Yesterday evening, WTS, a global full-service provider for tax advisory services and financial & deal advisory, celebrated its 25th anniversary. What once began as a small start-up is now one of the leading consulting firms in its segment with 14 locations, over 1,600 employees and an annual turnover of around 242 million euros - and the future promises further growth.
Fritz Esterer, CEO of the WTS Group, likes to think back to the early days. Back then, he was head of the tax department at Siemens AG and initiated the founding of WTS. “With the spin-off of the former Siemens subsidiaries Epcos and Infineon in 1999 and 2000, we were looking for a way to continue to make the comprehensive expertise of the Siemens tax department available to the spun-off companies. Our solution was to found a new tax consulting company, to which some of my employees transferred. As a result, WTS had three DAX companies as clients right from the start: Siemens, Epcos and Infineon.”
Unique right from the start
From the very beginning, WTS was more than just a conventional tax consultancy. The aim was to create a consulting firm that combines knowledge from industry, consulting and financial management. A company that deliberately dispenses with financial statement activities in order to provide clients with completely conflict-free advice and that has been internationally oriented from the outset. “These special features are still key components of our success today,” says Jürgen Scholz, CEO at WTS and Chairman of the Board at WTS Global.
Scholz adds: “Due to our history and employee structure, we understand group tax processes like hardly any other consulting firm. This enables us to provide our clients with practical and effective support. Added to this is our international reach: we founded the international tax practice WTS Global back in 2003. Today, we are represented in over 100 countries. This enabled us to establish our global footprint at an early stage and develop into a worldwide brand.”
In addition to its consulting services in all tax disciplines, another unique selling point of WTS is its business partnering model. “As part of business partnering, WTS takes over group tax functions in full or in part. This enables companies to reduce compliance and liability risks and optimize their tax departments in terms of quality, flexibility and costs. Today, we act as a business partner for numerous multinational corporations, but also for many internationally oriented SMEs,” explains Ulrike Schellert, Managing Director at WTS.
Into the future as a full-service provider and with AI
In 2009/2010, the consulting portfolio was expanded to include tax-related legal and financial advisory services, making WTS a full-service provider. From 2014, WTS also established a practice for tax technology. With over 300 employees, WTS Digital is now the largest German provider for the digitalization of tax processes.
In 2016, WTS ushered in a new era with its entry into the field of artificial intelligence. While the initial focus was on the development of intelligent tax solutions, another milestone followed in 2024: together with PSP Munich, the joint venture WTS PSP AI was founded, which is the first provider on the market to combine extensive, quality-assured tax expertise with the power of generative language models.
“It is remarkable how WTS has developed from a specialist consulting firm into a technology-centered company. As in many other industries, digitalization is also advancing inexorably in the tax sector. WTS built up digital expertise early on, which will remain a key growth driver in the future,” comments Tim Zech, CEO at WTS.
Economic success and social responsibility
“I am proud and grateful for what we have achieved together at WTS. With our current structure and the three business divisions Tax, Digital and Advisory, we have created a strong foundation on which we will continue our successful and exciting journey. I am very much looking forward to this!”, explains Fritz Esterer.
Fritz Esterer adds: “We never took our success for granted. Anyone who is successful also has a responsibility to society. This idea is firmly anchored in our corporate culture. That is why we have always supported social and cultural projects. We want our actions to create added value - not only for our clients, but also for the society in which we live and work.”
The most important milestones of WTS:
2000: Company founded in Munich and branches opened in Erlangen and Raubling (now Kolbermoor)
2001: Foundation of the Düsseldorf branch office
2003: Foundation of the international tax practice WTS Global
2007: Establishment of the Frankfurt and Hamburg offices
2009/2010: Expansion of the range of services to include tax-related legal advice and financial advisory services
2012: Rebrand and introduction of a new corporate identity (primary color red)
2014: Foundation of the first digital unit for tax technology and the Cologne office
2016: Launch of the AI initiative and establishment of the Regensburg office
2017: Awarded “German Tax Firm of the Year” and “European Indirect Tax Firm of the Year” and acquisition of the former FAS AG (simultaneous establishment of the Stuttgart office)
2018: Award as German “Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year” and “European Indirect Tax Firm of the Year”
2019: Foundation of the Berlin office
2020: Foundation of the Hanover, Nuremberg and Rosenheim offices
2022: Introduction of the new brand architecture (“One WTS”) with the three business divisions Tax, Digital, Advisory and relocation of the Munich headquarters to the Werksviertel and award as JUVE Law Firm of the Year for VAT and personal corporate taxes
2023: Award as JUVE Law Firm of the Year for VAT, Financial Tax and Corporate Tax
2024: Foundation of the AI joint venture WTS PSP AI and the Leipzig office as well as awards as “German Transfer Pricing of the Year”, “European Indirect Tax Advisory Firm of the Year”, “European Tax Technology Provider of the Year”, “Africa Tax Firm of the Year” and “Africa Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year”
2025: WTS celebrates its 25th anniversary
