Asia Tax Forum 2020

Matt Andrew

Head of the tax treaty, transfer pricing, ,and financial transactions division, OECD

Matt Andrew is the Head of the Tax Treaty, Transfer Pricing, and Financial Transactions Division at the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. In this capacity, he is focused on leading the development of tax policy in relation to the digitalization of the economy - primarily in relation to Pillar One.

He has been engaged in International Tax and Transfer Pricing for 14 years, with 23 years in this profession. He has been a Partner at EY in Auckland, Chicago, Singapore, Sydney and Wellington. He has published on transfer pricing issues and a member of numerous professional associations. In 2019, he became an Adjunct lecturer at the Auckland University. Andrew is a Barrister & Solicitor of the New Zealand High Court and a registered Tax Professional with Inland Revenue Service (U.S.A).

 Speaking session 

An update from the OECD on BEPS 2.0

Tuesday, August 25 - 9.30-10.00 HKT/SGT/CST

Adnan Begic

Transfer pricing, Michelin

Adnan Begic leads Michelin’s APAC Transfer Pricing (TP) practice and is responsible for all aspects of TP including TP compliance, TP planning, implementation of TP policies, managing audits & dispute resolutions, APAs and operational TP across Asia Pacific. Begic has over 13 years (10 years in Asia) of experience in TP and international tax and has previously worked in Big 4 firms in New Zealand and Singapore.

Begic is also the Singapore Vice President of Tax Executives Institute (TEI) Asia Chapter, Board member of TEI Asia Chapter and is a frequent speaker on regional tax and TP conferences.

 Speaking session 

Key challenges with transfer pricing

Wednesday, August 26 - 14.50-15.50 HKT/SGT/CST

Umang Dhingra

Head of tax, GlaxoSmithKline Asia

Umang, a Chartered Accountant by qualification, and a seasoned tax professional, holds more than 15 years of hands-on experience dealing with a wide variety of complex tax issues in India, including at some of the top Fortune 500 companies. He has held critical positions with Samsung, Walmart and Discovery prior to joining GSK where he currently heads the Tax department. His ever- growing passion for taxes in last 15 years makes him a forerunner in the list of Next Gen Tax Leaders who are young, dynamic, innovative and disruptive.

Umang has handled and successfully led a variety of projects relating to M&A, APA, MAP, GST implementation, litigation settlement, export incentives etc. during his career. Besides imparting internal trainings to business leaders and support functions at his organization, he has been an eminent speaker on both Direct and Indirect Taxes at various tax / industry / educational platforms, in India and abroad. He is currently an active member of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee on Taxation.

In succession to winning “CA Professional Achiever Award for the year 2016” conferred by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to top performing Chartered Accountants employed in varied industries pan India,Umang has been also recognized as “Asia in-house Tax Director of the year 2018” bestowed by International Tax Review at Asia Tax Awards, 2018 (Singapore).

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Amit Gupta

Director of tax, Dell Technologies

Amit Gupta is currently the Director – Tax for Dell Technologies (including legacy EMC) – Indian subcontinent based in Bengaluru (India). Amit is responsible for all the tax matters of Dell Technologies (including legacy EMC) in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Mauritius. Amit reports directly to the Global Head of Tax (Sr. VP, Tax) of Dell Technologies (including legacy EMC) based in Austin, US.

Prior to relocating to Bengaluru, Amit was based in Singapore managing taxes for Dell in the Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) region. In this role, Amit was responsible for all the tax matters across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, India and Singapore.

Prior to joining Dell, Amit was the Tax Leader (VP) at GE Capital in India where his responsibilities included managing taxes (corporate and indirect) for various legal entities and advising/implementing tax efficient structures for equity investments, cross-border funding/loans, leases, joint ventures and acquisitions. Amit has also worked as South Asia Tax Manager for Intel and inter alia managed transfer pricing audits, negotiations with Government on tax holidays, duty/tariff reductions and exemptions. Prior to joining Intel, Amit has worked as Senior Consultant at Arthur Andersen/E&Y and was advising clients on various indirect tax and corporate tax matters and started his career with Kellogg in India as Financial Analyst. In his career spanning more than 23 years, Amit has managed tax functions end-to-end i.e. from tax planning to tax controllership/compliance.

Amit is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, Grad. Cost & Works Accountant (CWA), Bachelor of Law (Law Graduate) from KSLU and Bachelor of Commerce (Honours).

Amit has been a regular speaker for many years at regional and worldwide reputed tax conferences/seminars held in places like Sydney (Australia), London, Paris, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, etc.

 Speaking session 

Hot topics in Asia-Pacific taxation

Tuesday, August 25 - 11.20-12.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Ajay Rotti

Partner, Dhruva Advisors

Ajay Rotti is a Partner with Dhruva and is based in Bengaluru. With more than fifteen years of experience, Rotti is seasoned in corporate tax, transfer pricing and international tax areas; advising many multi – national companies on direct taxes, regulatory issues, and representing them before the regulatory authorities. Rotti specializes in information technology (IT) and real estate sectors.

He has advised various technology firms on setting up SEZ units and has also worked with SEZ developers on their strategy and approvals; advised realty funds on matters such as entry strategy, FDI in real estate, investment structuring and exit strategies.

Rotti is a member the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and holds an Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom. He is a gold medalist in bachelor of commerce (B.Com).

He is a member of the Expert Committee on Direct taxes of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Fiscal Association – Bangalore Sub-chapter.

 Speaking session 

India tax insights on recent trends in digital taxation

Tuesday, August 25 - 14.00-15.00 HKT/SGT/CST

Megha Khandelwal

senior manager, taxation - Asia, Rio Tinto

Megha Khandelwal is a seasoned tax professional with over 15 years of experience across multiple industries including mining, trading, financial services, and consulting. At Rio Tinto, she is responsible for all tax matters in Asia.

Khandelwal is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and accredited member of the Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals

Khandelwal has extensive experience across the region including cross border taxation, tax compliance and controversy, incentive planning and restructuring

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Benchi Klaver

head of transfer pricing, Kulicke & Soffa

Benchi Klaver is responsible for transfer pricing for Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) globally. His work includes transfer pricing design, implementation, compliance and risk management and disputes with a focus on the group’s operations across Asia and in the US.

Klaver is a lawyer and admitted to practice tax law in the Netherlands. He has almost ten years of experience in international tax and transfer pricing. Prior to joining K&S, Klaver practiced law with US law firm Baker McKenzie in the Netherlands and Singapore. Klaver has authored various articles on Dutch, European and international tax and transfer pricing policies and developments.

 Speaking session 

Key challenges with transfer pricing

Wednesday, August 26 - 14.50-15.50 HKT/SGT/CST

Barbara Voskamp

Partner ASEAN, Loyens & Loeff

Barbara Voskamp is Partner ASEAN, she is heading up the Singapore office and responsible for the ASEAN region. Voskamp, is admitted to the Dutch Bar and a member of the Netherlands Association for Tax advisors (NOB). She is specialised in international tax. She is a registered foreign lawyer in Singapore since 2006 and has been advising international operating corporate clients on the structuring of their cross border investments..

Voskamp frequently lectures on international tax at, amongst others, the Singapore Management University. She has been on the board of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the Malaysian Dutch Business Council in Kuala Lumpur, is active in the regional trade committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and currently a member of the executive board of the International Fiscal Association (IFA), Singapore branch..

 Speaking session 

Tax transparency in practice

Wednesday, August 26 - 13.30-14.30 HKT/SGT/CST

Michael Muncaster

executive director, APAC product head – regulatory compliance, IHS Markit

Michael Muncaster is an Executive Director with IHS Markit and has specialised in banking and financial services for the past 15 years, working with banks and financial institutions in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK and Europe. Muncaster’s areas of focus include FATCA, CRS, QI reviews and remediation, mergers and acquisitions, structuring, advising on the taxation of financial arrangements including foreign exchange transactions and capital instruments, as well as the audit of taxation and tax reporting..

Prior to joining IHS Markit, Muncaster was with PwC Singapore. Australia and UK. Mr Muncaster has worked extensively with financial institutions in both Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong on the implementation of FATCA and CRS programs and has extensive experience in conducting QI reviews.

 Speaking session 

Tax transparency in practice

Wednesday, August 26 - 13.30-14.30 HKT/SGT/CST

Charles Oetomo

tax partner advisor, GNV Consulting Services

Since January 2014, Charles Oetomo has been a Partner Advisor at GNV Consulting Services providing various types of tax & customs consultation, as well as in the transfer pricing & trade regulatory issues..

Prior to joining GNV Consulting, Oetomo has spent 12 years with Deloitte. He was a Partner in Deloitte Southeast Asia, based in Jakarta, Indonesia (Deloitte Tax Solutions). During his service, Oetomo headed several industry/service lines in the areas of banking and financial, indirect taxation and customs, as well as BMO (Business Model Optimization – supply chain rationalization) projects. As part of the firm’s development initiative, Oetomo was also the tax learning leader in Deloitte.

Oetomo formerly served other Big Four accounting and consulting firms as an external auditor, which gave him relevant knowledge in the financial accounting area to lead the tax team of IFRS tax-related matters in Deloitte.

As a summary of his portfolio as a tax advisor, Oetomo has extensive experience in serving multinational and large national clients in a broad range of industries. Oetomo has been involved in various tax advisory, restructuring, merger and acquisition, and strategic planning projects, as well as dispute resolution and compliance cases. His advisory roles have covered a broad range of tax issues in areas from Indonesian domestic to cross-border tax issues.

Oetomo is a Licensed Indonesian Tax Consultant (Brevet A, B, C Level), a Registered Tax Court Attorney, having graduated with a Bachelor of Finance and Accountancy degree. He is also a member of the Indonesian Tax Consultant Association.

 Speaking session 

Case study: Negotiating with an aggressive tax authority

Tuesday, August 25 - 15.20-16.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Kari Pahlman

vice president global tax, Techtronics Industries

Kari Pahlman works as Vice President, Global Tax and Treasury in Techtronics Industries (TTI). His primary area of work is related to the overall tax strategy of the Group, involving strategic management of tax, restructurings and value chain transformations, management and resolution of significant disputes and APAs, financing strategy and finance/treasury/tax/IT integration. He also has oversight of the global transfer pricing strategies and policies of the Group. Prior to joining TTI, Pahlman was for several years a partner and regional Asia-Pacific transfer pricing leader at KPMG..

 Speaking session 

What does BEPS 2.0 mean for your business?

Tuesday, August 25 - 10.05-11.05 HKT/SGT/CST

Bhavin Shroff

Head of South East Asia and India tax, Nomura Singapore

Bhavin Shroff is currently the Head of Tax, South East Asia and India, Nomura Singapore Ltd. In his current role he is responsible for all the tax matters of Nomura. He has more than 20 years of experience in handling tax matters for banks and investment banks. His expertise lies is handling direct tax, indirect tax, transfer pricing and international tax matters. Prior to joining Nomura, Shroff was handling tax matters at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and ICICI Bank Ltd. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India..

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Ketan Palan

Head of tax APAC, Pfizer

 Speaking session 

Case study: Negotiating with an aggressive tax authority

Tuesday, August 25 - 15.20-16<span style"="">.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Vijayashree Ranganathan

Head - taxation, VFS Global

 Speaking session 

Key challenges with transfer pricing

Wednesday, August 26 - 14.50-15.50 HKT/SGT/CST

Greg Elliott

Global head of tax - businesses and regional tax lead GCNA & ASEAN, Standard Chartered Bank

Greg Elliott, is the Global Head of Tax for Businesses and Regional Tax Lead – GCNA & ASEAN.  In his role, Elliott has responsibility for supporting and developing the tax function to support SCB’s global businesses. 

Elliott is a senior tax professional with over 27 years of corporate and international tax experience working in the financial services / banking industry within the Asia Pacific region. He has expertise in both direct and indirect / transactional taxes combined with a deep product knowledge across the financial services industry.

Prior to joining SCB, Elliott spent three years as the Global Head of Tax with the CLSA Group.  Prior to that, Elliott spent nearly fourteen years with Deutsche Bank AG based in Hong Kong and Singapore as part of their APAC regional tax team and before that, at KPMG and Arthur Andersen. 

Elliott has previously been Chairman of Asian Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) Tax Product Committee.

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Siti Syadiah Latief

Vice president head of tax, Nestle Indonesia

Siti Syadiah Latief (Diah) is VP-Head of Tax in PT Nestlé Indonesia, a subsidiary of Nestlé, S.A., one of the biggest food company in the world. Her main responsibilities are leading the tax team, ensuring tax compliance, providing tax advisory for the organization, planning and executing tax strategies for the company and its sister companies in Indonesia, and liaising with tax authorities and other relevant government institutions.

Latief holds crucial roles in winning several tax and custom disputes, obtaining tax facilities for the company’s factory expansion, managing smooth tax transition of business acquisition and divestment, and being a Leadership Development pillar in the Nestle Continuous Excellence project in Finance and Control division.

During her time with Nestlé Indonesia, Latief was assigned as Function Controller for Human Resource, Legal-Corporate Affairs and Marketing Services division to control and monitor the spending, to deal with its stakeholders, to ensure full compliance of internal control and to drive operational efficiencies. She is an active team work player with strong commitment and high passion to learn and share through coaching.

Prior joining Nestlé, she was Tax Manager in PT Unilever Indonesia, Tbk, one of the biggest consumer goods in Indoneisa. Latief formerly served a tax consulting firms, KPMG Indonesia, which gave her relevant knowledge in taxation.

Latief is graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy from Gadjah Mada University and obtained her Master in Business Administration from KU Leuven in Belgium majoring in International Business Management.

With 18+ years of work services, Latief brings solid experience in finance and tax gained from her positions in Nestle and from her previous professional career at KPMG and Unilever Indonesia.

 Speaking session 

Case study: Negotiating with an aggressive tax authority

Tuesday, August 25 - 15.20-16.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Vaibhav Sanghvi

Senior director, International & APJ Tax, NortonLifeLock

NortonLifeLock is a global leader in consumer Cyber Safety helping secure devices, identities, online privacy, home and family needs of nearly 50 million consumers, being a trusted ally in a complex digital world. In his current role, Vaibhav is responsible for worldwide tax planning, managing operational and strategic tax planning projects and all aspects of tax advisory, risk management, tax controversy and compliances in Asia-Pacific, Japan and Latin America regions..

Sanghvi has over 23 years in International Tax and Planning focusing on BEPS, IP planning, supply chain, marketing structures – 9 years with Big 4 firms (Arthur Andersen and PwC) and last 14 years in the Technology, Software, Mining, Oil & Gas Industries with Symantec, Rio Tinto and Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS).

Currently, member of the Transfer Pricing Roundtable constituted by the IRAS comprising of tax experts from the industry, practice and academia. Participated as a member of Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals (SIATP) Tax & Levies Committee to promote tax excellence by facilitating discussions with key stake holders and Government, comprising accredited tax professionals from Big 4 firms, MNCs and law firms.

 Speaking session 

What does BEPS 2.0 mean for your business?

Tuesday, August 25 - 10.05-11.05 HKT/SGT/CST

Silverwood Craig

Transfer pricing leader, MinterEllison

Craig Silverwood is a MinterEllison specialist tax partner who has over 18 years of dedicated transfer pricing and international tax expertise. Prior to joining MinterEllison in 2017, Silverwood was a senior team member of the Ernst & Young Australia International Tax and Transfer Pricing practice. He also spent several years as an ATO economist in the early 2000’s, where he established a focus on International Tax matters and tax data analytics.

Silverwood has successfully delivered many transfer pricing documentation studies, value chain assessments, intellectual property planning studies, Advance Pricing Arrangements (APAs) and managed ATO enquiries relating to transfer pricing and the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL) and the Diverted Profits Tax (DPT).

Silverwood teams closely with MinterEllison's corporate and tax controversy practices to manage and resolve significant anti-avoidance, international tax and transfer pricing risk reviews and audits conducted by the ATO.

 Speaking session 

Tax transparency in practice

Wednesday, August 26 - 13.30-14.30 HKT/SGT/CST

Bartjan Zoetmulderar

Partner, Loyens &L Loeff

Bartjan Zoetlmulder is actively involved in the Loyens & Loeff real estate team and heads the Central and East European team. He is also one of the founders and leaders of the Loyens & Loeff BEPS committee. Zoetlmulder has focused his expertise in international tax matters to the real estate market, with a specific emphasis on tax structuring of investments in and from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as for investments in Dutch property. In this capacity, he serves mainly foreign clients, such as US, European and Asian real estate investors, investment funds and developers, although Dutch real estate enterprises are also among his clientele.

Throughout his career Zoetlmulder has been closely involved in the tax ruling practice, mainly for international holding and financing companies. He also worked at the Tokyo office from 1995 to 1998 and was responsible for Loyens & Loeff’s Japanese practice. He is still involved with the Japan desk today.

Zoetlmulder is chairman of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisers (NOB) since 21 June 2018. In addition, he is board member of Dujat (Dutch-Japanese Trade Federation) and a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and NAREIT. He is a much sought-after guest speaker and writer on tax policy and other topics that fall within his field of expertise.

 Speaking session 

Tax transparency in practice

Wednesday, August 26 - 13.30-14.30 HKT/SGT/CST

Silverwood Craig

Transfer pricing leader, MinterEllison

Craig Silverwood is a MinterEllison specialist tax partner who has over 18 years of dedicated transfer pricing and international tax expertise. Prior to joining MinterEllison in 2017, Silverwood was a senior team member of the Ernst & Young Australia International Tax and Transfer Pricing practice. He also spent several years as an ATO economist in the early 2000’s, where he established a focus on International Tax matters and tax data analytics.

Silverwood has successfully delivered many transfer pricing documentation studies, value chain assessments, intellectual property planning studies, Advance Pricing Arrangements (APAs) and managed ATO enquiries relating to transfer pricing and the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL) and the Diverted Profits Tax (DPT).

Silverwood teams closely with MinterEllison's corporate and tax controversy practices to manage and resolve significant anti-avoidance, international tax and transfer pricing risk reviews and audits conducted by the ATO.

 Speaking session 

Tax transparency in practice

Wednesday, August 26 - 13.30-14.30 HKT/SGT/CST

Lisa Zheng

Vice president Asia tax and china treasury, Procter & Gamble

Lisa Zheng, Vice President Asia Tax and China Treasury, Procter & Gamble.  She is also Tax Committee Chair for TEI Asia Chapter.  Zheng has 26 years of tax experience, most of which has been in the commercial sector including Oil and Gas, Healthcare and FMCG, with the first 12 years in the US and the last 14 in Asia (China and Singapore). 

Zheng has extensive experience in transfer pricing including Advance Pricing Agreements and Mutual Agreements Procedure; tax controversies and mergers and acquisitions. 

 Speaking session 

What does BEPS 2.0 mean for your business?

Tuesday, August 25 - 10.05-11.05 HKT/SGT/CST

Somwya Varadharajan

Director, tansfer pricing, Crowe Singapore

Somwya Varadharajan is the Director of Transfer Pricing at Crowe Singapore and has more than 15 years of experiences in designing, documenting and defending intercompany transactions.            Sowmya is an economist with a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University

Having been trained in the U.S. on international tax and transfer pricing issues through blue-chip corporations, Sowmya now applies her transfer pricing training to transfer pricing issues in the Asia Pacific region. With the growth in transfer pricing related audits in the Asia Pacific region, Varadharajan has assisted clients in India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore in defending their transfer pricing arrangements with tax authorities.

Varadharajan has significant experience in implementing and managing large-scale transfer pricing system design and documentation projects in Europe, the USA and Asia Pacific.

 Speaking session 

Key challenges with transfer pricing

Wednesday, August 26 - 14.50-15.50 HKT/SGT/CST