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Kai Lee Lau

Partner

Kai Lee is a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and also a director at Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC, a Singapore law corporation affiliated with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Kai Lee Lau leads the firm’s tax practice in Singapore and focuses on tax controversy and dispute resolution. He has nearly 20 years of tax law experience in both the private and public sectors and previously served as lead counsel for over a decade at the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). At the IRAS, Kai Lee led numerous high-value and complex disputes across all tax types, including those relating to corporate income tax, personal income tax, goods and services tax (GST), property tax, and stamp duties.

Kai Lee, who is also a chartered accountant with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and a mediator on the panel of the Singapore Mediation Centre, guides and represents clients through all stages of the tax controversy process. In collaboration with colleagues in Singapore and around the globe, he advises on the full range of tax issues, both specific and as part of a global or corporate exercise. With his multidisciplinary qualifications and private-public sector experience, Kai Lee offers clients an integrated perspective and comprehensive legal solutions for their most challenging tax matters.

Kai Lee has been appointed as a board director of the Tripartite Alliance Limited Board (TAL) and member of TAL’s Finance & Procurement Committee. 

At the IRAS, Kai Lee successfully resolved a wide range of tax issues through the courts and negotiations. The matters he has handled include those relating to the following:

  • Taxability of income from trade, business, profession, and vocation
  • Taxability of employment income
  • Taxability of income under the “catch-all” limb of the charging section (e.g. gains arising from disposal of shares or property)
  • Tax treatment of unabsorbed losses
  • Capital allowance claims for various types of high-value assets
  • Deductibility of various types of expenses
  • Relief from double taxation through tax credits and unilateral tax credits
  • Determining the tax written-down value of assets under a shipping exemption scheme
  • Application of the general anti-avoidance rule to various arrangements
  • Best judgment assessments when no tax return has been filed or when the comptroller refuses to accept the return
  • Criminal prosecutions for failure to make returns, incorrect returns, and tax evasion
  • GST treatment in the context of whether taxable supplies have been made
  • GST considerations in respect of voluntary registration
  • GST missing trader fraud arrangements
  • Stamp duty relief in respect of reconstruction or amalgamation of companies, transfer of assets between associated entities, and acquisition of shares
  • Stamp duty treatment in the context of property and share transfers
  • Whether certain assets are to be excluded from property tax assessment

For his service to the IRAS, Kai Lee was awarded a full postgraduate scholarship by the authority and earned an LL.M. He is effectively bilingual and comfortable with Mandarin-speaking clients.

  • National University of Singapore, 2016, LL.M.
  • National University of Singapore, 2004, LL.B.
  • Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, 2009, Professional Qualification
  • Advocate & Solicitor, Supreme Court of Singapore