Edmund Leow SC

Practice Areas

Edmund is a senior partner in Dentons Rodyk’s Corporate practice group and Head of the Tax practice. He is also Co-Head of the Trust, Estates & Wealth Preservation/Family Office practice.

Edmund leads the firm’s Trust, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice and advises high net worth individuals, private banks and trust companies in personal tax, as well as in trust and estate planning matters. He is the Singapore representative of Dentons' Family Office and High Net Worth (DFO) Sector (which offers legal services to ultra-high net worth individuals, families, and family offices spanning numerous practices and jurisdictions), and he advises affluent Singapore and global families with succession planning. Edmund provides a broad range of advice to assist these individuals and their families in business and legal activities across the globe.

Career

Edmund was invited by the government to serve as a Judicial Commissioner at the Supreme Court. On stepping down, he was appointed Senior Counsel in 2017, making him the first and only Tax and Trust lawyer to be given this accolade nationwide.

Edmund is a highly recognised individual in various legal directories for his expertise in the area of tax and private wealth law. His views on tax and wealth management are widely sought and publicised in the media, such as Bloomberg, BBC, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, The Financial Times and The Straits Times. He was also a founding partner of a Singapore law firm that was associated with an international law firm, where he headed up the Tax and Wealth Management practices in Singapore.

Edmund is the President and an honorary member of the Singapore Trustees Association (STA). He is a co-founder of the STA which represents the interests of trust companies in Singapore.

Professional Memberships

• Member, WMI Global-Asia Family Office Partners Circle Membership Committee, Wealth Management Institute, 2021 - Present

• Co-Chairperson, Tax and Trust Committee, The Law Society of Singapore, 2020

• President, Singapore Trustees Association, 2004 – 2008, 2019 – Present

• Former Judicial Commissioner, Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore, 2013 – 2016

• Honorary Member, Singapore Trustees Association, 2013 – Present

• Former Vice President, Singapore Trustees Association, 2008 – 2013

• Former Committee Member, International Fiscal Association (Singapore)

• Former Member, Tax Committee, American Chamber of Commerce Singapore

• Senior Counsel

• Chairman, Technical Committee, Singapore Trustees Association

• Deputy Chairman, Income Tax Board of Review

Publications

• Co-author, Chapter 15: Tax Treaties and Interpretation, Law & Practice of Singapore Income Tax, 3rd ed. (Singapore: LexisNexis, 2020)

• Co-Author, "2021 Budget tax developments", Dentons Rodyk Reporter Issue 02 (2021), March 2021

• "Substance, Structures, Service and Singapore", Dentons Rodyk Reporter Issue 02 (2021), March 2021

• Co-author, “Singapore Budget 2020: Tax Update”, Dentons Rodyk Reporter Issue 03 (2020), February 2020

• Co-author, "Singapore Budget 2019: Tax Developments", Dentons Rodyk Reporter Issue 02 (2019), February 2019

• Author, "IP Income and Tax Incentives in Singapore," Dentons Rodyk Reporter, August 2018

• Co-author, "Reducing the impact of stamp duty on share transfers," Business Bulletins, April 2018

• Co-author, “Singapore Budget 2018: How will the changes impact businesses and individuals?” Business Bulletins, March 2018

• Author, “Infamy and Public Shaming: The newest risk of using “offshore” entities”, Business Bulletins, November 2017

• Co-author, “From off-shore to on-shore: Moving foreign entities to Singapore under the Inward Re-domiciliation Regime”, Dentons Rodyk Reporter, October 2017

• Co-author, “Stamp duty changes for all shares transfers – including listed companies?”, Dentons Rodyk Reporter – Property Notes, April 2017

• Co-author, “Taxing the Digital Economy: Impending changes to GST in Singapore”, Dentons Rodyk Reporter – The Future of E-Commerce, March 2017

• Co-author, “New stamp duties on shares transfer - Acquisition and disposal of equity interests in residential property holding entities,” Property Notes, March 16, 2017

• Co-author, Chapter 29: Partnership, Law & Practice of Singapore Income Tax, 2nd ed. (Singapore: LexisNexis, 2013)

Work Highlights

Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation (including work done for Family Office)

• High net worth individuals and families: Advising on tax planning for income, capital gains and estate succession for high net worth individuals and families, especially on a cross border basis

• Multiple clients: Advising on structuring and establishment of wills, trusts and other structures to ensure family and business succession

• Confidential clients: Advising on consequences of tax evasion, amnesties and voluntary disclosures to tax authorities

• Confidential clients: Advising on secrecy and confidentiality issues, including banking and trustee secrecy, corporate secrecy and the disclosure of beneficial ownership

• Private banks and trust companies: Advising private banks and trust companies on anti-money laundering rules, and tax reporting regimes such as FATCA, CRS and Exchange of Information

• Ultra-high net worth families: Advising on the structuring and set-up of single family offices, including applying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) for the Section 13X and Section 13R fund tax incentives, advising on licensing requirements and assisting with the implementation of family office structures.

• Prime Asia Asset Management Pte Ltd (“PAAM”): Acting for the Singapore-based Fund Management and Multi-Family Office company on various legal issues regarding its business, such as regulatory licences, compliance, fund structures and its regional expansion. We also assist in their multi-family office offering and private funds to their HNW clients.

Education