Director

TAX AND PRIVATE CLIENT SERVICES

About Ken Loon

Areas of Practice

Ken Loon specialises in tax dispute resolution, including negotiations with the IRAS and representation before the tax tribunals and courts. She also advises on tax aspects of corporate transactions, including analysis on income tax, GST, property tax and stamp duty implications.

Experience

Some recent transactions Ken Loon advised on include:

• Advised a pharmaceutical giant on the restructuring of its Asia-Pacific operations and obtained an unprecedented stamp duty remission from the Ministry of Finance.
• Advised multinational corporations on their business processes with a view to assessing and managing their global tax exposure footprints.
• Advised local and multinational corporations on Singapore tax issues in cross-border transactions.

• Co-counsel before the High Court where the position taken by the Commissioner of Stamp Duties in his administrative circular on multiple property purchases was successfully overturned.
• Assisted in the successful negotiation with the IRAS and achieved a full discharge of the corporate income tax assessment in excess of S$100 million for a privately-held investment holding company.
• MT v Comptroller of Income Tax [2006] SGITBR 1, Comptroller of Income Tax v MT [2006] 3 SLR 688 Co-counsel for a ship owner before the Income Tax Board of Review and High Court for tax exemption on bareboat charter fees of a Singapore-registered ship.
• KE v Comptroller of Income Tax [2005] SGITBR 4, Comptroller of Income Tax v KE [2006] 4 SLR 197 Co-counsel before Income Tax Board of Review and High Court for a property development group where the issue of the application of generally accepted accounting principles in taxation was clarified.
• Pan United Shipyard Pte Ltd v Chief Assessor [2006] SGVRB 1
  Co-counsel for shipyard in Valuation Review Board appeal against the inclusion of floating docks in the property tax assessment of the shipyard.
• Valuation Review Board Appeal (unreported)
  Co-counsel on successful appeal against the Chief Assessor on behalf of a major power generation company in the property tax assessment under the "profits method".
• TN v Comptroller of Income Tax [2007] SGITBR 2
  Represented the Comptroller of Income Tax before the Income Tax Board of Review on the taxability of gains on the disposal of properties.
• NP and Another v Comptroller of Income Tax [2007] 4 SLR 599
  Represented the Comptroller of Income Tax before the High Court on the taxability of gains on the disposal of properties.
• NE v Comptroller of Income Tax
  Co-counsel for the Comptroller of Income Tax before the High Court and Court of Appeal on deductibility of remuneration paid to a bodyguard hired for the safety of a key member of the company, who is also one of the owners of the company.
• First DCS Pte Ltd v. Chief Assessor and Comptroller of Property Tax [2007] 3 SLR 326; Chief Assessor and Another v First DCS Pte Ltd [2008] 2 SLR 724
  Represented the Chief Assessor before the High Court and Court of Appeal on the assessment of pipelines running through land owned by third parties.