"E-commerce consulting is always based on new visions and ideas from entrepreneurs!" - fynax tax consultant and lawyer Cara Raff

For lawyer and tax consultant Cara Raff, one thing is certain: there is no getting around the topic of e-commerce in today's world. That's why she and her team of six have set themselves the goal of becoming the leading e-commerce law firm in southern Germany. She told us what makes the industry so exciting for her and what special features online retailers need to consider when seeking advice.

Cara Raff, you are a lawyer and tax consultant at the ETL Bodensee Group. What role do you play in the company?

We have a total of five locations around Lake Constance. I am responsible for Friedrichshafen, the largest site in the Lake Constance Group with over 60 employees, and I take on several roles at the same time: I am both the site manager in a great team and also the overall company manager in the team. A medium-sized company with over 130 employees cannot be managed by one person alone without burning out. I became a mother for the third time seven months ago and the law firm is now my fourth baby, so to speak, I only took a short break. In the meantime, my roles have changed a bit professionally, as I have increasingly focused on the area of e-commerce. However, I have to say that we always work as a team here too and I don't manage this professionally on my own, but together with a wonderful colleague who is also a tax consultant and is absolutely passionate about VAT issues.

In addition to traditional tax advice, you will work in the development of restructuring concepts. As a lawyer, you negotiate deals, draw up financing concepts and bring parties together. You also regularly provide start-up advice for entrepreneurs. When did you and your law firm join fynax and why did you decide to do so?

We already had a few points of contact with e-commerce beforehand. This is self-explanatory, because if you want to be a digital law firm, you have to deal with the latest topics. The e-commerce sector is part of this like no other. Online retail is simply super exciting and we definitely want to advise booming sectors. For us, e-commerce consulting is the tip of the financial accounting iceberg, so to speak. Before we joined fynax 2022, however, we realized that the e-commerce sector is quite complex. But this is exactly where it clicked for us: it's time-consuming if you don't know your way around! As soon as you have found the interfaces between tax law and e-commerce, you have the ideal conditions for targeted and incredibly beneficial advice.
But our decision to become part of the fynax team also makes sense from a business point of view: it also serves to attract new employees. Young people in particular are looking for new challenges, want to develop further and not just book as they did in the old days. Young colleagues in particular want to be at the cutting edge and therefore have an affinity for new sectors such as e-commerce. This focus also helps to retain our young employees. We therefore try to offer them plenty of scope for their own development. This changes the job profile and their market value.

What makes a good tax consultancy for you?

The key lies in the word "advice". That is also the reason why we have incorporated these different areas into our firm. In addition to tax advice, we also offer corporate and legal advice. I myself am a lawyer. In my opinion, the consulting approach must consist of a 360° package. Conversely, you could perhaps ask what is considered bad advice for many clients? The client goes it alone and at the end of the financial year you look at the figures for the tax office long after the end of the financial year and then there's another year of silence. That's not the case with us. Our financial accounting department regularly reports the figures to the relevant tax advisor and, after checking them and if there is a need for action, the tax advisor immediately sets about solving the problem and not just at the end of the year during the final meeting with the client. This is something we take very seriously: the quality of our advice and support. Many e-commerce clients are young and start their e-commerce business with the idea of selling it if it is successful enough: we therefore often create a structure that already provides for the exit. We consider all possible scenarios along the way. But at the beginning, it's primarily about taking stock, analyzing the business and, for example, drawing up a five-year plan or formulating a specific goal before we take the next steps.

What makes the e-commerce sector so exciting and what are the special features of advising e-commerce companies?

The special thing about e-commerce is that, as an entrepreneur, I can serve much larger markets, present myself differently, buy differently and explore completely new avenues, both with customers and with supply chains. This diversity can be played on with new ideas, even if you come from an industry where you wouldn't initially think of e-commerce. Who would have thought that you could sell windows online? Our clients are so different - and that's what makes the whole thing so exciting. E-commerce consulting is therefore always based on new visions and ideas from entrepreneurs. That's what makes my job exciting, every day anew.