PB First is an independent international tax practice based in Dubai. We advise on cross-border and UAE tax, directly and alongside clients' own lawyers, accountants and bankers. Nothing else.
I started in tax in Sydney. Since then I've practised in London, New York and Dubai, and advised on the tax laws of more than seventy-five countries. In my sixties I went back to university and wrote a doctorate on how the BRICS economies were reshaping international tax. Kluwer published it. I mention that not to boast but because it says something about how I think: the questions kept getting more interesting, not less.
I founded PB First because I kept seeing the same problem. Clients with serious cross-border questions were being served by firms whose real business was something else. Audit. Company formation. Wealth management. Tax was the department down the corridor. I wanted a firm where tax was the corridor.
So we do one thing. We hire people who have spent their careers on it: in revenue authorities, at the OECD, in Big Four practices, in universities. Four of us hold doctorates in tax. That isn't decoration. It means when the question is hard, someone here has already thought about it for years.
What I ask of the team is simple. Know the law. Say what you think. Don't hand the client to someone junior. If you bring us a matter, the person you meet is the person who does the work.
Dr Peter Wilson, Founder
Founder
International tax adviser for more than forty years, in Sydney, London, New York and Dubai. Has advised on the tax laws of more than 75 countries. PhD in commercial law, Queen Mary University of London, on BRICS and international tax law, published by Kluwer. Chartered accountant (ICAEW, CA ANZ) and Chartered Tax Adviser.
Senior Consultant, Transfer Pricing
Transfer pricing specialist. PhD from Columbia Business School. Taught at NYU Abu Dhabi and led PwC Academy's transfer pricing diploma in the Middle East. Former Big Four senior manager. Has trained tax authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Senior Of Counsel
Reader in Tax Law at King's College London. Advises governments and international organisations on tax policy and sits on the international tax compliance task force advising Curaçao's Finance Minister. Practised as a tax lawyer in Chile, Brazil and the United States. PhD, University of Valencia; his thesis won the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne prize for best doctorate in tax law.
Senior International Tax Adviser
Chartered accountant and US CPA with more than twenty years in tax. Former head of tax in industry and senior adviser at a Big Four firm. Has advised on tax across more than 30 countries. Focus on cross-border structuring, disputes and negotiations with tax authorities.
Tax Specialist, African Nations
Close to thirty years in international and domestic tax. Former tax adviser on secondment to the OECD, senior tax inspector at the Zambia Revenue Authority, regional manager at IBFD for Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and Big Four senior manager. Has advised ministries of finance and tax authorities across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Of Counsel
Lawyer qualified in India and as a solicitor in England and Wales. Ten years in litigation before academia. Teaches international taxation at the University of Bradford. PhD in international economic law, University of Manchester. Co-author of a Kluwer book on international taxation and public law.
Senior Consultant, Financial Services & Taxation
Began as a Big Four auditor, then led internal audit in banking and served as in-house tax manager for Europe, the Middle East and Asia at a multinational group. Specialises in financial instruments and institutions. Finance degree, American University of Beirut.
Senior Tax Consultant
Chartered accountant and company secretary with more than ten years across India and the UAE. Advises on UAE VAT and corporate tax, tax due diligence and audits, assessments and disputes with tax authorities.
Tax Consultant
Fifteen years in tax and compliance across the UAE and South Africa. Former tax compliance officer with deep knowledge of the SARS and UAE FTA regimes. Builds the firm's African tax capability.
Taxation Consultant
Joined from a Big Four Lower Gulf firm. Works in the transfer pricing team on multi-jurisdiction corporate finance, modelling and M&A support. Master's in business and finance, Heriot-Watt University.
Ten people, nine countries, one office. Australia, Britain, the United States, Chile, Poland, India, Lebanon, Zambia and South Africa. Clients come to us from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, usually because a question touches the Gulf and somewhere else, and increasingly through referrals from firms abroad. Dubai is where those roads meet.
Member of GGI, an alliance of independent firms in more than 120 countries, since October 2024. Registered agent with HMRC.
