"What makes a good tax consultancy is that you don't "just" focus on taxes" - tax consultant Jens Bosch in a fynax interview

Specialized law firms look after clients from many different sectors - including tax consultant Jens Bosch. In addition to petrol station clients, doctors and healthcare professionals, his law firms also look after online retailers. In the fynax interview, he explains how he was able to achieve sustainable success with industry specializations and what makes the e-commerce sector so exciting.

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What role do you play in the company?

I work in the Felix1 office in Alfter near Bonn. I am a partner and managing director of our parent law firm Bontax, which mainly deals with petrol station mandates, and of our Advitax law firm, which focuses on doctors and healthcare professionals. However, my role in the company mainly concerns the area of online retailers, as we have now also specialized in the area of e-commerce as a fynax law firm.

How many tax consultants or employees do you have?

Together with the management, our team consists of five tax consultants. The entire firm currently employs 50 people, including tax clerks, tax specialists, accountants and commercial employees, as well as three trainees.

When did you and your law firm join fynax and why did you decide to do so?

We joined fynax in 2020. Our law firm has grown up specializing in petrol stations and has therefore already thought strongly in terms of sectors. We see industry specialization as the reason for our success to date and have therefore considered how we can best position the firm in the future. We see e-commerce as the perfect opportunity to specialize, because not every consultant can penetrate this area professionally and, above all, cannot implement it technically. In addition to our basic interest, our team includes people with an affinity for technology who deal intensively with the sector and the associated technical know-how. This means that we find automatisms to collect the data of online retailers in the best possible way and combine this with technological know-how. This enables us to process the extensive client data in a targeted manner in order to offer optimized tax advice. I would say that these reasons and the rapidly growing online retail market were decisive for our decision to become part of fynax.

What makes a good tax consultancy for you?

What makes good tax advice is that it is not "just" limited to taxes, but that it takes a holistic view of the client's company and incorporates business management advice. There are several factors that make up good tax advice for us: speaking the same language as the client, thinking outside the box and also understanding the client's pains and problems from a business management perspective. And we achieve this through industry specialization. We have been able to achieve sustainable success within the industry through tailored training for our tax consultants and regular meetings with the ETL within the respective systems. In my opinion, at the end of the day, this is what provides added value for our clients and sets us apart from the competition as a law firm.

Online stores offer numerous advantages over bricks-and-mortar retailers, such as reaching a potentially larger customer group. What special features does an online retailer have to consider compared to a brick-and-mortar retailer?

Online retailers have completely different ways of reaching customers than brick-and-mortar retailers. If we look at one side, it is the case that bricks-and-mortar retailers usually have a store and try to reach customers regionally. They are tied to one location, so to speak, whereas online retailers can offer their goods nationwide. Nowadays, technology offers online retailers many opportunities to develop and expand their stores, but it also harbors risks and challenges. One example of this is data processing: it is comparatively difficult to find technical solutions for the many online transactions. However, online retailers are still obliged to prepare their accounts properly and thus meet their legal obligations as entrepreneurs. The larger your online store is, the more legal obligations you have with regard to the proper preparation of a Process documentation.

What are the special features of advising e-commerce companies?

VAT law is a very special area. There are many issues here that are extremely important for advising online retailers - especially when it comes to foreign goods imports or exports. The collected store key figures are also important from a business perspective, as they give us an insight into the performance of the store and the behavior of your customers.