Tax Doyen Ong Sim Ho returns to Drew & Napier

01 Apr 2019

Tax law and oil & gas expert Ong Sim Ho returns home to Drew & Napier today. Sim Ho was previously an Equity Director of Drew & Napier from 2008 to 2014. He rejoins the firm as an Equity Director together with his entire team, including Drew & Napier alumni, Director Yang Shi Yong.

The addition of Sim Ho’s team to Drew & Napier’s Tax & Private Client Practice, currently headed by Ong Ken Loon, makes Drew & Napier’s tax disputes and private wealth legal practice the largest and most formidable in the country.

Both a lawyer and an accountant, Sim Ho stands out for his multi-disciplinary approach which incorporates legal, finance, risk governance, and accounting perspectives. Sim Ho is dual-qualified as a lawyer and Chartered Accountant. He is a barrister of England and Wales, called by Lincoln’s Inn, and an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant in Singapore, member of the Singapore Institute of Directors, an Accredited Tax Advisor for Income Tax and GST of the Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals, an Alumni Advisory Board member at the Nanyang Business School of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and a member of the Valuation Review Board. Sim Ho also sits on the board of AIA Singapore Pte Ltd. Before coming into private practice, Sim Ho was a legal counsel with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) where he advised the Authority principally on Corporate Income Tax, Goods and Services Tax and tax treaty negotiations.  

International legal publications such as Chambers Asia-Pacific and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific have ranked Sim Ho as a top tier lawyer. Chambers notes that “Ong Sim Ho wins a lot of praise for his flexible approach and depth of knowledge in the tax area, with one client emphasising: ‘The most important thing is his technical understanding and how creative he is. No one in Singapore can cut through the issues like him. He is very, very strong.’ He is regarded as the leading expert for tax dispute cases and is frequently instructed on high stake litigations.”

The days of traditional tax law practice are over. Today, clients need to get the law right from the very beginning of the planning stage of transactions. They need to navigate the executions through a myriad of jurisdictions and disclosure requirements, while all the time keeping the matter litigation-proof. With the largest dedicated tax law team in Singapore Drew & Napier is uniquely placed to respond to our clients’ needs.

Learn more about our Tax & Private Client Services practice here.