Kai Lee Lau

As part of the global tax practice of Morgan Lewis, Kai Lee regularly advises multinational and local companies, funds, and high-net-worth individuals across a wide range of businesses and industries on tax issues, both specific and as part of a global or corporate exercise.

Kai Lee is also a chartered accountant with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and a mediator on the panel of the Singapore Mediation Centre. He sits on the Board of Tripartite Alliance Limited (TAL) and concurrently serves as a member of TAL’s Finance & Procurement Committee. TAL is a government-linked organization that is jointly set up by the tripartite partners (Ministry of Manpower, National Trade Union Congress, and Singapore National Employers Federation). 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.

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.