Mario Barrera

Mario Barrera is a tax attorney in Holland & Knight's Mexico City office. Mr. Barrera focuses his practice on domestic and cross-border tax advisory, planning and strategy. He represents clients before tax authorities in procedures such as tax examinations, administrative appeals, settlements and mutual agreement procedures. Mr. Barrera also has broad experience handling tax treaties, transfer pricing matters and corporate reorganizations.

In addition, Mr. Barrera has authored numerous papers for specialized journals, including Tax Notes International, Puntos Finos, IDC and Practical Mexican Tax Strategies, and is a frequent speaker and lecturer on tax law.

Representative Experience

• Advised a major U.S. insurance company in a transfer pricing examination with a potential exposure of more than US$100 million
• Advised a major U.S. real estate investment manager in recovering value-added tax (VAT) favorable balances worth more than US$50 million
• Advised a U.S. worldwide consumer products company on Mexican tax issues associated with a global corporate reorganization
• Advised a Spanish group engaged in providing renewable energy in order to recover VAT in excess of US$200 million
• Advised a Canadian mining group on Mexican tax issues associated with the sale of its Mexican assets
• Advised several non-Mexican pension plans on the structure of their investments into Mexico in order to claim the relevant tax benefits afforded by the law
• Represented a global steel manufacturer in a transfer pricing audit which could result in a contingency of several million dollars
• Advised a Spanish group engaged in e-commerce on the structure of their operations in Mexico from a tax perspective
• Advised a U.S. real estate developer on the structure of their operations in Mexico, taking into consideration the tax situation of its institutional investors
• Advised a United Kingdom (U.K.) financial group with regard to its operations in Mexico from a tax perspective
• Advised a U.K. architectural firm with regard to the tax structure of their operations in Mexican real estate projects
• Advised a U.S. bottling group in structuring the sale of certain fixed assets in Mexico worth more than US$600 million