
Yvonne Beh
Biography
Yvonne Beh is a partner in the Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group of Wong & Partners. She has been advising on Malaysian tax laws and legal issues relating to corporate and commercial matters in Malaysia for over 15 years.
Chambers Asia Pacific ranked her as a Band 3 practitioner for Tax in 2021, having previously listed her as Up and Coming in 2020. In the Chambers guide, clients commend her for having "a deep knowledge base" and is "responsive and available." Yvonne is further recognized as a Highly Regarded practitioner by the International Tax Review's Women in Tax Leaders guide and Indirect Tax Leaders guide. Yvonne won the Euromoney Asia Women in Business Law Awards for the Tax category in 2015 and 2017. She was also recognised in the Asian Legal Business’ 40 under 40 list of leaders in 2016.
She is a frequent speaker at both domestic and international tax conferences and regularly contributes to the Bloomberg BNA’s Asia Pacific Focus Tax Planning newsletter, the VAT Navigator, as well as the Asia Pacific Tax Bulletin published by the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.
Practice Focus
Yvonne specialises in indirect tax issues, in particular sales and service tax (SST) and goods and services tax (GST) (before its abolishment). She also has extensive experience advising on broader Malaysian tax issues, spanning across M&A, foreign direct investment and cross-border tax planning issues. She also regularly advises on income tax, withholding tax, double tax treaties, tax incentives, real property gains tax, stamp duty and tax controversies.
Yvonne has participated in various consultations with the Malaysian Ministry of Finance and Royal Malaysian Customs Department to provide feedback on the transition from GST to SST as well as SST-related changes and developments, including the introduction of service tax on imported digital services. Yvonne is often called upon by clients to advise on sophisticated and complex issues relating to the Malaysian tax and indirect taxes. This is particularly so for clients in the e-commerce, technology and digital economy industries, which have products and service offerings which are new, innovative and unconventional.
Representative Legal Matters
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Advised the Malaysian subsidiary of a global shipping, logistics management and supply chain company in a transfer pricing audit and appeal.
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Advised a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of medical equipment and devices on the acquisition of a Malaysian manufacturing facility on Malaysian legal, regulatory and tax aspects as well as post-acquisition integration structure and issues.
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Advised a US manufacturer of digital signal processors on the Malaysian tax issues arising from the acquisition of a semiconductor company.
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Advised a Spanish subsidiary of a global leader in aeronautics, space, defense and aerospace products and services on the Malaysian tax and GST implications arising from supply contracts with the government of Malaysia.
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Advised a global American semiconductor chip manufacturer on the GST implications of its supply chain structures in preparation for the implementation of GST.
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Advised a local Malaysian conglomerate on the GST implications on director fees.
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Assisted one of the leading Malaysian banking groups on GST issues arising from their banking documentation, and assisted in formulating GST provisions for various documentations. Conducted training workshops for the bank’s various business divisions on the legal issues arising from the implementation of GST.
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Advised an American global courier delivery services company on the GST implications arising from its operations and transactions in Malaysia.
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Advised an American multinational corporation specialising in Internet-related services and products on the GST implications arising from Internet-based services and related products.
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Assisted a French global conglomerate involved in agriculture, oil, energy and trading in commodities with a GST review of the transactions of its Malaysian subsidiary.
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Advised a leading American e-commerce company in relation to the GST implications arising from the proposed location of servers in Malaysia and e-commerce transactions.
Professional Associations and Memberships
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Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia
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Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (Malaysia Branch)
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Lincoln's Inn
Admissions
- Malaysia (2005)
- Kuala Lumpur (2005)
- England & Wales~United Kingdom
Education
- Cardiff University (LL.B., Hons) (2003)
Languages
- English
- Malay
Previous Offices
- Sydney