Meyyappan Nagappan
Partner - Tax, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
Commercial Transactions I Tax Structuring I Litigation I Direct Taxes I International Taxes I Impact Finance
Overview
Meyyappan Nagappan is a Partner in the Tax practice at Trilegal, specialising in a mix of transactional, advisory, policy and litigation work. He has advised several top technology, e-commerce, crypto, NFT, online media and gaming companies on tax structuring, policy issues and litigation strategy covering international tax, direct tax and GST. He has provided expert opinions before foreign courts on digital tax issues and published academic articles and book chapters on taxation of the digital economy, impact investments, and bitcoins.
He has also extensively advised and acted as lead transaction counsel for the biggest non-profit charities on complex impact bonds launched in India and structuring and negotiating technical assistance grants for impact investment funds. He has advised in relation to India’s first USD 1-billion education outcomes fund, first loss guarantees, climate finance, social stock exchange and blended finance structures.
Prior to joining Trilegal, he worked in the Chambers of Mr. Mohan Parasaran, Solicitor General of India between 2010-2014; and was involved in some of the landmark international taxation disputes.
Education
- B.A. LL.B., (Hons), NALSAR University of Law
- LL.M., Master of Law (Commercial laws), University of Cambridge
Select representative clients/matters
Expert Opinions
- Before the Irish tax court on the applicability of equalisation levy on the world’s largest social media company (settled in favour of the company)
- Appointed as an expert witness in a USD 5-billion dispute before a Los Angeles court to opine on international tax issues
Digital Tax
- Advised multiple big tech companies regarding tax policy, including recommended approach to Pillar I and Pillar II proposals by OECD, applicability of Pillar I and II to their groups, taxation of e-commerce, taxation of NFTs
- Advised several offshore gaming and crypto companies on pre-litigation strategy and developed novel tax positions to defend their products from the applicability of equalisation levy and GST
- Settled GST and income tax demands for CoinDCX and WazirX
Impact Finance
- Lead transaction counsel for the Skill Impact Bond and the Pune Municipal Corporation Impact Bond
Litigation
- USD 2.5-billion capital gains tax avoidance case against Vodafone
