Asia Pacific: 37th Annual Tax Conference | 19-20 September 2023 | The Athenee Hotel, Bangkok

Brendan T. Kelly is a partner of Baker McKenzie's Shanghai office and head of the China Tax Practice as well as chair of the Asia Pacific Tax Practice. Brendan has practiced tax with an Asian focus for about 25 years, with two decades based in China. He has performed a wide range of analysis for various industries with regard to China tax implications, and specializes in advising cross-border clients on tax and legal implications of investment in China.

Brendan also has in recent years expanded into regional and global work with multinationals on major mergers and acquisitions, to develop integrated and tax-efficient supply chain structures and defend against tax audits and assessments in China and across the Asia Pacific region. While China remains very much at the core of his practice, Brendan works on a variety of multijurisdictional deals and matters on behalf of his clients.

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Irvan is an Associate Partner in the Tax & Customs Practice Group at HHP Law Firm, a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International. He is a customs specialist. Before he joined HHP, he worked in the Directorate General of Customs and Excise ("Customs") as a Customs Auditor for 12 years, and he worked for the tax division of a big four public accounting firm for 11 years. He is adept in providing various types of customs advice, customs audit assistance, and customs dispute assistance in various industries, including in areas such as information and communication technology, electronics and mobile phones, energy & mining, automotive, plantation (palm and its derivatives, cocoa) and other consumer products.

Robert H. Albaral (Bobby) represents multinational corporations with domestic and international tax disputes. His professional affiliations include the American Bar Association, the US Supreme Court, the State Bar of Texas, the US Tax Court, the Federal District Court in the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas, the United States Bankruptcy Court, as well as Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has held significant management positions within the Firm and is the immediate past Chair of the North America Tax Dispute Resolution Committee and a member of the Global Tax Dispute Resolution Steering Committee. He is a member of the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and currently the Managing Partner of the Dallas and Houston offices.

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Rafic H. Barrage is a Principal in Baker & McKenzie's North America Tax Practice Group. He has almost 20 years of broad international tax planning experience. Mr. Barrage advises clients on a variety of issues, including restructuring and entity rationalization, IP migration, supply-chain planning and principal structures, the taxation of digital transactions, deferral and repatriation planning, foreign tax credit planning, and post-U.S. tax reform tax optimization. Mr. Barrage is a recognized leader in his field by The Legal 500 (2010 and 2011) (described as one of the "impressive younger partners" and "technically very strong") and as one of the Tax Controversy Leaders by the International Tax Review (2011 and 2012). Mr. Barrage is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught the International Tax Business Planning workshop since 2013.

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Yvonne Beh is a partner in the Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group of Wong & Partners. She has been advising on Malaysian tax laws and legal issues relating to corporate and commercial matters in Malaysia for over 15 years. Chambers Asia Pacific ranked her as a Band 3 practitioner for Tax in 2021, having previously listed her as Up and Coming in 2020. In the Chambers guide, clients commend her for having "a deep knowledge base" and is "responsive and available." Yvonne is further recognized as a Highly Regarded practitioner by the International Tax Review's Women in Tax Leaders guide and Indirect Tax Leaders guide. Yvonne won the Euromoney Asia Women in Business Law Awards for the Tax category in 2015 and 2017. She was also recognised in the Asian Legal Business’ 40 under 40 list of leaders in 2016. She is a frequent speaker at both domestic and international tax conferences and regularly contributes to the Bloomberg BNA’s Asia Pacific Focus Tax Planning newsletter, the VAT Navigator, as well as the Asia Pacific Tax Bulletin published by the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.

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Tom is an experienced economist with more than 13 years of transfer pricing and international tax experience in the United Kingdom and Australia. He focuses on transfer pricing and regularly works with Baker McKenzie's Australia Tax Team.

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Simone is a partner in the Sydney office of Baker McKenzie. She is ranked by Legal 500 as a Next Generation Partner and is listed as a Women Leader in Tax by the International Tax Review. Simone is also an author and contributor to Thomson Reuters and CCH tax commentary. She has been a guest speaker at University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, and is a regular panelist and presenter at Global Taxation Executive Institute events, the Global Tax Disputes Forum and the Asia Pacific Tax conference.

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Pierre Chan is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Hong Kong office and a member of the Firm's Tax Practice Group. Pierre’s practice focuses on Hong Kong and regional tax advisory, tax dispute resolution and succession planning. He advises multinational companies, financial institutions, insurance companies as well as investment and pension funds with respect to their income tax and stamp duty issues, as well as tax issues related to mergers and acquisitions. He also advises wealthy families in relation to their succession planning as well as the legal and tax issues arising from their businesses.

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Nopporn joined Baker McKenzie in 2007 after practicing tax law with another law firm in Bangkok for seven years. He became a Partner in 2016 and is currently active in the Tax Practice Group.

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Istee is a partner in the Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group of Wong & Partners. Her key practice areas are wealth management and succession planning. Her Wealth Management 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, and is ranked as a Band 1 practice by the Chambers High Net Worth Guide for Private Wealth Law.
She has collaborated on several guides and publications including LexisNexis Practical Guidance - Tax, where she co-authored the Taxation in Malaysia: Overview, Taxation of Trustees and Trust Funds, Automatic Exchange of Information and Succession Laws in Malaysia articles.

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Thanh Hoa Dao is a special counsel in Baker McKenzie's Ho Chi Minh office. Prior to joining Baker and McKenzie, she worked as legal counsel at one of the Big Four firms.

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Katie Fung is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Chicago office.

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Daru Hananto is a partner – tax advisory and transaction services in the Tax and Custom Practice Group at HHP Law Firm, a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International.
Daru has extensive experience in Indonesian taxation. He also has significant experience in tax litigation and controversy, and in advising clients on taxation issues related to consumer goods, construction, production sharing contracts, and digital economy.

Jaclyn has over 10 years of experience and specialises in solving the tax needs of multinational corporations and Singapore-headquartered companies across various industries globally and regionally.
She is adept at complex tax transformations to help clients unlock and maximise long term value, and achieve sustainable and tangible benefits, in tandem with business current and target operating models.
Jaclyn has extensive and deep experience in unlocking corporate synergies across the spectrum of tax-related services that Baker & McKenzie offers. Whether it is an international tax issue, restructuring strategies and implementation, intellectual property planning, M&A, or tax incentive negotiations with the relevant authorities, Jaclyn is a trusted advisor to her clients with her practical, sophisticated, innovative, and tailored solutions.
Jaclyn focuses on international taxation, cross-border taxation, group and business restructuring, transfer taxes and mergers and acquisitions.

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Maria Ana Camila Jacinto-Lagustan is a partner in Quisumbing Torres’ Tax Practice Group and the head of the Automotive sector of the Industrials, Manufacturing & Transportation Industry Group of the Firm. She is also a member of the Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry Group. She has 14 years of experience advising clients on general tax planning, international tax, VAT and indirect taxes, tax controversy and litigation, customs and trade issues and procedures, and tax advisory and advocacy work.

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Yukiko Komori is a member of the Firm's Tax & Transfer Pricing Group in Tokyo. She has more than 20 years' experience advising clients on a broad range of transfer pricing issues. She has strength particularly in advance pricing agreements (APAs) and tax planning for new types of businesses and transactions. She has also been part of research projects for various organizations, including the National Tax Agency and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

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Niken Kristalia is a Senior Tax Specialist in the Tax & Customs practice group. She is involved in handling various taxation issues, varying from handling tax disputes and litigation, as well as transfer pricing issues. She also concentrates on domestic and international tax matters of multinational investment companies and banks, several financial service companies, oil and gas companies, as well as some major mining companies in Indonesia. Her past working experience for an international tax consultant also allows her to provide comprehensive tax advice on a wide range of transactions.

Nancy Lai's practice primarily involves a wide range of tax services for international and domestic companies in various industries with respect to their inbound and outbound investment, including acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, and the establishment of distribution, sourcing and services operations, transfer pricing and tax dispute resolution. Nancy is a member of the Firm's tax group.

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Shih Hui Lee has advised on both regional and Singapore tax issues, with focus on advising MNCs on international tax aspects of cross-border transactions. Her practice includes advising clients on tax issues arising from mergers and acquisitions, indirect taxes, transfer taxes, foreign direct investment and cross-border tax planning issues. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Shih Hui worked in one of the Big Four accounting firms in Singapore. She has experienced being an in-house regional tax advisor in one of the multinational cable and satellite television channel.

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Jason Liang is a partner in the Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group of Wong & Partners with over 10 years of experience. His focus is on tax disputes and controversies, with experience in handling all aspects of tax litigation. He regularly appears before the national courts and tax tribunals, representing clients on landmark tax disputes and precedent-setting cases.
He has been recognised by Chambers Asia Pacific as an Up and Coming individual for Tax in 2021. In the Chambers guide, clients commend him for having " good knowledge and insights on tax-related disputes in Malaysia" and that he is "very persistent in achieving results and is helpful for clients wanting to understand the pros and cons of the legal actions involved."
He regularly speaks at various international conferences and events in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Europe and the United States, and is often called upon to conduct trainings for various multinational clients on tax developments in emerging and growth-leading economies, transparency and information exchange on foreign tax audits and controversies, tax investigations and litigation considerations during an audit.

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Amy Ling advises multinational companies on a range of issues relating to PRC tax and legal implications of investments in China, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, post acquisition integration, licensing, retail structures, supply chain structures and individual income taxation matters.
Amy's previous work experience include a number of years practicing in New York City with a Big Four Accounting Firm and a major Investment Banking Firm.

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Ms. Liu is a partner at the FenXun Beijing office. She focuses on PRC taxation, tax controversy and international tax planning related to investments in China, as well as tax planning for outbound investment by large-scale Chinese enterprises. Ms. Liu has over 17 years’ experience in advising China tax issues. She has extensive experience in handling transfer pricing and other tax audits. She is also experienced in the areas of M&A tax planning, supply chain management, wealth planning, individual income tax, permanent establishment exposure and voluntary disclosure. Baker & McKenzie FenXun (FTZ) Joint Operation Office is a joint operation between Baker & McKenzie LLP, an Illinois limited liability partnership, and FenXun Partners, a Chinese law firm. The Joint Operation has been approved by the Shanghai Justice Bureau. In accordance with the common terminology used in professional service organisations, reference to a "partner" means a person who is a partner, or equivalent, in such a law firm. This may qualify as “Attorney Advertising” requiring notice in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Carrie Lui is a special counsel in Baker McKenzie Hong Kong office. She is experienced across a broad range of sectors and industries. Carrie's tax knowledge is complimented by her experience working as a tax lawyer in New Zealand prior to joining Baker McKenzie.
Carrie is also a regular speaker and panelists in major client conferences of the Firm.

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Will is a senior associate and a member of the Baker McKenzie Structured Assets team and advises multinationals and large domestic clients on a range of Australian taxation issues. Will's primary focus is on the income tax aspects of corporate and debt restructures, M&A and the resolution of disputes. Will frequently engages with the Australian Tax Office, including in the context of early engagement, private rulings, audits and reviews and the Top 100 and Top 1000 tax performance programs. Will has a depth of experience advising clients operating in a number of industries including healthcare, infrastructure, resources and renewables, agribusiness and financial services.

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Kristine Anne Mercado-Tamayo is a partner and the head of Quisumbing Torres’ Tax Practice Group. She heads the Industrials, Manufacturing & Transportations Industry Group and is also a member of the Consumer Goods & Retail. She has 16 years of experience assisting and advising clients on tax issues relating to corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions. Kristine also handles customs and international trade matters, including border and post-clearance disputes. She advocates on clients' behalf in controversies involving disputed assessments, representing clients before the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.
Kristine Anne obtained her Doctor of Law degree from the Ateneo de Manila in 2005. She is cited as a Next Generation Partner in Tax by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific for 2020 to 2023. More recently, she has been named highly regarded lawyer for General corporate tax, and Women in tax by ITR World Tax 2023.

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Ria Muhariastuti is a senior tax specialist in the Tax and Customs Practice Group at HHP Law Firm, a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International. She concentrates on domestic and international tax relating to inbound and outbound investment, multinational companies and private banking for individuals. She has also assisted clients on matters relating to wealth management and business restructuring. Ria handles clients from various sectors such as oil and gas, IT/C, consumer goods, logistics and manufacturing. Her extensive experience as well as her tax background allows her to provide comprehensive tax advice on a wide range of transactions.

Chris Newman is a principal economist in the Asia Pacific Tax and Trade Practice. He has worked as a transfer pricing advisor in Singapore, Japan and the US. Chris was most recently the global head of transfer pricing for a Dow 30 US technology company and brings more than 25 years of transfer pricing knowhow. Chris has been the lead advisor for managing and negotiating unilateral and bilateral APAs for MNCs across a range of industries and jurisdictions. His regional Asia Pacific transfer pricing experience includes advising on IP planning, value chain restructuring, M&A integration, MAP resolution and audit defence. Chris holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis. He has authored and published transfer pricing articles in International Tax Review and IBFD as well as updates on legislative and technical developments.

Krystal Ng is a partner in the Tax, Trade and Wealth Management Practice Group of Wong & Partners with over 10 years of experience. Her primary focus is on tax and transfer pricing issues in the context of crossborder transactions as well as post-mergers and acquisitions integration for multinational clients in a wide range of industries.
She has been recognised as a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2023, and is named as Up and Coming for Tax in Chambers Asia Pacific 2023. In the Chambers guide, clients commend her for being "a very responsive and knowledgeable tax consultant." She was also awarded the Tax Rising Star award by Euromoney Women in Business Law Awards Asia Pacific 2022.
Krystal's practice extends to the provision of strategic tax advice on a broad range of subjects such as income tax, double tax treaties, withholding tax, real property gains tax, assisting with tax incentives and exemptions as well as the planning and management of transfer pricing considerations to achieve an optimal and more tax effective model on a domestic, regional or global level.
She is regularly called upon by clients to advise on international and domestic tax planning matters concerning in-bound investments to achieve an optimal and effective business model, tax structuring and integrations postmerger and acquisitions as well as negotiating tax incentive applications for foreign investments into Malaysia.

Thanh Vinh Nguyen is a partner in the Ho Chi Minh City office of Baker McKenzie. Before joining the Firm, he practiced tax and consultancy work for two international accounting firms and worked as a compliance counsel for an international insurance company.

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Mark A. Oates is listed in Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Transfer Pricing Advisers. He has litigated many high profile cases won by taxpayers in the last decade, and has actively consulted on other prominent cases. He has also handled various international tax litigation cases involving issues in tax treaty interpretation, Subpart F and foreign tax credit — and a host of domestic issues in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buy-out, valuations, research credit, inventory and civil fraud. Mr. Oates is the immediate past chair of the Firm’s North America Tax Litigation Practice, and has an active pro bono criminal practice.

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Ryutaro Oka has significant experience in the finance, trade, energy and manufacturing industries, where he has developed and maintained good client relationships. He regularly advises on complex international tax issues, working extensively with colleagues in the US, UK, Netherlands, China, Singapore and Thailand. Mr. Oka is a frequent speaker on international tax issues, having been invited to speak on international taxation and cross-border private equity investments at events sponsored by the Association of Taxation Analysis, among others. Prior to joining the Firm in 2006, Mr. Oka was a tax director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu's Tokyo office, where he advised on international tax issues. Mr. Oka is fluent in English.

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Frank Pan is a Fenxun Partner in Baker & McKenzie LLP Shanghai office.
FenXun established a Joint Operation Office with Baker McKenzie in China as Baker McKenzie FenXun which was approved by the Shanghai Justice Bureau in 2015.

Ponti Partogi is head of the Tax and Trade Practice Group at Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners (HHP Law Firm), a member of Baker & McKenzie International. He has been practicing for more than 20 years, focusing on domestic and international tax and trade issues relating to inbound and outbound investment and cross-border corporate exercises including JVs, M&As, divestitures, spin-offs and takeovers. His combined legal and accounting background allows him to provide comprehensive tax advice on various transactions both from the legal and the accounting perspective.

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Dawn Quek is a leading tax and private client lawyer in Singapore with many years of experience in corporate tax and international tax planning. She is the Head of the Wealth Management practice in Singapore and is the Asia Pacific representative on the Firm's Global Wealth Management Steering Committee. Dawn is consistently ranked as a leading tax and private client/wealth lawyer by various legal publications including Chambers High Net Worth (HNW) Guide, International Tax Review Women in Tax Leaders Guide and the Legal 500 Asia Pacific. She was named "Private Client Lawyer of the Year" at the 2018 Asia Legal Awards by The Asian Lawyer, and named "Women in Wealth Management" at the 2018 and 2020 WealthBriefingAsia Awards. Dawn is a key player in the local wealth management and financial services scene. She frequently participates in formal and informal consultations with government authorities on law reform on issues relating to the wealth management and financial services industry from a tax and legal perspective. She has also co-written articles on international tax planning issues in various tax and legal journals published by CCH and BNA. In addition, Dawn has been quoted extensively in publications such as the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Reuters, the Financial Times, the Straits Times, the Business Times and Asian Private Banker on issues and developments affecting the wealth management industry in Singapore.

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Keerati is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Bangkok office. He joined Baker McKenzie in 2013 and is currently active in the Tax Practice Group and the International Commercial & Trade Practice Group. Prior to joining the Firm, he worked as an in-house lawyer at a leading automotive company, at which his areas of practice were general corporate matters, labour law, intellectual property law and customs law.
With 10 years of practice in tax, customs and trade controversies, Keerati helps clients with a comprehensive range of services, including post-reviews, post-clearance audits, negotiation, settlement with relevant authorities, appeals, and litigation. He has assisted clients during all stages of business, including planning, business structuring, implementation, investment, and dispute resolution.

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Panya Sittisakonsin joined Baker McKenzie in 2002 and became a Partner in 2012. He is currently a partner in the Tax Practice Group. He is also active in the International Commercial & Trade Practice Group, focusing on customs and supply chain issues.

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Geoffrey Soh joined Baker McKenzie in 2020 to head our transfer pricing team of economists and tax lawyers. He has over 24 years of experience in leading transfer pricing practices in Thailand, Singapore and Canada.

Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Geoff was the Head of Transfer Pricing in Singapore for a Big Four audit firm, where he managed a dedicated team of over 40 partners/directors and consultants. He also served on the steering committee of their global transfer pricing practice.

Geoff has managed over 1,500 international transfer pricing engagements — encompassing the documentation compliance, tax planning, audit defense, and dispute resolution aspects of transfer pricing. He has also led the transfer pricing work streams in a number of tax efficient supply chain restructuring projects, BEPS reviews, and M&A tax due diligence work.

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Junko Suetomi is a partner in Baker McKenzie Tokyo. Prior to joining the Firm, she worked in the WTO Dispute Settlement Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Economic Bureau. She has also worked for a global law firm in Washington, DC and New York, and served as a court-appointed defense attorney in many criminal cases. Junko is recognized as a leading lawyer by Marquis Who's Who, Asia Business Law Journal, Chambers Global and Chambers Asia Pacific, Best Lawyers, Who's Who Legal and other legal directories. She was the chair from 2019 to 2021 and now is vice chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Tokyo Bar Association and a part-time lecturer at Waseda University. She was a legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance Japan's Office of Trade Remedy Affairs, Tariff Policy and Legal Division, Customs and Tariff Bureau from 2016 to 2019. She has served as a bar examiner of the Ministry of Justice since November 2020. She has served as an expert member of the Ministry's Council on Customs, Tariff, Foreign Exchange and Other Transactions since 13 March 2019. She has served as an expert member of the Financial Services Agency's Financial System Council, Fund Settlement System Working Group since October 11, 2021. She also holds a Certificate in Business Analytics from the Harvard Business Analytics Program (March 2021).

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Luke Tanner is a member of the Tax & Transfer Pricing group at Baker McKenzie's Tokyo office. Prior to joining the firm, he worked at a Big Four accounting firm in Japan and Australia, where he provided tax and transfer pricing services to multinational clients.

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Aek has over 17 years' experience working in international law firms. He joined the Tax Practice Group of Baker McKenzie in 2004, after practicing at another international law firm in Bangkok in the Litigation, International Capital Markets, and Banking & Finance practices.

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Ngoc Trung Tran is an Associate in Baker McKenzie, Ho Chi Minh City office.

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Aki Tsuda is a partner* in the Firm's Tax & Transfer Pricing (TP) group in Tokyo.
Prior to joining Baker McKenzie in 2020, he provided TP services to multinational enterprises while working at Big Four accounting firms in Japan and the US.
He is fluent in English.
(*Partner as used above means a senior professional responsible for case management but does not imply a profit-sharing relationship with the partnership.)

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Wibren Veldhuizen is a partner and steering committee member of Baker McKenzie's CG&R Global Industry Group for EMEA. He practices in Dutch and international tax law, including domestic and cross-border corporate law aspects.
He has serviced numerous CG&R companies for many years. His clients consist primarily of European and Asian multinationals.
Wibren is an active member of the NOB IFZ (the Fiscal Affairs Committee of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisors), which provides input to Dutch lawmakers and tax authorities on new laws, application and implementation.

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Mr. Wen’s practice focuses on PRC business and tax law related to foreign investment, disputes with tax authorities, PRC transfer pricing, mergers and acquisitions. He has over 18 years' experience in advising China tax and investment. Baker & McKenzie FenXun (FTZ) Joint Operation Office is a joint operation between Baker & McKenzie LLP, an Illinois limited liability partnership, and FenXun Partners, a Chinese law firm. The Joint Operation has been approved by the Shanghai Justice Bureau. In accordance with the common terminology used in professional service organisations, reference to a "partner" means a person who is a partner, or equivalent, in such a law firm. This may qualify as “Attorney Advertising” requiring notice in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Shanwu Yuan has over 24 years’ experience in advising China tax issues. Previously, Mr. Yuan worked for the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) of China from 1995 to 2012. He represented the SAT, and in turn China, in various international tax arenas. He was a frequent participant in the OECD Working Party 6 on the Taxation of Multinational Enterprises, and an active contributor to the OECD work on intangibles and other topics. He was a member of the UN Subcommittee on Transfer Pricing.
In the SAT, Mr. Yuan held various positions. He worked on corporate tax policy for foreign investment, and was a member of the drafting team for the new Enterprise Income Tax Law, which entered into force in 2008. After 2009, he focused on international tax matters such as TP, information exchange between governments on tax matters and international cooperation. He also spent four years assisting the Chief Economist of SAT.

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Luis Zhang's practice focuses on tax in PRC, with an emphasis on tax planning, tax controversy and litigation, as well as tax advice for M&A and corporate restructuring. He has also been involved in many direct and indirect transaction cases in the PRC. Mr. Zhang has over 17 years' experience in China tax issues. Before joining Baker McKenzie, Mr. Zhang worked at the Shanghai Tax Bureau for seven years, mainly focusing on international tax administration.