Dr. Ottenwälder has over ten years of experience advising high net worth individuals and families on cross-border matters, often involving highly complex international wealth structures. With substantial expertise in the entrepreneurial and corporate sphere, he also supports start-up founders as well as mid-sized and large family-owned businesses on complex tax issues and related commercial and financial questions. Clients particularly value his combination of deep technical know-how and an empathetic, clear and pragmatic advisory style.

He specialises in international and German tax law, tax procedure and controversy work, including tax criminal law. His practice includes tax-efficient asset allocation, the restructuring of assets and corporate groups, succession planning taking into account the personal circumstances of families and their members, cross-border mobility matters, business tax planning, (re-)declarations, complex tax audits and investigations, as well as administrative appeals and proceedings before the German fiscal courts. He is also well versed in digital business models and technology-driven business environments.

Dr. Ottenwälder has taught as a university lecturer for many years and has received a teaching award. He is a frequent speaker in Germany and abroad and the author of numerous specialist publications and commentaries, including on the German Foreign Tax Act (AStG), and contributes to professional formats such as podcasts.

Prior to his current role, he spent seven years at POELLATH in Frankfurt and four years at Ebner Stolz in Hamburg, practising in tax law. He studied business administration at the University of Bayreuth (tax and finance) and earned his PhD in 2014 on “Cross-border divisions of corporations within the European Union” under Prof. Dr Jochen Sigloch. In the same year, he qualified as a German tax adviser (Steuerberater)

Education

• Ph.D.
• University of Bayreuth majoring in taxation and finance
• Diplom-Kaufmann (business graduate)

Memberships

• International Bar Association (IBA)
• International Fiscal Association (IFA)
• International Tax Specialist Group (itsg)
• Forum Transactions in Tax Law
• Association of Tax Consultants

Languages

• German
• English