A Comprehensive Survey of Tax Developments
Featured Content
November 2009
Lawyers and corporate executives from Asia Pacific, Europe and the US gathered at the Hilton Singapore on 5-6 November to discuss tax developments and strategies at Baker & McKenzie’s 25th Annual Asia Pacific Tax Conference. Apart from critical updates on tax reform in China and US tax enforcement priorities (outside the US), this year’s agenda also focused on trends in multijurisdictional tax planning, trade tax incentives, transfer pricing concerns and tax issues in dealing with debt.
More than 50 lawyers from Baker & McKenzie’s offices in Asia Pacific, Europe and the US shared information and insights on risks and opportunities in Asia Pacific’s changing tax environment. Delegates — 130 in all from 70 companies — were given a chance to attend breakout sessions on a selection of 12 topics over two days. Guest speaker Mr. Jimmy Oei, senior tax specialist with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), gave the keynote address on tax treaty negotiations with the IRAS. Supplemental one-to-one meetings (34 sessions) were also held to allow for discussion of specific issues.
A breakout session on the challenges faced by the Hong Kong and Singapore tax systems was well attended. The discussion allowed for an exchange of views about how the two systems will deal with changing market demands and the possibility of convergence between them in the future.
Representatives from Cisco, FedEx, JP Morgan Chase, Sony, Motorola, Applied Materials, Boeing, Dell, ING and Morgan Stanley were among those who attended.