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A Framework For Understanding The Taxation Of Digital Tokens, Vincent Ooi Apr 2022

A Framework For Understanding The Taxation Of Digital Tokens, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As a relatively new area, the taxation of digital tokens can give rise to several dangerous misconceptions. This article lays out five propositions to counter these misconceptions: 1) digital tokens are not a single monolithic asset class attracting uniform tax treatment; 2) the common trichotomous division of digital tokens into payment, utility and security tokens is derived from securities regulation and should not be blindly adopted into tax law; 3) the three classes are not mutually exclusive and hybrid tokens may exist; 4) the fact that an asset is a digital token rarely changes its tax treatment by itself, which …


Stamp Duty Traps To Watch Out For, Hern Kuan Liu, Vincent Ooi Dec 2021

Stamp Duty Traps To Watch Out For, Hern Kuan Liu, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

On 15 December 2021, the Ministry of Finance introduced a new package of measures designed to cool the residential property market. The measures include increases in Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (“ABSD”), the tightening of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio, adjustments to the Loan to Valuation limit for loans from HDB and a planned increase of housing supply.Notably, there were significant increases in the ABSD rates applicable to almost all categories of buyers. The ABSD rates only remained unchanged for Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents purchasing their first residential property (0% and 5% respectively). This article focuses on the implications of …


Investor-State Mediation And The Belt And Road Initiative: Examining The Conditions For Settlement, Mark Mclaughlin Oct 2021

Investor-State Mediation And The Belt And Road Initiative: Examining The Conditions For Settlement, Mark Mclaughlin

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Despite the dominance of arbitration in the realm of investor-state disputes, the variety of proposals for reform suggest considerable stakeholder discontent with the current framework. One suggested reform is the introduction of investor–state mediation, which has been supported by the conclusion of the Singapore Convention on Mediation and the proposal by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of a set of mediation rules. This article examines the respective merits of arbitration and mediation to settle investment disputes related to the Belt and Road Initiative. Many of the principles underpinning the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative …


Adapting Taxation For The Digital Economy In Singapore, Vincent Ooi Mar 2021

Adapting Taxation For The Digital Economy In Singapore, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The advent of the digital economy has had profound implications for taxation. Tax systems have been forced to adapt as they become increasingly unsuited for the realities of modern commerce. While Singapore has largely followed international developments, particularly in the area of international taxation, it has often made numerous innovative policy decisions in line with its national interests. The various policy decisions which Singapore has made on taxing the digital economy span both international and domestic tax. In the area of domestic tax, the examples have been further divided by subject matter, like e-commerce, digital tokens, automation, and electronic instruments. …


Tax Law And The Digital Economy In Singapore, Vincent Ooi Jan 2021

Tax Law And The Digital Economy In Singapore, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This chapter is divided into three main parts: 1) international tax law, 2) domestic tax law, and 3) tax and regulation. The first part deals with the international tax system and the way it has been affected by technology. This part will focus on income tax. Existing rules of nexus, characterisation of income and treatment of data are increasingly being challenged, leading to changes in the OECD Model Convention and the implementation of the Base Erosion and Profits Shifting (“BEPS”) project. These in turn have had a considerable impact on Singapore tax law, as Singapore is an active participant in …


Defining A State-Owned Enterprise In International Investment Agreements, Mark Mclaughlin Oct 2019

Defining A State-Owned Enterprise In International Investment Agreements, Mark Mclaughlin

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The objective of this article is to establish a unified conceptual framework for State-owned enterprises in international investment law. I hope to furnish drafters and negotiators with the tools to define such enterprises in accordance with their policy concerns. The central thesis is that five definitional criteria must be considered: (i) separate legal personality; (ii) extent and form of control; (iii) eligible governmental units; (iv) nature of activity; and (v) purpose of activity. While variations within each criterion can reflect the policy choices of contracting parties, failure to adequately delimit the boundaries of all five will confer discretion on arbitrators …


Taxing "All Other Income" In Singapore And Malaysia, Vincent Ooi Sep 2019

Taxing "All Other Income" In Singapore And Malaysia, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Section 10(1)(g) of the Singapore Income Tax Act is a ‘sweeping-up’ provision which catches all income not falling under sections 10(1)(a)–(f). More than 50 years after its introduction, the application of section 10(1)(g) is still unclear despite the test laid out in IB v CIT. This article notes that the current jurisprudence is limited to cases involving gains or profits from the disposal of assets. It argues that the reliance on the Australian Myer Emporium test in IB v CIT was misplaced and that the section 10(1)(g) test should not have a sole focus on intention. Rather, it proposes a …


Stamp Duty Relief And Anti-Avoidance Provisions, Vincent Ooi Dec 2018

Stamp Duty Relief And Anti-Avoidance Provisions, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Reliefs from stamp dutyIn certain circumstances, stamp duty reliefs may be applicable to instruments that would otherwise be dutia-ble, provided that the reliefs are claimed within specified statutory time limits. Such reliefs are distinct from stamp duty remissions, which may be granted by the Minister through the exercise of his powers under Sec-tion 74 of the Stamp Duties Act (Cap 312, 2006 Ed.). Under Section 74 of the Stamp Duties Act, the Minister has the discretion to prospectively or retrospectively reduce or remit duties subject to such conditions as he may impose. This power may be exercised on a general …


Shining A Light On Tax Avoidance, Hern Kuan Liu, Vincent Ooi Nov 2018

Shining A Light On Tax Avoidance, Hern Kuan Liu, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Tax avoidance is a technical legal term which has a precise meaning in law. This can be compared to the more general term of "tax dodging", which has no such technical legal meaning. In light of this, we think it might be useful to explain the concept of tax avoidance.


Global Reform Of Investor-State Arbitration: A Tentative Roadmap Of China's Emergent Equilibrium, Mark Mclaughlin Jun 2018

Global Reform Of Investor-State Arbitration: A Tentative Roadmap Of China's Emergent Equilibrium, Mark Mclaughlin

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Investor–State arbitration is in a state of flux. In recent years, doubts about its adequacy have become apparent: questions of coherence, consistency, legitimacy, and utility have rendered fragile the central place of investor–State arbitration in global foreign direct investment (FDI) governance. Three threads of reform have been advanced as a corrective to these deficiencies, encompassing incremental reform, institutional reform, and fundamental reform. China is perhaps the most influential nation not to have declared a preference for one future or another. For over a decade, the Chinese approach to investor–State arbitration has been in a state of disequilibrium: bilateral investment treaties …


Singapore Income Taxation, Vincent Ooi, Irving Aw, Joanna Yap May 2018

Singapore Income Taxation, Vincent Ooi, Irving Aw, Joanna Yap

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

28.1.1 Section 10(1) of the Income Tax Act (Cap. 134, 2014 Rev. Ed.) (“ITA”) is the charging provision which provides for income tax to be payable for each year of assessment (“YA”) upon the income of any person. Income is taxable if it falls within one of the enumerated heads of charge under sections 10(1)(a) to (g).Income is taxable only if it is sourced in Singapore, i.e. accruing in or derived from Singapore, or received in Singapore from outside Singapore, subject to variations.Only revenue (and not capital) receipts are taxable, and only revenue (and not capital) expenses are deductible for …


The Three Worlds Of Multilevel Democracy: Local Linkages, Civil Society And The Development Of The Modern State, Jefferey Sellers, Anders Lidstrom, Yooil Bae Nov 2015

The Three Worlds Of Multilevel Democracy: Local Linkages, Civil Society And The Development Of The Modern State, Jefferey Sellers, Anders Lidstrom, Yooil Bae

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Three Worlds of MultilevelDemocracydevelops and applies a novel theory of democratic governance. This theory incorporates micro-level patternsof governance and civic organization at the local scale into a comparative macro-analysisof national democratic institutions. Institutionsand politics at the micro-level of cities and communities provide the basis fora new perspective on national state-society relations. We demonstrate how these local patterns havedeveloped through historical processes that were often distinct from those thatgave rise to national democratic institutions, and analyze how they have shapeddemocratic institutions at the national level. These local patterns continue to account for significant cross-nationalcontrasts in the quality of democracy and …


Designing A More Efficient And Fairer Tax System, Singapore Management University Nov 2011

Designing A More Efficient And Fairer Tax System, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

“In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” Benjamin Franklin had once famously said. The founding father of the United States was convinced, some 200 years ago, of the importance of tax design on modern economies. Today, as more politicians and governments struggle to address fiscal deficits and income inequality through taxation, it has never been more important to get tax structures right.


Federalism And State Taxation Of Multistate Enterprises, Howard Hunter Jan 1983

Federalism And State Taxation Of Multistate Enterprises, Howard Hunter

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article began to develop in my mind during the fall of 1981 when I read the Supreme Court's opinion in Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana,1 as I was preparing notes for my first year constitutional law class. I was trying to determine how best to present to novices the sometimes dry and often confusing materials onthe Commerce Clause, and Commonwealth Edison, at first blush, seemed to be a good case to use with National League of Cities v. Usery2 to discuss the scope of permissible federal action under the Commerce Clause and the concomitant limitations on state action also …


The Continuing Debate Over Tuition Tax Credits, Howard Hunter Dec 1980

The Continuing Debate Over Tuition Tax Credits, Howard Hunter

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Prior to the end of World War II, the federal government had little involvement in educational matters. Since then it has become a principal benefactor of higher education and has provided substantial financial assistance to public elementary and secondary schools. In addition, the federal government has funded various programs for preschool education, for adult education, for the training of physically or mentally disabled persons, for student loans, for veterans' benefits and for numerous other educational programs. Thus education, once a matter for private control and support and for local and state government regulation has now become a matter of significant …