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Michael is a founding partner of Fischer Ramp Buchmann AG.

He advises private clients on their domestic and international estate, tax, social security and succession planning as well as on philanthropic projects and governance related questions. Michael has considerable expertise in dealing with tax authorities and advising foreign lawyers, and he is a recognised expert on the taxation of trusts and similar structures. Further, he acts on behalf of corporations, in particular family held companies and family offices, in domestic and cross-border matters.

He sits on the board of various companies and charitable foundations.

Michael is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a regular contributor to tax journals and publications. He lectures international tax law at EXPERTsuisse where he heads the module International Tax.

He holds law degrees from the University of Zurich (lic. iur., 1999) and the London School of Economics (LL.M., 2003). He was admitted to the Zurich Bar in 2002 and qualified as a certified tax expert in 2010. Prior to co-founding Fischer Ramp Buchmann AG Michael spent 13 years as associate and partner in an international Swiss law firm in London (2003 to 2006) and in Zurich (from 2006).

The leading legal directories, including Chambers HNW (Band 1), Legal 500 (Leading Individual) Who’s Who Legal and BestLawyers, continuously rank him as a leader in the fields of Private Client and Tax.

Chambers quotes sources as saying that Michael is “a market leader for tax and especially for high net worth advice. He is very dedicated to private client matters … and has a really boutique approach” (2019) and he “is very, very quick on facts and figures. He gets it very quickly and finds the relevant information.” (2020)

Legal 500 describes Michael as “a brilliant strategist at the intersection of corporate law and taxation with individual and entrepreneurial settings and set-ups” (2020) and “one of the A-list private client lawyers in Switzerland, immense experience in cross-border matters, unique know-how on trust and estate law and how it works in Switzerland, creative, fun to work with.” (2021)

In 2019 Michael was named “Leading Individual Adviser” at the Wealth Briefing Awards in Geneva and elected to „The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law“. In 2021 he was awarded “Lawyer of the Year – Switzerland” at the Citywealth IFC Awards.

In the past years Michael has consistently been listed in the Private Client Global Elite and included in the list of Who’s Who Legal’s Thought Leaders (“those who truly stand out as being leaders and who are held in the highest esteem by their clients and fellow practitioners“).

Michael is a member of the Zurich Bar Association and the Swiss Bar Association. He is on the Steering Committee of the International Tax Specialist Group (ITSG), a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and he sits on the Committee of the Swiss arm of Philanthropy Impact.

His working languages are German, English and French.

Publications

• Der Schweizer Trust im Vorentwurf – eine Auslegeordnung
  Michael Fischer, iusNet Erbrecht, 2022
• Der Schweizer Trust ist noch nicht im Ziel
  Michael Fischer und Natalie Peter, NZZ, 2022
• Trusts und die Verrechnungssteuer – Wer hat Anspruch auf die Rückerstattung?
  Michael Fischer, SteuerRevue, 2021, S. 422 ff.
• Vorsicht bei der fortgesetzten Erbengemeinschaft
  Michael Fischer and Samuel Ramp, NZZ, 2021
• Trusts and Swiss withholding tax—who gets to claim reimbursement, and trustees as future paying agents?
  Michael Fischer, Trusts & Trustees vol. 27 (2020).
• Kommentar zum Schweizerischen Steuerrecht – Erbschafts- und Schenkungssteuerrecht
  Zweifel, Beusch, Hunziker (Hrsg.), FRP Autoren: Michael Fischer, Samuel Ramp, Marc Buchmann, Dezember 2019
• Rückerstattung der Verrechnungssteuer – Es tut sich was
  Michael Fischer und Samuel Ramp, Expert Focus, 2018, pp. 649 ss.
• Obligationenrecht Allgemeiner Teil
  Michael Fischer und Martin Aebi, Zürich, 4th ed., 2018
• Steuerdaten auf Reisen – Der Informationsaustausch hat sich in den letzten Jahren rasant entwickelt.
  Michael Fischer, NZZ, 2018
• Der Trust passt nicht
  Michael Fischer und Natalie Peter, NZZ, 2018
• Neues aus Lausanne und Bern zur Rückerstattung der Verrechnungssteuer – Abkehr vom Formalismus?
  Michael Fischer und Samuel Ramp, Expert Focus, 2017, pp. 540 ss.
• Family Offices – Recht, Management und Banking (Hrsg. Peter Sester), Zürich 2017
  Peter Sester, Michael Fischer and Tenzin Dahortsang: Family Offices – Begriff und Strukturierungsvarianten
  Michael Fischer and Marc Buchmann: Besteuerung von Family Offices
• The Art Collecting Legal Handbook by The European Lawyer, Swiss Chapter
  Bruno Boesch, Michael Fischer and Anne-Laure Bandle, 2nd edition, 2016
• Discretionary trusts – last exit before AEOI? The Swiss view
  Michael Fischer and Tobias Rohner, Trusts & Trustees vol.22 (2015), pp.393 ss.
• Hedge Funds, Jurisdictional Comparisons, Switzerland
  Catrina Luchsinger Gähwiler, Raffaele Rossetti, Ansgar Schott, Michael Fischer, 2014 (2nd ed.)
• Ein Ferrari Enzo ist kein „actif fictif“
  Michael Fischer, SteuerRevue, 2014, pp. 332 ss.
• Trusts and Swiss inheritance taxes – no match made in heaven
  Michael Fischer and Benjamin Dori, Trusts & Trustees vol.20 (2014), pp. 226 ss.
• Kreisschreiben 40 der ESTV – Verwirkung der Verrechnungssteuer-Rückerstattung
  Michael Fischer and Samuel Ramp, ExpertFocus, 2014
• Fit für die kommende Dividendensaison?
  Michael Fischer and Samuel Ramp, KMU-Magazin, 2014
• Trusts und Steuern: Kreisschreiben 20 der Eidg. Steuerverwaltung – und beim Tod des Settlors?
  Michael Fischer and Benjamin Dori, Der Schweizer Treuhänder, 2013, pp. 549 ss.
• Juristische Personen und die Kirchensteuer
  Michael Fischer and Benjamin Dori, in: KMU-Magazin Nr. 12/2013
• Handänderungssteuer bei konzerninterner Vermögensübertragung, Befreiung gilt – contra verba legis – auch für Stiftungen
  Michael Fischer and Benjamin Dori, SteuerRevue, 2013, pp. 259 ss.
• Conflicts of Interest: Jurisdictional comparisons in the law and regulation for the financial services, auditing and legal professions 2005/2006 (Switzerland)
  Bruno Boesch, Michael Fischer, Elmar Meyer, London 2005, «European Lawyer Reference»

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