The international tax environment is undergoing a period of major change and uncertainty, with tax professionals around the world having to adapt to rapid and significant developments. Singapore is not alone in dealing with these changes and should learn from the experience and expertise of other jurisdictions. The inaugural Singapore Tax Academy Research Initiative (STARI) Conference brings together the best global thought-leaders, sharing perspectives from Australia, China, the United Kingdom and numerous other jurisdictions on some of the most pressing issues in international taxation today.
The Inaugural STARI Visiting Professor will speak on the Future of International Tax Cooperation (amidst the current uncertainty), while two other distinguished professors will share their views on the allocation of taxing rights on income from cross-border transactions and Competitiveness Beyond Pillar Two, respectively. A Panel Discussion will then provide attendees with the opportunity to seek insights on these highly topical and important issues from the distinguished and diverse panel of experts.
Please refer to the organiser’s website
here for full details on the programme.
Professor Michael DirkisProfessor of Taxation Law
University of Sydney Law School
Dr Michael Dirkis is a noted researcher, having authored and co-authored over 680 publications and papers. He has been engaged with taxation law for over 40 years through his roles within the academy, the Australian Taxation Office, and the private sector. From May 1999 until October 2009 he was, as Senior Tax Counsel for the Tax Institute, in the forefront of the all major tax reform and taxation administration reforms through participation in key Australian governmental consultative forums conducted by the Treasury, Australian Taxation Office, the Board of Taxation, the Inspector General of Taxation and the Australian National Audit Office and appearing before numerous Parliamentary committees.
From 2005 to 2008 he represented the Asia-Oceania Tax Consultants’ Association as an observer at four meetings of Study Group on Asian Tax Administration and Research (SGATAR). Since his appointment as Professor of Taxation Law at the University of Sydney Law School in 2009, he has continued his involvement in tax policy development as a member of the Australian Treasury’s Tax Treaties Advisory Panel and his continuing roles as a member of the Taxation Committee of the Law Council of Australia and involvement in a number of Tax Institute tax technical committees. He was awarded the Australasian Tax Teachers Association’s Graham Hill medal in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to the teaching of taxation law and policy” on 21 January 2010 and awarded life membership of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association on 18 January 2018.
Professor Zhu YanshengTaxation Professor of Law
School of Law, Xiamen University
Yansheng Zhu is a professor at the Law School of Xiamen University (XMU), the associate director of the Centre for International Tax Law and Comparative Taxation in XMU. His academic expertise is in the tax law and commercial law, specialising in international tax law, international investment law and Chinese company law and trust law. He published many articles, books within or outside China, such as Principle of Permanent Establishment in Tax Treaties (Law Press, China,2006), International Tax Law (co-authored and co-edited, a textbook for undergraduate students, High Education Press, China, 2008), Europe-China Tax Treaties (Co-authored, Kluwer Law International, 2010), The Impact of Bilateral Investment Treaties on Taxation, (Coauthored, IBFD, 2017) and Implementing Key BEPS Action: Where Do We Stand?(Coauthored, IBFD, 2019).
Yansheng was a visiting scholar at Boston University Law School in 2003-2004, a visiting professor at the National Taiwan University Law School from April to June in 2009, and a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University Law Centre in 2011-2012. He served as a member of the Subcommittee on Tax Treatment of Services of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters in 2014-2016. He received his LLB, LLM, and JSD from Xiamen University. Currently, he is vice-chairman of the Society of Fiscal Law in Fujian Province of China, and a member of the Standing Council of China’s Society of Fiscal Law.
Dr Leopoldo ParadaReader in Tax Law
The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London
Dr Leopoldo Parada, LLM, PhD, is a Reader in Tax Law at King’s College London in the UK. Previously he was an Associate Professor in Tax Law and Director of the Centre for Business Law and Practice (CBLP) at the University of Leeds School of Law. In the past, he also held academic positions in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Dr Parada also works as a tax policy advisor for different governments and international organisations around the world and has participated in different legislative tax reforms worldwide, including most recently the introduction of interest limitation rules in Indonesia and the OECD Pillar 2 in Curaçao. His research focuses primarily on the international implications of BEPS, the application of tax treaties, and the European and international tax implications of the digitalisation of the economy.
Dr Parada is the author of several books and academic articles, and he is also a regular speaker at specialised conferences around the world, including specialised media outlets both within and outside the UK. Most notably, his academic work has been cited by the US Congressional Research Service and by the EU Advocate General in his opinion on the CJEU case C-342/20 related to investment funds in Finland. He has also collaborated with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in important investigations related to tax avoidance, including the recent “Pandora Papers” in 2021. In 2020, Dr Parada was recognised by the "TaxCOOP 35 Leaders of the Future in Taxation" (Canada) as one of the most promising tax policy experts worldwide.
Ms Yong Sing YuanPartner, Transfer Pricing
KPMG Singapore
Sing Yuan is a Partner in Transfer Pricing with KPMG in Singapore. She has over 20 years of experience in tax policy, international tax and transfer pricing. She specialises in transfer pricing, dispute prevention and resolution for multinationals. Prior to joining KPMG, she was with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) where she headed the Transfer Pricing and disputer resolution branch. She played an active role in bilateral negotiations to prevent and resolve transfer pricing issues for multinationals. Sing Yuan has been working on bilateral advanced pricing arrangements and mutual agreement procedures since 2007. She was also actively involved in domestic and international tax policy development.
Sing Yuan is a regular speaker on global transfer pricing and tax policy. She has published a number of articles relating to topics in international tax and transfer pricing.
Associate Professor Darren KohVice Dean and Head of Taxation Programme
School of Law, Singapore University of Social Sciences
Accredited Tax Advisor (Income Tax)
Darren Koh graduated top of his class at the University of Buckingham, winning the Maxwell Law Prize for his year, and was called to the Bar in England & Wales. He is also a Chartered Accountant (England and Wales) and a Chartered Tax Adviser (United Kingdom). He embarked on a tax career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London and KPMG in Hong Kong, and then as in-house counsel in industry with Procter & Gamble. He has also spent 2 years in International Law at the United Nations handling war reparation claims filed against Iraq after the first Gulf War.
He left Procter & Gamble for academia, joining the School of Business of SIM University (now the Singapore University of Social Sciences) as firstly as Head of Area – Taxation and Business Law, and is now the Vice-Dean of the School of Law as well as the Head of Programme – Master of Taxation.
He is a Board member of the Tax Academy of Singapore and was a member of the Income Tax Board of Review, a tribunal hearing tax appeals. He is the one of the editors of The Law and Practice of Singapore Income Tax 3rd edition, having contributed to the earlier 2 editions.
Darren has a keen interest in international taxation, and in particular, in the field of transfer pricing and tax efficient supply-change structuring. He has a keener in interest in education and training and is always looking for ways to convince people that tax is not boring!
Professor Lee Pey WoanDean
Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University
Professor Lee Pey Woan is Dean and Professor of Law at Yong Pung How School of Law (YPHSL). She was previously Vice Provost (Faculty Matters) at the Office of the Provost and was closely involved in the review and development of the University’s academic governance policies.
Pey Woan teaches Corporate Law but her research interests encompass company, private and commercial law. She publishes widely and co-authored multiple textbooks on her fields of research. Her works have been cited by the Singapore Court of Appeal, Singapore High Court and the Canadian Supreme Court. Pey Woan also serves the legal profession by periodically speaking at legal conferences.
Pey Woan graduated from King’s College London and subsequently obtained the Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford University. She is also an Advocate and Solicitor of the Singapore Supreme Court.
Mr Dennis LuiChief Executive Officer
Tax Academy of Singapore
Dennis oversees the Property Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Law as well as Investigation & Forensics Divisions in IRAS.
Dennis served as Chief Executive of VITAL Shared Services - the Central Agency for Corporate Shared Services under Ministry of Finance. Dennis was also Senior Director (Finance & Admin) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Prior, Dennis‘s key appointments in IRAS included stints with the Taxpayer Services and Enforcement Divisions in IRAS as Assistant Commissioner.
Dennis is an elected councillor of CPA Australia Singapore Divisional Council and chairs the CPA Australia Public Sector Committee.
Assistant Professor Vincent OoiHead, Singapore Tax Academy Research Initiative
Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University
Dr Vincent Ooi is an Assistant Professor of Law, Head of the Singapore Tax Academy Research Initiative and Lee Kong Chian Fellow at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University. His research focuses on tax law, with particular interests in attribution by beneficial ownership and crypto tax risks. Vincent is the immediate past Deputy Director of the Centre for Commercial Law in Asia at SMU and was previously Deputy Head of Tax at a Singapore law firm. He served as Rapporteur for the International Law Association Committee on International Tax Law and has consulted for the United Nations and World Bank. Vincent has been a guest editor of the eJournal of Tax Research and regularly serves as a peer reviewer for numerous leading journals.
Vincent has held research positions at all three law schools in Singapore (SMU, NUS, and SUSS). His research has been published in leading journals such as the Law Quarterly Review, Legal Studies, and British Tax Review. Vincent’s books include Singapore Trusts Law (2021) and both tax law volumes of Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore. His work has been cited a few hundred times, including by all levels of the Singapore Supreme Court, leading English and Singapore law texts, and organisations within the United Nations and European Commission. Vincent has been awarded several research prizes such as the Australasian Tax Teachers’ Association’s Best Tax Research Paper Prize and Lee Kong Chian Fellowship. He has been awarded research grants by organisations such as the Tax Academy of Singapore and Singapore Ministry of Education.
Vincent has taught at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and has conducted training for various divisions of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. He has won several teaching awards including the Most Promising Teacher Award. Vincent has taught Singapore Equity and Trusts Law, Tax Law, and Contract Law; and UK Tax Law and Company Law. He has taught Singapore Private Wealth and Tax Law at a postgraduate level. Vincent read for his doctorate in Tax Law at Downing College, Cambridge, courtesy of an MOE-SMU START Overseas PhD Scholarship. He completed his undergraduate law studies at Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated with double first class honours, and as the top law student in Trinity College, Mowat Scholar and Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford University Undergraduate Law Journal.
Singapore Tax Academy Research Initiative (STARI)
The Tax Academy of Singapore has partnered up with the Singapore Management University (SMU) Yong Pung How School of Law to launch the Singapore Tax Academy Research Initiative (STARI).
Designed to conduct leading international taxation research in today's rapidly changing global tax landscape, STARI conducts leading tax law research in a rapidly developing international tax landscape, while also building domestic tax research capacity, developing strong academic networks, and bringing the best in international tax thought-leadership to the tax profession in Singapore.
In addition to its research activities, STARI provides training in academic research and writing, and works with the world’s best tax law academics to develop tax professionals.