Wenyu Wu | People | Baker McKenzie

Biography

Wenyu Wu is a local principal at Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow's Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group. Wenyu provides strategic tax advice to multinational corporations (MNCs) in various industries, and has experience in advising clients on a wide range of cross-border transactions including mergers and acquisitions, internal reorganizations, IP migration, supply chain restructurings, joint ventures, and foreign direct investment.

Wenyu has extensive experience in advising clients on cross-border tax dispute resolutions including Mutual Agreement Procedures (MAP) and Advanced Pricing Arrangements (APA).

She also frequently provides strategic inputs on clients’ applications for tax incentives, cash grants and Refundable Investment Credits (RIC) in Singapore.

Wenyu is fluent in both English and Mandarin.

Practice Focus

Wenyu's practice focuses on tax advisory and cross-border tax dispute resolutions for various MNCs, with a special focus on Chinese clients.

Representative Legal Matters

Advising an MNC in the payment services industry on key tax matters relating to its regional operations; representing the client in tax audits and discussions with the relevant tax authorities.
Advising various clients on their tax incentives, cash grants and RIC applications, incentive renewals and extensions, discussions with the relevant economic agencies on the amendment of incentive conditions and provided strategic inputs on engaging the relevant economic agencies on such issues.
Representing various clients on cross-border MAPs and bilateral APAs with Singapore and foreign tax authorities.
Managing a portfolio of corporate tax clients in the fashion, consumer goods and retail, manufacturing, oil and gas, telecommunications and finance industries and advising such clients on their tax compliance, tax planning and dealings with the tax authorities.
Advised a leading technology MNC on its cross-border IP restructuring taking into account the existing supply chain and the various tax and legal considerations, and successfully implemented the restructuring within three months.
Advised a Chinese MNC on various tax matters, including tax considerations relating to their IP holding structure, distribution models and supply chains in the region, and recommending possible options for the client to manage the impact arising from global tax changes and developments.
Successfully defended clients’ positions in transfer pricing and IP valuation audits involving complex residual profit split model and/or IP valuation models.
Advised a multinational in the oil and gas industry on the tax implications of its joint-venture project; including tax implications on the intended financing and sales structure, permanent establishment risks in various countries, withholding tax considerations relating to various payment flows and the transfer pricing considerations in light of the complex intercompany relationships.
Advised a publicly listed multinational in the semiconductor industry on its post-acquisition and pre-acquisition integration projects. This involved advising on the tax implications of varies options for the integration and high-level transfer pricing issues, recommending a cost-effective IP holding structure for the client, and advising on the re-domiciliation of a group entity into Singapore when the re-domiciliation regime was first introduced.
Advising a Chinese multinational internet company on various tax matters, including tax considerations relating to their IP holding structure, distribution models and supply chains in the region, and recommending possible options for the client to manage the impact arising from global tax changes and developments.
Successfully resolved a tax dispute involving an employee of a Chinese institution in the media industry, in respect of the tax liabilities of the employee and the applicability of certain exemptions under the relevant tax treaty; advocated for the client's position to the Singapore tax authority.
Provided training sessions on Singapore tax to Chinese clients in Mandarin.

Professional Associations and Memberships

Singapore Academy of Law - Member
Law Society of Singapore - Member

Admissions

Singapore (2016)

Education

National University of Singapore (Bachelor of Laws Honors)
National University of Singapore (Bachelor of Business Administration Honors, NUS Global Merit Scholarship)

Languages

English
Mandarin