Dr. Tom Offerhaus

WTS Germany, through its Private Clients practice led by partner and head of the group Dr Tom Offerhaus, has been named HNWI Estate Planning Advisory Firm of the Year in Germany at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. The recognition reflects the firm's specialist strength in advising wealthy individuals, entrepreneurs and families on the structuring and tax-efficient transfer of their assets, a field that demands both technical precision and long-term strategic judgement.

Dr Offerhaus has led WTS Germany's Private Client Services since joining the firm in 2008, and is responsible for advising entrepreneurs and wealthy private individuals on the tax optimisation of their asset structures. His work extends to counsel on company succession and to the tax-related support of foundations and associations, areas that sit at the core of estate and wealth planning for high-net-worth families. In each case the objective is to align a client's personal and commercial interests with an efficient and durable structure capable of passing wealth to the next generation.

His experience in this area is both deep and international. Since 1997 the main focus of Dr Offerhaus's professional activity has been cross-border tax and legal advice for wealthy private clients, entrepreneurs, senior executives, family offices and foundations. Through that work he has gained valuable insight into the income, wealth and inheritance tax systems of other countries, an understanding that is essential when families, assets and businesses are spread across more than one jurisdiction. This comparative perspective allows him to anticipate the interaction of different national regimes rather than addressing them in isolation.

Dr Offerhaus's career path underpins this expertise. He trained initially as a bank clerk before studying law in Munich and completing a doctorate in tax law at Passau, and was admitted to the bar in 1997. He has practised as a lawyer at commercial law firms in the United States and South Africa, and between 1997 and 2008 worked for a leading professional services firm in Munich and London before joining WTS. This blend of banking, legal and international advisory experience is well matched to the needs of private clients whose affairs cross borders and disciplines.

WTS is a professional services organisation with a strong tax focus, and its Private Clients group offers dedicated support to high-net-worth individuals and families seeking to preserve and pass on their wealth. Under Dr Offerhaus's leadership the practice combines technical tax expertise with an appreciation of the personal and commercial dimensions of succession planning. The Corporate INTL Global Awards recognise firms that demonstrate specialist excellence and a clear command of their field within a jurisdiction, and in naming WTS Germany HNWI Estate Planning Advisory Firm of the Year in Germany for 2024, the awards affirm the depth and international reach of its private client offering.