Werner Heyvaert and Yannick Vandenplas join Belgium’s Advisius

Werner Heyvaert brings nearly 40 years of experience in Belgian and international taxation. He built his career across leading law firms — Loyens & Volkmaars (now Loyens & Loeff), NautaDutilh, Stibbe, Jones Day, and AKD — working in offices in Antwerp, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Brussels, and New York. At each of the last four firms, he led the tax practice as head of the tax team.

His expertise covers transactional tax work (M&A, corporate reorganizations, complex financial structures) as well as tax litigation for major corporate clients across the automotive, energy, insurance, logistic, technology and several other industries.

A prolific author and regular speaker at tax conferences, Werner is an active member of the Belgian Association of Tax Lawyers (BATL), IFA Belgium, AmCham Belgium, he is the representative of the Flemish Bar Council (OVB) at the tax committee of the CCBE and served four years as Treasurer of the Flemish Bar Council.

Werner holds a law degree and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from KU Leuven, and completed a postgraduate program in taxation at the Belgian Chamber of Accountants and Certified Accountants in Antwerp. He is a member of the Brussels Bar and is fluent in Dutch, English and French.

For his part, Yannick Vandenplas joins Advisius having gained experience in Belgian tax law across several Brussels practices. Most recently at AKD, he worked on a range of tax matters including cross-border joint ventures, corporate restructurings, project finance, and capital markets transactions, as well as niche areas such as R& D wage tax incentives and the audiovisual tax shelter. An active member of IFA (Belgian branch) and BATL, Yannick is fluent in Dutch and English, with a good working knowledge of French.

Laurent Donnay de Casteau, Advisius’ managing partner, said of the two arrivals: “We are delighted to welcome Werner and Yannick to Advisius. Werner’s arrival is a definingmoment for Advisius. His track record, his leadership across well-established tax teams, and his standing in the international tax community make him a remarkable addition to our firm.”

“Werner and Yannick share our conviction that excellent tax advice must be both technically uncompromising and deeply client-focused. Their arrival further strengthens a practice that has already earned the trust of a distinguished client base — and reaffirms our ambitions for the future,” he added.