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 Michel Collet
Partner

Michel Collet

Languages
  • French
  • English
Social media

Michel specialises in international taxation. He has worked in the UK, USA and France.

He assists investment funds, banks, public and private companies in the structuring and implementation of cross-border transactions (M&A, private equity), investments (debt and real estate), and international financing solutions. Michel has recently (2016) structured an investment of €2 billion in France's first SLP (newly-introduced limited partnership) for a foreign investor and regularly advises banks or investors in using trusts for securitisation deals or re-financing solutions (2016).

Michel also advises and represents states and territories (Saint Barthélemy, Andorra).

Michel also assists private clients, including mainly top international artists and sportsmen (footballers, golfers) and high-end individuals, with their international tax planning (trust and estate, expatriation, audits etc.).

Michel takes account of his clients' particular legal and financial circumstances to ensure that their financial policy does not involve any potential risk to their reputation.

Awards & Recognitions
01
  • Quote
    Best Lawyer, Tax Law
    Since 2014

Relevant experience

  • CMS Francis Lefebvre's International Taxation Department since 2007
  • Head of CMS Francis Lefebvre's Taxation Department in New York (2002-2007)
  • Senior Associate, Linklaters Paris and London (2000-2002)
  • CMS Francis Lefebvre's International Taxation Department (1993-2000)

Publications

  • Mise en conformité de l’obligation déclarative des dispositifs transfrontaliers avec la jurisprudence européenne », Co-écrit avec Edouard Guillot, Revue de Droit Fiscal, (21/03/2025), n° 12
  • ATAD III : passer la substance des holdings au filtre de la directive société écran s’impose dès cette année - Option Finance (07/03/2022)
  • Crypto-actifs : une fiscalité en voie de stabilisation ? - Option Finance (01/02/2022)
  • Tax rulings and State aid: The Apple case or the Commission’s lost challenge? (21/09/2020)
  • DAC6 et ingénierie patrimoniale : liberté, sécurité, intelligibilité ? - Actes Pratiques et stratégie patrimoniale (avril-mai-juin 2020)

Memberships & Roles

Michel seats at the board of Jeannine Manuel School, a French bilingual and international school in Paris and London.

Since 2020, Michel has been a lecturer in trust taxation at Orleans University.

In 1998, he was a lecturer in taxation at the Université Paris Dauphine for masters students before teaching European taxation in 2002.

  • International Organisations Liaison Europe of the Taxes Committee - The International Bar Association (IBA)
  • Active member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the International Bar Association (IBA), the International Fiscal Association, Tax Review, the New York Tax Club, and IACF (French Institute of Tax Lawyers)
  • Member of the Scientific Committee of the Association Française des Fiduciaires (French Trustees' Association)
  • Member of the Board of Directors of the France-Israel Intergovernmental Foundation (FFI).
  • Member of the board of  the Association de l’Ecole Janine Manuel
  • Former Co-chair of the International Tax Committee, International Law Committee, New York State Bar Association (2007)
  • Former Member of the Steering Committee de la branche américaine de l'IFA (2006-2007)
  • Former Chair of the Tax Group of the Trusts Committee, Paris EUROPLACE
  • Former Chair of the Energy and CO2 Committee, Paris EUROPLACE

Lectures list

  • ‘Fiducie et droit des affaires’ and participation in the round table ‘Les parties au contrat de fiducie’, Colloque de l'Association Française des Fiduciaires (AFF), 13 March 2025
  • IBA Annual Conference, Mexico, 15-20 September 2024
  • ‘Privilege, sanctions and good faith across jurisdictions’, U.S. and Europe Tax Practice Trends, 11 Apr 2024
  • ‘Navigating tax litigation and dispute resolution mechanisms’, 13th IBA London 2024 Finance & Capital Markets & Tax Conference, 16 Jan 2024
  •  ‘Doing business anywhere and nowhere: Taxation of athletes, artists and e-sports’, IBA Annual Conference, Co-Chair, Paris, 30 October 2023 
  • ‘Best Practices for Israeli Investments in the EU’, STEP Israel Conference, June 13-14, 2023 
  •  ‘Is there a future for Holdings Companies?’, 12th IBA Finance and Capital Markets Conference, Co-Chair, London, 16-17 January 2023 

Education

  • Post-graduate degree (DESS) in International Tax Law, University of Paris XI/HEC Business School