Biography
Adeline Wong heads the Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group of Wong & Partners and chairs the Asia Pacific Tax Practice Group of Baker McKenzie. She has over 30 years of experience in the area of corporate tax planning, advisory, audit and investigation work.
Adeline was recently awarded Indirect Tax Practice Leader of the Year at the International Tax Review Asia Pacific Awards 2022 and inducted in the Hall of Fame for Tax by Legal 500 Asia Pacific. Her practice was named the Tax and Trusts Law Firm of the Year by the Asian Legal Business Malaysia Law Awards in both 2020 and 2021. She is ranked as a Band 1 practitioner by Chambers Asia Pacific for Tax and by the Chambers High Net Worth Guide for Private Wealth Law. Clients commend her as "a leading tax lawyer" and a "standout name in the private wealth market in Malaysia" in the Chambers guides. The International Tax Review also ranks Adeline as a Highly Regarded practitioner in the areas of Tax Controversy and Indirect Tax.
She has presented in both domestic and international tax conferences, including conferences organised by the Tax Executive Institute in the US, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners in Singapore and Bloomberg BNA's Global Transfer Pricing Conference in Shanghai. She is also a regular contributor to established publications on tax-related legislation and developments in Malaysia, such as Bloomberg BNA and the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.
Practice Focus
Adeline has extensive experience in tax planning and tax advisory for local, regional and cross-border corporate exercises. These include joint ventures, new operations, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and downsizing, among others. She has advised on matters relating to tax disputes and controversies, transfer pricing, tax credit, franking credit, reinvoicing, royalties, dividends, double tax treaties, withholding tax, tariff and customs, tax incentives, as well as matters relating to foreign trade and the WTO.
Adeline advises a broad range of clients, which include investment banks, other financial institutions and high net worth families, on tax, trust, and estate planning issues, with a focus on using onshore and offshore trust structures and other vehicles to help clients hold and transfer wealth. She also advises financial institutions that provide services to high net worth individuals on securities as well as corporate and regulatory issues in relation to their operations in Malaysia.
Representative Legal Matters
- Successfully represented various clients in tax incentive negotiations with the Ministry of International Trade and Industries, Malaysian Industrial Development Authority, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs as well as negotiations involving with the Ministry of Finance.
- Assisted clients in dealing with withholding tax issues in various jurisdictions on cross-border payments and in structuring such payments in a tax efficient manner.
- Assisted clients in global tax structures supportable by relevant facts and documentation including migration of IP rights, transfer of sales company and conversion into contract manufacturing.
- Advised on obtaining tax credit from a foreign tax authority in respect of a refund of withholding tax paid to the Malaysian tax authority.
- Advised a global leader in maritime solutions and services on its global reorganisation and corporate restructuring exercise, with the primary goal of de-centralising operational risks and optimising the Group’s overall tax position.
- Advised an American multinational technology company on the permanent establishment, income sourcing, withholding tax and service tax implications in relation to the client's cloud infrastructure investments.
- Advised a multinational technology company on service tax applicable on digital services provided to Malaysia customers, estimated service tax and penalties arising from various obligations under the Service Tax Act 2018. We successfully assisted the client in obtaining a remission of penalties.
- Assisted a major German automotive manufacturer to set up its export control and sanctions compliance program in Malaysia. We established written policies, processes and IT-solutions required to ensure compliance with export control and sanction requirements of Malaysia, EU and US in an effective yet business-friendly manner.
- Provided full service assistance to a global designer and developer of semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions in relation to a business restructuring exercise involving two of its Malaysian entities.
- Advised a leading US multinational hard disk drives manufacturer and data storage solutions provider on their global reorganization exercise involving the transfer of a significant part of its business from an Ireland principal to a Malaysian subsidiary, as well as a holding entity for the intellectual property for the group. The transfer of business involved the divesture of substantial functions such as the oversight of regional manufacturing activities and the movement of important supplier contracts.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Tax Committee of the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Member
- Academy of Law in Singapore
- Australian Society of Accountants
- Malaysian Institute of Taxation - Member
Admissions
Malaysia (1997)
Sarawak~Malaysia (1992)
New South Wales~Australia (1990)
Education
University of New South Wales (LL.B.) (1990)
University of New South Wales (Bachelor of Commerce) (1988)
Languages
English
Malay
Previous Offices
Singapore
Sydney