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The comprehensive guide to the world's leading tax firms

Baker & McKenzie maintains a strong tax practice in Hong Kong with five tax partners, two special counsel and seven professionals. Michael Olesnicky leads the team. He and Steven Sieker practise HK tax, with Sieker having a particular expertise in ... [more]

Baker & McKenzie maintains a strong tax practice in Hong Kong with five tax partners, two special counsel and seven professionals. Michael Olesnicky leads the team. He and Steven Sieker practise HK tax, with Sieker having a particular expertise in dealing with stamp duty. Richard Weisman is the team's US tax specialist, who also heads the firm's global tax practice group.

The team focuses on tax planning, global structuring, tax controversy, transfer pricing, M&A, human capital, stamp duty and wealth management. The team's expertise has been sought in matters where double tax treaties (DTT) are involved, and in consulting with financial institutions on preparing their international compliance procedures in anticipation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) over the past 12 months. Weisman has been a regular speaker and consultant on the FATCA legislation.

Olesnicky and Travis Benjamin acted as tax counsel to HK Telecom (HKT) Trust and HKT Limited in its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) of the telecommunications business in HK in the form of a share stapled units structure. This is the first Hong Kong IPO where such a structure has been used.

The two also advised in the formation of a $1 billion private equity fund focused on Greater China and its related tax issues. It is one of the largest private equity fund formation deals in Greater China.

Tax controversy specialist, Pierre Chan represented a Hong Kong group in a dispute with theIRD relating to the timing of the taxation of interest income and deductibility of interest expenses. The amount of tax in dispute amounts to $232 million (HK$1.8 billion) and Chan is advising on the settlement negotiations.

Sarah Chin has succeeded as the new tax leader and is now the managing partner for Deloitte, Chin is also the national indirect tax & customs leader. Predecessor Ryan Chang continues to be part of the team and co-leads the Asia-Pacific International ... [more]

Sarah Chin has succeeded as the new tax leader and is now the managing partner for Deloitte, Chin is also the national indirect tax & customs leader. Predecessor Ryan Chang continues to be part of the team and co-leads the Asia-Pacific International Core of Excellence (AP ICE) with Lili Zheng.

Zheng is highly regarded and recommended by many clients for giving "thorough and knowledgeable tax advice". One client says: "I think she is an outstanding tax consultant for international, between China and USA, lots of tax issues and she gives me a very good perspective".

With the continued integration of the Hong Kong and China practices, the team in HK has aligned its specialised service lines into four categories: business tax, cross-border tax, indirect tax, and global employer services. The Hong Kong team acts as a regional centre for a wide variety of clients that use Hong Kong as gateway. Their client base includes multinational corporations, mainland Chinese clients and HKcompanies that are expanding overseas.

In a transfer pricing matter, the Hong Kong team collaborated with their counterparts in China and Luxembourg to advise a Hong Kong-listed energy technology company on its trading structure for North America and Europe. The integrated team achieved their client's objectives for its trading operation while also obtaining certainty on its tax positions, resulting in tax savings of$24.5 million over five years.

Tracy Ho oversees the tax practice at Ernst & Young. The Asia-Pacific Tax Centre (APTC), launched in late 2010 in Hong Kong to cover a range of tax services relevant to multinational corporations (MNCs) that have footprints around the world, is rapidly ... [more]

Tracy Ho oversees the tax practice at Ernst & Young. The Asia-Pacific Tax Centre (APTC), launched in late 2010 in Hong Kong to cover a range of tax services relevant to multinational corporations (MNCs) that have footprints around the world, is rapidly becoming a more valuable service offering for the tax team. The centre's leader is Mike Carr. APTC. The idea is focused on global tax reporting and compliance services, where it centralises clients' worldwide operations for efficient monitoring of their tax developments.

Confronted by global economic uncertainty, a lot of companies have sought the team's advice on structuring matters to save costs, and tax defencse work. Ho, who is the Macau as well as the Hong Kong tax leader, has assisted a Hong Kong client to settle a prolonged dispute with the IRD about a non-taxable claim. Tax savings of more than HK$200 million ($25.7 million) were achieved upon settlement. The IRD had lodged a claim against the taxpayer four years ago, before Ho got involved but she achieved the favourable settlement within a short period of time. Agnes Chan who is the regional managing partner of HK and Macau helped a global printing company settle a tax dispute amounting to $38.6 million (HK$300 million).

Since the introduction of transfer pricing guidelines in Hong Kong, Ernst & Young's transfer pricing group has experienced significant growth in demand for its compliance services, audit defence, IPO support and tax efficient planning. Martin Richter is now the leader of the core transfer pricing team in HK. The team is active in advising leading luxury retailers that have had to undergo changes as a result of the changes to the import price into Mainland China.

Khoon Ming Ho oversees KPMG's China and Hong Kong tax practice. To accommodate their extensive outreach, Ayesha Macpherson Lau leads the tax practice in Hong Kong, which has clients in many industries, though the financial services industry is an acute ... [more]

Khoon Ming Ho oversees KPMG's China and Hong Kong tax practice. To accommodate their extensive outreach, Ayesha Macpherson Lau leads the tax practice in Hong Kong, which has clients in many industries, though the financial services industry is an acute focus for the team.

Chris Abbiss leads the financial services tax group in Asia-Pacific, and specialises in advice on and structuring of financial products.

In December 2011, Abbiss provided tax structuring advice to a private equity fund that operates in the energy and utilities sector on its establishment of an investment platform. Several factors were engaged in the structure exercise, including ensuring that the fund manager would be able to act in different capacities without affecting the overall tax efficiency, in addition to establishing sufficient commercial substance to provide scope for claiming relief under DTT agreements.

Jennifer Wong specialises in handling enquiries fromand disputes with the IRD and represents clients in tax audits and investigations.

In a field audit case initiated by the IRD in April 2012, Wong successfully represented a Hong Kong international trading company in a dispute with the IRD over $250 million in trading profits.. The IRD had sought to assess interest income on the same basis as trading profits. Wong was able to negotiate and convince the IRD to accept a compromise settlement, with additional tax liabilities representing only 16% of the total tax in dispute.

The large tax team at PwC of more than 60 partners and directors, in addition to more than 400 fee earners, continues to be led by Peter Yu. Recently, the team in HK undertook an internal restructuring to combine their expertise and work towards a model ... [more]

The large tax team at PwC of more than 60 partners and directors, in addition to more than 400 fee earners, continues to be led by Peter Yu. Recently, the team in HK undertook an internal restructuring to combine their expertise and work towards a model where each practitioner would have the opportunity to be exposed to both Hong Kong and China tax issues to better cater their clients. This move is to further integrate the HK and China practices as many deals that include one increasingly tend to overlap with the other.

Kaiser Kwan is a new partner that joined the team in April 2012. He heads the field audit and tax investigation team and assists clients in handling increasingly challenging tax audits and investigations from the Hong Kong tax authorities.

Tim Leung, an experienced partner specialising in retail and consumer products, regularly helps clients carry out value chain transformation (VCT) studies which help MNCs clients to deliver optimised operational performance and establish a robust base for efficient growth in Asia and beyond. The team consists of various industry specialists such as Rex Ho, who advises many of leading financial institutions on emerging tax issues and KK So is a real-estate tax adviser.

David Smith is now a senior adviser who contributes his in-depth experience on Hong Kong and international tax matters. The international tax team has grown and many practitioners from PwC in the UK have joined the Hong Kong practice.

Clifford Chance has a solid practice in dealing with contentious tax matters. The tax team is led by Brian Gilchrist and Elaine Chen, who both have in-depth understanding of the banking and finance sectors. Kenneth Leung acts as senior consultant focusing ... [more]

Clifford Chance has a solid practice in dealing with contentious tax matters. The tax team is led by Brian Gilchrist and Elaine Chen, who both have in-depth understanding of the banking and finance sectors. Kenneth Leung acts as senior consultant focusing on non-contentious tax matters, with extensive experience in a wide range of tax advice including business sales, acquisitions and restructuring, employee compensation, foreign direct investment (FDI), advanced rulings, and stamp duty clearance.

Chen, Gilchrist and Joseph Chu, a tax consultant who is based in Beijing, worked on cases over the past year that set precedents in the courts. The team worked on the high-profile Li & Fung case and litigated on the question of whether Hong Kong is truly a source based tax jurisdiction. The judge delivered a decision that was favourable to their client and the IRD has recently decided against taking the case to the Court of Appeal, meaning that the CFI judgment is final. The judgment held that the sourcing commission earned by Li & Fung is non-taxable offshore profit in HK.

In non-contentious work, Leung has been busy with the new DTTs entered into by the government over the past 12 months. Tax investigations have also been an active area, particularly concerning stamp duty and hedge funds. Leung has been successful in rejecting demands from IRD or at the least substantially decreasing tax exposure.

DLA Piper has a fully integrated China and Hong Kong tax practice and 75% of the whole team devote their time to China matters. The Asia head of tax, Daniel Chan, oversees both the Hong Kong and China teams.Patrice Marceau looks after the HK team. The ... [more]

DLA Piper has a fully integrated China and Hong Kong tax practice and 75% of the whole team devote their time to China matters. The Asia head of tax, Daniel Chan, oversees both the Hong Kong and China teams.

Patrice Marceau looks after the HK team. The tax team has been experiencing a busy year in private client, transaction work and tax controversy. Deirdre Fu is a well experienced associate hire that joined the tax team in September 2011. Her addition will cater towards the propelling growth in private client matters within the firm.

The team welcomed William Marshall as of counsel. His expertise will strengthen the team in the retail and consumer products arena having previously worked as the sole in-house counsel for Abercrombie & Fitch in Asia. He is able to contribute vast knowledge of international trade, and indirect tax matters.

Marceau and Alex Yang advised a leading brand apparel group on the integration of their Hong Kong operating structure to achieve better operating efficiencies. The project involved the coordination of complex tax, corporate and human resource issues involving several hundred employees.

Marceau, Yang and Judy Chow represented a leading distributor of electronic products on a worldwide restructuring project. The purpose was to consolidate operating subsidiaries, facilitate intercompany flow of funds and its potential tax consequences. In addition, the team prepared applications for a Hong Kong stamp duty exemption concerning the transfer of certain shares of Hong Kong companies.

Grant Thornton's tax practice in HK is still in its early stages having only been established 18 months ago, however the practice shows potential for rapid growth. William Chan is currently the only partner and also leads the tax practice that consists ... [more]

Grant Thornton's tax practice in HK is still in its early stages having only been established 18 months ago, however the practice shows potential for rapid growth. William Chan is currently the only partner and also leads the tax practice that consists of five other fee earners. The team has handled a lot of projects advising on corporate income tax and personal income tax for both HK and China, cross-border deals and investment structures.

Chan specialises in M&A tax work.Beforeleading the Hong Kong tax team he was based in Shanghai where he performed a lot of due diligence and transactional work. He brings his expertise to HK where the team frequently assists Chinese companies to acquire overseas targets.

The DLA Piper practice has a mixed client base with 30% being China clients, and the rest catering to HK and foreign MNCs. The number of China- clients is expected gradually increase in the near future. Over the past year, the team has advised on the structure and investment of large sovereign funds.

International Tax (HK) is a local firm that places a strong focus on facilitating their clients' business by using Hong Kong as an investment platform into and out of China. Armed with 23 years of experience on taxation matters, Simon Kwok leads the ... [more]

International Tax (HK) is a local firm that places a strong focus on facilitating their clients' business by using Hong Kong as an investment platform into and out of China. Armed with 23 years of experience on taxation matters, Simon Kwok leads the team which has a focus on corporate tax. May Ho has had 18 years' experience in restructuring, M&A issues and personal income tax.

The tax team has a successful record in using tax planning to acquire tax free status for offshore claims. Most of theclient base comprise China based companies, though about 40% of their work caters for foreign MNCs who have identified fruitful opportunities in China. The tax team also does a lot of corporate tax work and offshore structuring work for overseas clients doing business in HK.