Vincent Ooi will elaborate on the need for countries to develop a point of view on the rise of crypto across the world and the potential impact this may have for tax systems, in particular for developing countries. In this CPT Talk Vincent will discuss four main classes of tax risks which crypto assets pose:

1. Crypto assets and crypto transactions can act as ‘functional substitutes’ for traditional assets and transactions. This can produce a host of unintended tax consequences and produce opportunities for tax arbitrage;
2. The values of crypto assets exhibit significant volatility, with extreme swings in the values of tokens on average, potentially resulting in a significant erosion of the tax base;
3. Crypto assets give rise to certain events which may not have a traditional equivalent, such as mining and forging for which it is necessary to develop new tax rules;
4. Crypto assets may be used to facilitate tax evasion, both premeditated and incidental (for example, through the shadow economy)

The session will close with Vincent sharing some practical insights for what countries could potentially do, including the use of a toolkit developed together with the UN Ad Hoc Group on Crypto Taxation.  

About the ACTL-CPT Talks

The “ACTL-CPT Talks: in discussion with” consist of a series of webinars organized by the Amsterdam Centre for Tax Law (ACTL) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) under the umbrella of the research project “Designing the tax system for a Cashless, Platform-based and Technology-driven society” (CPT project). 

During the ACTL-CPT talks one speaker presents and discusses a subject relevant to achieve a fair, efficient and fraud-proof taxation in today's society. The webinars are moderated by Prof. dr. Dennis Weber (Director of the ACTL and the CPT project) and/or one member of the CPT research team. The sessions are held via Zoom’s webinar tool. They are free of charge and opened to the general public.

About the Speaker

Vincent Ooi. PhD Graduand (Cambridge), MA (Oxford), Lecturer, Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University.

Vincent is a Lecturer of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University and Specialist Counsel at Blackletter LLC. His research focuses on tax law, with particular interests in crypto tax risks, and attribution by beneficial ownership. Vincent has consulted for the United Nations and World Bank, and continues to contribute as a Participant on the UN Ad Hoc Group on Crypto Taxation. He has taught at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, been a guest lecturer at leading institutions such as the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University, and has held research positions at all three law schools in Singapore (SMU, NUS, and SUSS). Vincent was previously Deputy Head of Tax at a Singapore law firm and still regularly consults for law firms as a locum solicitor and other organisations on tax matters. Vincent was Co-Chair of the 2022 SMU IFA David R Tillinghast Global Digital Taxation Conference.