Adeline Wong
Biography
Adeline Wong heads the Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group of Wong & Partners and the Tax and Trade Practice Group of Baker McKenzie member firms in the Joint Asian Offices. She has over 30 years of experience in the area of corporate tax planning, advisory, audit and investigation work.
Adeline won the Euromoney Asia Women in Business Law Awards for the Tax category in 2013, 2018 and 2020. Her practice was named the Tax and Trusts Law Firm of the Year by the Asian Legal Business Malaysia Law Awards in both 2020 and 2021. She is ranked as a Band 1 practitioner by Chambers Asia Pacific for Tax and by the Chambers High Net Worth Guide for Private Wealth Law. Clients commend her as "a leading tax lawyer" and a "standout name in the private wealth market in Malaysia" in the Chambers guides. She is also listed as a Leading Individual by Legal 500 Asia Pacific and as an Elite Practitioner by Asialaw Profiles for Tax. The International Tax Review also ranks Adeline as a Highly Regarded practitioner among its Tax Controversy, Indirect Tax and Women in Tax Leaders Guides.
She has presented in both domestic and international tax conferences, including conferences organised by the Tax Executive Institute in the US, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners in Singapore and Bloomberg BNA's Global Transfer Pricing Conference in Shanghai. She is also a regular contributor to established publications on tax-related legislation and developments in Malaysia, such as Bloomberg BNA and the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.
Practice Focus
Adeline has extensive experience in tax planning and tax advisory for local, regional and cross-border corporate exercises. These include joint ventures, new operations, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and downsizing, among others. She has advised on matters relating to tax disputes and controversies, transfer pricing, tax credit, franking credit, reinvoicing, royalties, dividends, double tax treaties, withholding tax, tariff and customs, tax incentives, as well as matters relating to foreign trade and the WTO.
Adeline advises a broad range of clients, which include investment banks, other financial institutions and high net worth families, on tax, trust, and estate planning issues, with a focus on using onshore and offshore trust structures and other vehicles to help clients hold and transfer wealth. She also advises financial institutions that provide service to high net worth individuals on securities as well as corporate and regulatory issues in relation to their operations in Malaysia.
Representative Legal Matters
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Successfully represented various clients in tax incentive negotiations with the Ministry of International Trade and Industries, Malaysian Industrial Development Authority, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs as well as negotiations involving with the Ministry of Finance.
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Assisted clients in dealing with withholding tax issues in various jurisdictions on cross-border payments and in structuring such payments in a tax efficient manner.
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Assisted clients in global tax structures supportable by relevant facts and documentation including migration of IP rights, transfer of sales company and conversion into contract manufacturing.
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Advised on obtaining tax credit from a foreign tax authority in respect of a refund of withholding tax paid to the Malaysian tax authority.
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Successfully represented clients in disputes relating to tax assessment and tax investigations with the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia.
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Involved in obtaining tax rulings for clients from the revenue authorities with respect to benefits awarded under stock option plans.
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Represented a leading provider of telecommunication products based in US on regulatory and licensing issues for telecommunications services including outbound bypass, voice resale services, ownership and leasing of router, international data network connectivity, sale of bandwidth on sub sea cable, various types of class and individual licenses under the Communications and Multimedia Act.
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Advised a Japanese multinational telecommunication company in respect of the telecommunication regulatory regime in Malaysia including advising on the provision of multi-frame relay bandwidth services, Internet content regulation and confidentiality issues as well as the strategic alliance with a major Malaysian telecommunications company.
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Acted for a major US-based search engine and internet portal on various issues including liability for content providers and internet service providers.
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Acted for a local search portal on various aspects of their operations in Malaysia.
Professional Associations and Memberships
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Tax Committee of the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Member
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Academy of Law in Singapore
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Australian Society of Accountants
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Malaysian Institute of Taxation - Member
Admissions
- Malaysia (1997)
- Sarawak~Malaysia (1992)
- New South Wales~Australia (1990)
Education
- University of New South Wales (LL.B.) (1990)
- University of New South Wales (Bachelor of Commerce) (1988)
Languages
- English
- Malay
Previous Offices
- Singapore
- Sydney