on a number of topics related to taxes, corporate law, commercial law, and more. In these seminars, he has provided smart analysis and insight while applying the law to real-world scenarios. Seminars have been his way to give back to the global community from which he has learned so much and which has informed his global law practice.
As founder of THEVOZ & Partners, and with offices strategically located in Switzerland and the United States, attorney Thevoz provides legal solutions to local clients who live and work in a global financial market.
- LL.M., Business Law, University of Texas School of Law (2021)
- Master of Law in Private Estate and Tax Law Litigation - summa cum laude (University of Lausanne, 2011)
- Bachelor of Law, University of Lausanne (2009)
- Federal Certification as Accounts Expert, Swiss Association of Accountants (2006)
- Federal Certification as Accountant Agent, Swiss Expert Association for Audit, Tax, and Fiduciary (2003)
Our client had transferred shares valued at more than 10 million Swiss francs to an insurance company. Per the agreement, the insurer was to act as a custodian without the right to transfer the shares to a third party. The insurance company breached the contract and transferred the shares to an affiliate. The affiliate used the shares as collateral to obtain a loan. The insurance company, however, filed for bankruptcy. As a result, the bank executed the collateral to pay the loan back. We acted quickly to obtain a restriction order that forced the bank to immediately stop the execution of the collateral. The bank appealed, but we won in the appellate court.
Case: 502 2021 209 (December 7, 2021)
A client was the director of a startup. The startup was founded and financed by a wealthy foreign entrepreneur. The company signed a leasing agreement to purchase computer equipment. A couple months later, the foreign entrepreneur abruptly stopped financing the company, causing the company to go bankrupt. The leasing company sued the client for breach of director’s duties. We won the case in the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
Case: 4A_188/2022 (September 20, 2022).
The IRS rejected our client’s professional deductions on the ground of lack of evidence. We litigated the case in the United States Tax Court. During the trial, in spite of the lack of required documents and unfavorable facts, we managed to secure an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service.
We negotiated a favorable settlement for which our clients are grateful and which allowed us to avoid additional court proceedings.
Case: 12043-20 (November 2022)
Our client grew up in California and moved to Washington, D.C. for college. After college, our client moved to Switzerland with his wife. The California Franchise Tax Board sent our client a letter requesting California income tax returns for the years he lived in D.C. We drafted a letter to the California Franchise Tax Board and successfully established that our client was not domiciled in California and was not a California resident for the years the tax returns were requested.
We saved our client approximately $300,000 through strategic application of the facts to the law.
Case: 09/2022
Our client is a Swiss entrepreneur who plans on moving to the United States on an E-2 visa. During the first year of his arrival, our client will meet the criteria of a U.S. person for tax purposes. Our client holds shares through a Swiss personal holding company. Thus, the U.S. tax treatment for his shares will be extremely unfavorable. After carefully analyzing the tax law of the U.S. and Switzerland, we designed a creative yet well-thought-out strategy to help our client mitigate his overall tax exposures. We instructed our client on when to move to the U.S. and how his Swiss company will be treated under the U.S. tax regime.
We saved our clients approximately $800,000 through thoughtful, creative tax planning advice.
Case: 09/2022
2022
2019
2018
2016
“OpenLux: un scandale fiscal de plus?” (“OpenLux: one more tax scandal”), Interview on Bilan (February 22, 2021)
“Mieux vaut payer ses impôts en avance plutôt qu’en retard” (“Better to pay the taxes in advance than late”), Interview on Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) (April 6, 2016)
October 9, 2020 Lector and organizer of the seminar at Royal Savoy, in Lausanne (CH) “Evolution de la fiscalité internationale : Conséquences pratiques en Suisse”
Translation: “Evolution of international taxation: Practical consequences in Switzerland”
November 15, 2019 Lector of the seminar at Capital Factory, in Austin (TX) “Digital data and how to build a business in the U.S.”
May 9, 2019 Lector of the seminar at Austin Board of REALTORS Headquarters, in Austin (TX) “Planning the Sale Before the Purchase”
June 11, 2018 Lector and organizer of the seminar at Espace CDPQ, in Montreal (CAN) “La Suisse : Championne mondiale de l’innovation et de la compétitivité”
Translation: “Switzerland: World champion of innovation and competitivity”May 8, 2017 Lector and organizer of the seminar at Hôtel Métropole, in Geneva (CH) “Effects of the Tax Treaty between the U.S. and Switzerland”
April 6, 2017 Lector and organizer of the seminar at the Swiss General Consulate, in Montreal (CAN) “La Suisse, une fiscalité attractive ? Quels sont les grands pièges à éviter ? Comment créer sa société en Suisse ?”
Translation: “Switzerland, an attractive tax system? What are the big pitfalls to avoid? How to create your company in Switzerland?”
December 2, 2016 Lector of the seminar at Hôtel Aquatis, in Lausanne (CH) “Responsabilité pénale des mandataires. Les nouvelles obligations d’annonce pour les actionnaires et associés de sociétés suisses”
Translation: “Criminal liability of agents. The new announcement obligations for shareholders and partners of Swiss companies”
October 4, 2016 Lector of the seminar at Beau-Rivage Palace, in Lausanne (CH) “Impôts sur les successions et donations dans le canton de Vaud”
Translation: “Inheritance and gift taxes in the canton of Vaud”
June 3, 2016 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Hôtel de la Paix, in Lausanne (CH)
June 2, 2016 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Hôtel Mandarin Oriental, in Geneva (CH) “Le client, votre meilleur ennemi : comment pallier les risques de responsabilité ?”
Translation: “The client, your best enemy: how to mitigate liability risks?”
April 28, 2016 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Hôtel de la Paix, in Lausanne (CH)
April 27, 2017 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Swissôtel Métropole, in Genève (CH) “Responsabilité pénale fiscale des mandataires et des administrateurs des sociétés offshore”
Translation: “Criminal tax liability of the professional consultants and the directors of offshore companies”
Novembre 12, 2015 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Swisshôtel Métropole, in Geneva (CH)
November 10, 2015 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Hôtel de la Paix, in Lausanne (CH) “Secret bancaire et échange automatique d’information”
Translation: “Banking secrecy and automatic exchange of information”
October 6, 2015 Lector of the seminar in Aubonne (CH) “Fiscalité – L’imposition des prestations de retraite”
Translation: “Taxation of pension benefits”
October 2, 2014 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Hôtel Beau-Rivage Palace, in Lausanne (CH) “Nouveautés dans les relations fiscales franco-suisses”
Translation: “Developments in Franco-Swiss tax relations”
May 13, 2009 Lector and organizer of the seminar in Lausanne (CH) “La nouvelle loi fédérale sur la simplification du rappel d’impôt en cas de succession et sur l’introduction de la dénonciation spontanée non punissable ; La nouvelle loi portant modification de la procédure de rappel d’impôt et de la procédure pénale sur la soustraction d’impôt d’imposition directe ; L’évolution de la jurisprudence en matière de soustraction fiscale.”
Translation: “The new federal law on the simplification of the additional tax assessments for inheritance and on the introduction of non-punishable spontaneous denunciation; The new law amending the tax assessments procedure and the criminal procedure on the direct tax evasion; The evolution of the jurisprudence on tax evasion.”
April 23, 2008 Lector and co-organizer of the seminar at Casino de Morges, in Morges (CH) “La nouvelle loi sur la réforme de l'imposition des entreprises II et ses implications pratiques”
Translation: “The new law on corporate tax reform II and its practical implications”
January 18, 2007 Lector of the seminar at Centre Patronal, in Paudex (CH) “Présentation de l’art. 321 code pénal et du nouveau droit de la Sàrl”
Translation: “Presentation of the art. 321 of the criminal law and the new law of the LLC”
October 4, 2006 Lector of the seminar at Refuge de Bussigny, in Bussigny (CH) “Le réviseur et ses obligations s’il constate des violations de la loi lors de ses travaux d’audit et les moyens de pressions par la justice sur les réviseurs”
Translation: “The auditor and his duties if he discovers violations of the law during his audit work and the ways to pressure justice on the auditors”
January 18, 2006 Lector of the seminar at Centre de formation du Domaine de Greybin, in Molondin (CH) “LFus – nouveautés”
Translation: “Mergers Act – development”