Sim Ho Ong

Practice Areas

Sim Ho is the Managing Director of our Corporate & Finance department and a Director in the Tax & Private Client Services practice.

Sim Ho’s forte lies in the truly multi-disciplinary approach that he brings to his cases. His approach incorporates legal, finance, risk governance, and accounting perspectives. Sim Ho is also well recognised by clients and peers for his critical and rigorous legal analysis and conceptual thinking towards problem solving. During the past 20 years, he has built a substantive practice-focus in tax litigation and dispute resolution. He also has expertise in oil and gas matters.

Career

LL.B. (Hons) (London); B.Acc (Hons), Nanyang Technological University of Singapore; Barrister-at-law, Lincoln's Inn; Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore; Accredited Tax Advisor for Income Tax and GST of the Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals; Fellow Chartered Accountant, Singapore

Sim Ho began his tax law career with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore where he advised the Authority principally on Corporate Income Tax, Goods and Services Tax, and tax treaty negotiations.

Sim Ho is dual-qualified as a lawyer and Chartered Accountant.

Professional Memberships

Member, Law Society of Singapore; Member, Singapore Academy of Law; Member, Singapore Institute of Directors; Member, Alumni Advisory Board at the Nanyang Business School, NTU; Member, Valuation Review Board; Fellow Chartered Accountant, Singapore; Principal Examiner, Taxation, Foreign Practitioners Examination, Singapore Institute of Legal Studies; Member, Board of Directors of AIA Singapore Pte Ltd

Publications

Co-author, Singapore Chapter, Chambers Global Practice Guides on Private Wealth 2019; Contributor, Vol 16(2), Revenue and Taxation: Income Tax, Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore (LexisNexis Singapore, 2017); Co-author, Goods and Services Tax – Law and Practice; Co-author, Butterworths Annotated Statutes (Revenue Law)

Experience

Sim Ho is regularly approached for his counsel opinion and representation in the more complex and unique capital allowances disputes with the IRAS. He has led the following cases:

1. Capital allowance claims by an international hotel group for a unique structure that the IRAS claimed was part of the buildings whereas a case was made after detailed engineering analysis that the structure was in fact ornamental and formed part of the plant of the hotel business.

2. A novel point of law arose in a case concerning balancing charge in the context of whether a real estate investment trust is controlled by its sponsors.

3. A multi-hundred million claim in respect of new generation maritime structures as plant for the purposes of complex shipbuilding and repair businesses.

4. The potential liability for balancing charges arising from the decommissioning and sale of gas production plants.