Maksym Stepanenko

About Maksym

Maksym Stepanenko is Managing Partner at Crystal Tax. He has spent 14 years in international corporate law and tax planning, and since 2012 he has built cross-border corporate structures for owners of online, e-commerce and IT businesses.

His focus is end-to-end business structuring: holding structures, intellectual property and licensing, and tax planning for online trade and digital companies. Maksym designs the full corporate architecture, from choosing the jurisdiction and tax model to opening bank accounts and setting up operations.

Focus and expertise

• Holding structures. Designing holding and trading structures to run a group of companies, distribute profit and protect assets.
• IP and licensing. Placing and licensing intellectual property, royalty models and the contract base for online products and brands.
• Tax planning for e-commerce. Lawful tax models for marketplace sellers, SaaS and digital services, built on international tax treaties.
• Corporate law across 50+ jurisdictions. Hands-on practice in the UAE, Cyprus, Estonia, the United States (Delaware), the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malta and Georgia.
• Banking, payments and substance. Account opening, payment infrastructure and real economic substance that stands up to review.

Approach: substance first

Maksym builds structures around the real business. The setup reflects how the company actually operates: where value is created, where the team sits, where deals are signed. Structures built this way hold up to bank and tax-authority review and are made to last for years.

He works through every case individually. On a consultation Maksym looks at the business type, turnover, current structure and goals for the next three to five years, and only then proposes options. When an international structure is still premature, he says so plainly and names the point at which it becomes worth revisiting.

How the work runs

1. Situation review. A free 10-minute intro call: your business, your goals, direction on structure and jurisdiction.
2. Structure design. A holding or trading structure around your model, with the tax load and the launch and running costs worked out.
3. Launch. Company formation, bank accounts, payments, licences and residence permits where needed.
4. Ongoing support. Reporting, compliance and support as the business grows.