About Sylvester Urban
Sylvester is a Tax Counsel in the Allens tax team with over 15 years’ experience advising large corporations on income tax, GST and stamp duty matters.
He advises on some of the most complex tax issues affecting the financial services industry, with particular expertise in cross-border tax regimes. He is a leading expert on the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS), having advised financial institutions and investment entities since the inception of those regimes.
Sylvester's experience also spans the energy and resources, infrastructure, telecommunications and industrial sectors, including advising on the tax aspects of major M&A deals.
He assists blue chip clients with tax audits, disputes and litigation with tax authorities.
In 2025, Sylvester completed a secondment in the ANZ legal team, advising on tax matters.
Outside work, Sylvester is a chess master and competes in chess tournaments.
Recent experience
Sylvester's recent experience includes advising:*
- Various banks and ASX-listed companies: on the tax aspects of recent debt issuances, and obtained rulings from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO);
- Several multinational clients: on responding to the ATO’s questions on compliance with section 128F of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth);
- An Australian bank: on a FATCA/CRS review by the ATO;
- Large asset manager: advised in relation to voluntary disclosure and remediation of complex trust taxation and FATCA/CRS breaches;
- South32: on critical tax aspects of the US$5.6 billion sale of its global aluminium portfolio to Alcoa;
- Chevron Global Energy Inc: provided critical tax structuring advice in relation to Chevron’s acquisition of Puma Energy’s retail fuels business;
- Newmont: on its A$26 billion acquisition of Newcrest;
- Woodside: on the merger with BHP’s petroleum business;
- A multinational client: on the application of the Pillar Two regime;
- A range of mutual banks: part of the market-leading team to pioneer the issuance of mutual capital instruments;
- W&I insurers: advised W&I insurers on a range of complex tax issues across a range of industries;
- A leading insurance group: on a substantial income tax dispute with the Commissioner of Taxation.
* Includes experience prior to joining Allens.