Malaysian customs chief wins top prize at Asia Tax Awards

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Malaysian customs chief wins top prize at Asia Tax Awards

Malaysian Customs Commissioner

The official with ultimate responsibility for the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) in Malaysia has won the award for Asia Tax Commissioner of the Year at International Tax Review's Asia Tax Awards in Singapore tonight.

Dato' Sri Khazali Bin Haji Ahmad, Director General of Customs, Royal Malaysian Customs and his department completed the successful implementation of GST, at a rate of 6%, on April 1 last year. In spite of protests against the tax around the time of its one-year anniversary last month, more than 400,000 companies have registered for the GST and more than RM30 billion ($7.7 billion) was collected from companies in 2015, which was more than the government’s target of RM27 billion target. Bin Haji Ahmad became director general of customs nearly four years ago, on June 22 2012.  

The director-general’s award was one of 61 presented at a dinner in Singapore. It was the sixth Asia Tax Awards ceremony, though the first since 2010.

KPMG was the most successful firm, winning 14 awards, including Asia Tax Firm of the Year and Asia International Tax Firm of the Year. They were followed by Deloitte, winners in 11 categories, PwC, who won seven awards and Baker & McKenzie, victorious six times. EY and Yulchon, with two apiece, were the other multiple winners. Twenty four different firms won awards.

As well as the award for bin Haji Ahmad, individual winners included Mark Tamayo of SGV & Co in the Philippines, who won the award for Asia tax practice leader of the year; Shanwu Yu of Baker & McKenzie, who was named transfer pricing practice leader of the year, and Tarun Gulati, of PDS Legal in India, who won in the tax disputes & litigation practice leader of the year category.

Download the winners here

Read about the announcement of the shortlists here

Methodology

Between January and February 2016, companies, law firms, tax advisers, accountants and other tax service providers from these jurisdictions:

Australia; China; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; Myanmar; New Zealand; Pakistan; Philippines; Singapore; South Korea; Taiwan; Thailand and Vietnam

were eligible to submit three examples of their best work for consideration for the national tax, transfer pricing, and litigation and disputes awards.

The awards for Asia Tax Firm of the Year, Asia Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year, Asia Tax Litigation and Disputes Firm of the Year, Asia Indirect Tax Firm of the Year and Best Newcomer (international tax practices of <5 years) will be judged from these submissions.

There were separate submission forms for the regional awards covering indirect tax, tax transactions, US corporate tax, FATCA / withholding tax, tax compliance & reporting, global mobility services, innovation and tax technology.

The awards will be judged according to:

  •  Size (Not conclusive, though it does indicate what a tax team is capable of taking on)

  •  Innovation (Did the advice the firm gave show something more than the straightforward answer that is commonly used?)

  • Complexity (Did the matter address tax issues that were out of the ordinary and what ingenuity did the firm show to solve them?)

  • Impact (What impact did the advice have on the taxpayer? For example, did it help them take over their biggest rival? Issue equity and debt in a particular market for the first time? Win an unprecedented judgement in court? Where did it help them become more efficient and profitable? Was there a demonstrable effect on official policy development?

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The choice facing governments is not whether to adopt AI in taxation, but how to do so in a way that upholds the principles of tax fairness, writes Neil Kelley
As ITR’s client data reveals discontent with German tax advisers’ cost management, Grant Thornton’s local TP head insists it’s a two-way street
Uncertainty isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s easy to see how the Trump administration’s IRS commissioner merry-go-round may serve to undermine business confidence
The EU defended its ‘sovereign right’ to impose the tax in the face of US tariff threats; in other news, the US deputy Treasury secretary resigned after just five months
Ascoria’s chief revenue officer shares her career wisdom garnered from the disparate worlds of tax technology, electric cables, radio DJing and more
Businesses no longer have a choice when it comes to tax technology transformation. Pavlo Boyko of TMF Group says the question is simply: sink or swim?
The firm is hunting for a senior TP manager in its quest to build a full-service practice in Indonesia, A&M Tax’s Jakarta head Jaap Zwaan tells ITR
With a new government in place, the evolving tax landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for taxpayers
Major economies have expressed concerns, with China arguing a US global minimum tax exemption would be a violation of the principle of fair competition – ITR understands
Senator Richard Colbeck told ITR he was concerned by the decision to let PwC Australia tender for government contracts again after a scandal-induced ban
Gift this article