Our Team
Steven Ireland, FCCA
Founder & Managing Partner, Evolution Consulting GCC
Experience
Steven is an international tax adviser and FTA-registered Tax Agent with over 20 years of experience, including more than 15 years at Big Four firms. He advises business owners, investors, family offices and international groups on cross-border tax, structuring and investment across the UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region. He is a member of the UAE Federal Tax Authority Business Advisory Group.
Steven qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2002 and joined a Big Four UK tax practice in 2006, specialising in international tax planning. In 2007 he moved into M&A tax, and in 2010 relocated to the Middle East, where he worked in the M&A and international tax teams of the Big Four in the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. He then served as Head of International Tax at Grant Thornton before founding Evolution Consulting in 2023.
He has advised on transactions for clients ranging from owner-managed businesses to listed companies, including work on the world’s largest initial public offering. He has led more than 200 due diligence (buy-side and vendor) and structuring assignments and has advised leading regional organisations, including Saudi Aramco. His expertise covers international tax, M&A, cross-border structuring, UAE Corporate Tax, VAT, transfer pricing, free zone regimes and market entry.
Qualifications, certification and memberships
- BSc (Hons) Business Mathematics with Applicable Mathematics, UK
- Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA) with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in UK
Appearances
- Arabian Gulf Business Insight (AGBI) interview - UK's tax changes
- Bloomberg interview - Oman's proposed personal income tax
- Everything you need to know about the UAE’s new corporate tax
- The Economist Corporate Network online event: Is this the end of a 'tax-free' Middle East
- What UAE entities need to know about the Amended Economic Substance Regulations
- What MNE groups need to know about CbCR requirements within the U.A.E
- Economic substance regulations In the UAE: This is everything companies need to know
- Regional treasury centers in ADGM – Tax and regulatory analysis
- Establishing a regional treasury centre in ADGM for MNCs headquartered in the UK – Tax and regulatory analysis
- Establishing a regional treasury centre in ADGM for MNCs headquartered in the US – Tax and regulatory analysis
- Regional treasury centers in ADGM – Africa analysis
- UAE Double Tax Treaty Network - Aviation Comparative Jurisdiction Report
- ADGM tax guide
- ADGM’s tax efficient platform for Investing into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia