Reinventing the Tax Landscape: Get Future Ready!
19 May 2026
View highlights from the Reinventing the Tax Landscape: Get Future Ready! on 19 May 2026, and purchase access to keynote recordings.
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"We recognise that in a world of complex international tax rules, the ability to prevent and resolve disputes quickly and fairly is in itself a competitive advantage."— Minister Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance & National Development
"Singapore is extremely active across all the work that we hold at OECD, whether it's on BEPS, whether it's on Exchange of Information, whether it's on Tax Administration, and very often Singapore doesn't just participate. It leads some of our thinking on how we advance. And so on Tax Certainty, it feels like coming home. This is the home of Tax Certainty."— Dr. Achim Pross, Deputy Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
Tax Academy of Singapore's 20th Anniversary Conference, themed Reinventing the Tax Landscape: Get Future Ready!, was held on 19 May 2026 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Begonia and Cassia Ballrooms. The conference brought together 186 distinguished professionals to explore how Singapore and the international tax community can navigate a rapidly evolving global tax landscape — from geopolitical shifts and the rise of AI, to the growing complexity of cross-border disputes and the Global Minimum Tax. The full-day conference ran from 9am to 5:30pm and marked a significant milestone: Tax Academy of Singapore's 20th Anniversary.
In her opening address, Guest of Honour Minister Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance & National Development, set the tone for the day. She highlighted Singapore's forward-looking approach to the tax landscape, noting that the theme of "reinventing" was particularly apt given the pace of change. She spoke about the emergence of AI and the rise in cross-border tax disputes as rules become more complex and interconnected, and reaffirmed Singapore's commitment to tax certainty as a competitive advantage for businesses making long-term investment decisions.
The conference featured two keynote addresses in its opening segment, "Setting the Scene – The Future of Tax", moderated by Prof. Dr. Robert Danon, Professor of Swiss and International Tax Law and Director, Tax Policy Center, University of Lausanne, and Founding Partner of DANON.
Dr. Achim Pross, Deputy Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD, delivered Keynote Address 1 on whether the international tax system can be stabilised. Against a backdrop of narratives about fragmentation and unilateral measures, Dr. Pross offered an optimistic counter-narrative, walking participants through the building blocks of the international tax system — from tax transparency and transfer pricing to tax treaties, BEPS, and the Global Minimum Tax. His address covered the 2025 OECD Model Tax Convention update, ongoing work in tax treaty and transfer pricing, the latest on the tax policy agenda within and beyond MAP, and an overview of the January 2026 Pillar Two "side-by-side" package.
Keynote Address 2 was delivered by Ms Patricia Ann Brown, Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations, who provided a response and commentary from a UN perspective. Appearing remotely, Ms Brown outlined the progress of the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, including the two early protocols on cross-border services and dispute prevention and resolution, and underscored the importance of ensuring that developing countries have meaningful access to tax information and participation in norm-setting.
Opening Address by Minister Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance & National Development
Keynote Address 1: Can the International Tax System be Stabilized? by Dr. Achim Pross, Deputy Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
Keynote Address 2: Response and Commentary by Ms Patricia Ann Brown, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations (appearing remotely)
The afternoon moved into Part II: Diving into the World of Global Tax Controversies, co-chaired by Prof. Dr. Robert Danon and Dr. Giammarco Cottani, Founding Partner of NOEMA Global – Tax & Policy.
The first panel discussion focused on the practical perspective of audits, judicial remedies, MAP, BAPA and beyond. Discussion leaders Mr Vineet Rachh, Vice President & Tax Lead – Asia Pacific Middle East Africa at Procter & Gamble, and Dr. Niv Tadmore, Partner at Jones Day, led a conversation covering current "hot" transfer pricing and tax treaty issues in practice, differences in handling disputes and dispute prevention, pressure on MAP/BAPA access and operation, and managing tax risks in relation to the board and outside stakeholders. They were joined by panel members Ms Ng Pei San, Tax Director (Transfer Pricing and Dispute Resolution Branch) at IRAS, Mr Mukesh Butani, Founder and Managing Partner of BMR Legal Advocates, and Mr Falgun D Thakkar, Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The second panel examined the policy experience from OECD and UN perspectives. Discussion leader Ms Belinda Chan, Head of Tax at Temasek International, led a panel that covered the new OECD Manual on Effective Mutual Agreement Procedures (MEMAP), other policy options such as expert opinion and mediation, managing disputes beyond MAP, the case of indirect taxes, and an overview of the UN Framework Convention and its protocol on dispute resolution. Panel members included Mr Sriram Govind, Co-Head of the Tax Certainty Unit at the OECD, Ms Linda Cheng from IRAS, Ms Yong Sing Yuan, Partner at KPMG, Dr. Luisa Scarcella, Global Policy Lead at the International Chamber of Commerce, and Mr Michael Nixon, Partner at Deloitte.
Panel Discussion: Audits, judicial remedies, MAP, BAPA and beyond – the practical perspective. Left to right: Prof. Dr. Robert Danon, Dr. Giammarco Cottani, Mr Vineet Rachh, Dr. Niv Tadmore, Ms Ng Pei San, Mr Mukesh Butani & Mr Falgun D Thakkar
Panel Discussion: Audits, judicial remedies, MAP, BAPA and beyond – the policy experience (OECD and UN perspective). Left to right: Prof. Dr. Robert Danon, Dr. Giammarco Cottani, Ms Linda Cheng, Mr Sriram Govind, Ms Belinda Chan, Ms Yong Sing Yuan, Mr Michael Nixon & Dr. Luisa Scarcella
A dedicated session on Pillar 2 and disputes followed, led by Dr. Achim Pross, covering the classification of GloBE disputes with practical examples, the impact of a side-by-side model on GloBE disputes, and tools available to resolve GloBE disputes and ongoing work at OECD level. Panel members included Prof. Georg Kofler, Professor of International Tax Law at WU Vienna, Mr Scott Levine, Partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP, Mr Nathaniel Carden, Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and Mr Chester Wee, Member of the Technical Expert Panel at the Singapore Tax Academy Research Initiative (STARI).
Panel: Pillar 2 and Disputes. Left to right: Dr. Giammarco Cottani, Prof. Dr. Robert Danon, Dr. Achim Pross, Mr Chester Wee, Prof. Georg Kofler, Mr Scott Levine & Mr Nathaniel Carden
The afternoon's Practicalities & Future-Proofing segment opened with a lively panel on country experiences, focused on how tax administrations are leveraging AI for certainty. The session covered dispute resolution options available to taxpayers, digitalisation journeys in compliance and dispute management, AI-powered strategies for risk assessment and fraud detection, and the future of exchange of information. The panel was moderated by Mr Dennis Lui, CEO of Tax Academy of Singapore and Deputy Commissioner at IRAS, and featured representatives from Singapore (Mr Robin Ng, Assistant Commissioner and Chief Data Officer, IRAS), Thailand (Ms Kornrug Silanookit, Head of the International Compliance Audit Development Division, Revenue Department of Thailand), New Zealand (Mr Patrick O'Doherty, Chief Digital Officer, Inland Revenue New Zealand), and Australia (Ms Jenny Wong, Tax Lead, Policy and Advocacy, CPA Australia).
Panel: Tax Administrations: Leveraging AI for Certainty – Country Experiences. Left to right: Mr Dennis Lui, Mr Robin Ng, Ms Kornrug Silanookit, Mr Patrick O’Doherty & Ms Jenny Wong
The penultimate session was a panel discussion on tax incentives, taking a holistic perspective on the impact of the Pillar 2 "Substance-based Tax Incentives Safe Harbour" and its relation with trade and investment law obligations. Discussion leaders Prof. Dr. Robert Danon and Dr. Giammarco Cottani were joined by Dr. Achim Pross, Mr Mukesh Butani, Ms Rebecca James, Partner at Linklaters Singapore, and Ms Joanne Tan, Tax Director at IRAS.
Panel Discussion: Tax Incentives – a holistic perspective. Left to right: Prof. Dr. Robert Danon, Dr. Achim Pross, Dr. Giammarco Cottani, Mr Mukesh Butani, Ms Rebecca James & Ms Joanne Tan
The conference concluded with a closing keynote lecture by Prof. John Vella, Professor of Law and Director (Law) of the Centre for Business Taxation at the University of Oxford, on the topic of "Geographically Expansive Taxation". The lecture identified the increasingly common phenomenon of countries taxing in a geographically expansive manner, providing examples from around the world and considering the legal, practical and normative considerations it gives rise to.
Closing Keynote Lecture: Geographically Expansive Taxation by Prof. John Vella, University of Oxford.
Tax Academy would like to thank our Guest of Honour Minister Indranee Rajah, all speakers, panellists, guests and participants for making this milestone conference a success!
