dezan shira & associates are a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing legal, audit and tax services to multinationals investing in china, hong kong, india & vietnam.

established in 1992, we are a leading asia regional practice with sixteen offices in these jurisdictions, employing over 200 legal, accounting and audit professionals. we differ from conventional firms in six main areas of added value services:

as a regional practice, we are not tied to any one sovereign nation and can consequently provide a far better understanding of the regional markets in asia. the regulatory and tax environment in china, india and vietnam is changing rapidly, and certain industries and business moｄｅｌ s may be better off in one location than another. we are aware of this and can provide business cases and research tied to your specific business needs without the shackles of being a one-country firm.


we concentrate purely on the foreign direct investment environment from both the legal, tax and operational perspectives and do not get involved with domestic clients in the markets we operate in. this frees us to provide specific expertise as concerns fdi for our clients, who by definition are multinationals with typically different sets of investment laws and taxes guiding them than local companies. such attention to this detail allows us to concentrate our activities into one specific area: foreign direct investment and provide specialist regional advice and comparisons in this professional sector.


all our staff, in all offices, speak and write fluent english. 90% of our client base is from the us and europe, and we specialize in multinational business investments. our local staff in all locations will speak their national language as well as regional dialects; staff also have capabilities in other languages. we publish material in over nine other international languages for our clients. this permits ease of communication between our firm and our clients.


the professional services regulatory environment differs in each of the countries we operate in. consequently we provide a combination of both legal and tax services to our clients. this allows them the ability to acquire professional knowledge in both the local legal regulatory environment in each country as well as the tax and financial implications of doing so. we are able to combine both to minimize client risk and to optimize their tax position.


we pay great attention to government relations and maintain regular contact with ministerial officials in all the countries we conduct business in. this is beneficial in two ways, firstly, it gives us quick access to the regulatory investment environment platform and proposed legal and tax changes to this, allowing us to advise our clients of these with prior notice, and also as an occasional doorway to clarification or problem solving issues.


dezan shira & associates understands the main reason to be in business is the generation of wealth. this has to be conducted in compliance with both domestic and international laws, however as a firm we are also businessmen and appreciate that the main goal of any overseas investment is to make money. we assist our clients to this objective with a detailed and sound knowledge of regional laws and taxes, allowing us to provide the optimum legal and tax structures to maximize this requirement.