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Full-Text Articles in Law
Artificially Low Salaries And Tax Dodging, Hern Kuan Liu, Vincent Ooi
Artificially Low Salaries And Tax Dodging, Hern Kuan Liu, Vincent Ooi
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In the recent case of Wee Teng Yau v Comptroller of Income Tax, the Singapore Supreme Court considered the issue of tax avoidance by professionals for the first time. The case involved a dentist, Dr Wee, who was initially employed by Alfred Cheng Orthodontic Clinic Pte Ltd (ACOC). Subsequently, he incorporated Straighten Pte Ltd (SPL), of which he was the sole director and shareholder. Dr Wee continued to provide the same dental services to ACOC's patients as he had done before. However, instead of paying Dr Wee directly for his services, ACOC paid for his services to SPL, which in …
Tax Considerations For Funds Structuring In Asia, Vincent Ooi
Tax Considerations For Funds Structuring In Asia, Vincent Ooi
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Tax considerations play a major role in the decisions of fund managers of where to base their funds. The highly mobile nature of capital has resulted in tax competition, leading to several host jurisdictions for funds in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, Labuan, and the BVI) having very similar tax characteristics in terms of low effective corporate income tax rates; no capital gains taxes; no exit taxes; a single tier of taxation; and generally no withholding taxes. Other ways in which jurisdictions have attempted to distinguish themselves include a strong Double Tax Agreement network, certainty on the taxation of the carried …
Tax Implications Of Covid-19 In Singapore, Vincent Ooi
Tax Implications Of Covid-19 In Singapore, Vincent Ooi
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
As taxpayers in Singapore deal with a radically changed business environment due to COVID-19, there is a need to make non-routine decisions quickly. These decisions can have significant tax implications, which will likely manifest themselves later as the economy recovers. It is critical for taxpayers to understand the tax consequences of their decisions, even as they focus on issues of immediate survival. While the majority of the relevant tax principles are not new, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the need to apply these existing principles to new situations and increased the frequency of certain activities that may have been …
Singapore Property Tax Law As It Stands: The Rebus Sic Stantibus Principle And The Statutory Formula, Vincent Ooi
Singapore Property Tax Law As It Stands: The Rebus Sic Stantibus Principle And The Statutory Formula, Vincent Ooi
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The Singapore jurisprudence appears to have adopted the proposition that the rebus sic stantibus principle is to be disapplied where section 2(3) of the Singapore Property Tax Act (“PTA”) (the “Statutory Formula”) is applied. This article argues that this proposition perhaps ought to be stated more precisely. The principle is only disapplied where section 2(3)(b) is applied because it would run contrary to the statutory fiction imposed by section 2(3)(b) that the land is to be valued as if it were vacant land. There should be no disapplication of the principle where section 2(3)(a) is applied due to the absence …
Revisiting The Automation Tax Debate In Light Of Covid-19 And Resulting Structural Unemployment, Vincent Ooi
Revisiting The Automation Tax Debate In Light Of Covid-19 And Resulting Structural Unemployment, Vincent Ooi
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
As lockdowns ease around the globe and businesses reopen, the threat of jobs being automated by machines and workers being displaced as a result has significantly increased. Businesses must keep the number of workers on site to a minimum to comply with safe distancing measures. Under these constraints while social distancing remains the norm, automation might be the way forward for companies that still want to continue production while minimising human contact. The threat of a workforce being replaced by robots and automation, a threat that has already alarmed the labour movement, is heightened with Covid-19. There will be considerable …
The Anti-Avoidance Response To Professionals Incorporating Companies In Singapore, Vincent Ooi
The Anti-Avoidance Response To Professionals Incorporating Companies In Singapore, Vincent Ooi
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The issue of whether the incorporating of companies by professionals in Singapore constitutes tax avoidance has attracted considerable attention. The recent case of GCL v. CIT provides some guidance in this area. It reaffirms the general two-part test in CIT v. AQQ, requiring one to first apply the objective predication principle before moving on to consider the subjective bona fides commercial reason exception. It establishes that the mere fact that a professional incorporated a company through which to practise would not be sufficient to constitute tax avoidance, since such an arrangement is common and widely used, with established commercial benefits. …