Clara Lahiani

Over Clara Lahiani

Clara Lahiani is tax advisor, pioneer researcher, author and public speaker on datacenter taxation, a key issue for any business going digital. After brilliant studies at Sorbonne University (valedictorian), Clara has started writing a thesis at University Panthe?on-Assas (Paris) and was appointed visitor researcher at the University of East London (Computing Research Group) in 2017. In mid-2016, she entered the consortium Data Center Eureca Project, a thinktank developing research and innovation in the datacenter industry and financed by the European Commission. As tax advisor, Clara has worked on key international issues at the tax directions of Siemens (global IT company) and Kering (global luxury company).

In parallel, since 2016, she shares knowledge on datacenter taxation through conferences and trainings for private companies (Siemens, Mazars), private event producers (KNect365), public institutions (French Senate, European Commission, French Digital Council) or universities (Sorbonne, King’s College, Linz, Bucarest, Moscow). Clara has published in four countries (France, UK, Russia, Belgium). She also received an award from the International Fiscal Association (IFA) for her excellent work on datacenter taxation.

Whenever you hear about digitalization, you hear about dematerialization…but are digital activities really intangible? Through pioneer research on the topic, Clara demonstrates that digitalization has a material aspect as, every day, billions of data are treated, stored and transferred in physical and technological strongholds that can sprawl over thousands of square meters: datacenters. In this context, simple operations such as paying your taxes online, buying a product on eBay, or placing a document into the “cloud” require a datacenter. What is the importance of this sector, that constitutes the hidden face of digital economy? What are the business and tax consequences for companies? How to adapt business and tax strategies?