Simon Yeoh Seng Leong is the Immediate Past President of MAICSA, having served as the 28th President from July 2022 to June 2024. While his expertise is in taxation, as a Governance Professional, he has been an active Fellow member of MAICSA continuously serving on various committees of the Institute.
Simon was initially elected to the MAICSA Council in June 2012 and served as a Council member until June 2018. He was re-elected as a Council member in June 2019 and October 2021. Previously, he served as Deputy President (2021/2022), Vice President (2020/2021), and Honorary Secretary (2019/2020) of the MAICSA Council. He was also the Chairman of the Training and Professional Development Committee (2021/2022), Conference Organising Committee (2016/2017), Education Committee (2018), and Taxation Committee (2017/2018). Currently, he is the Chairman of the Taxation Committee, Deputy Chairman of the Thought Leadership Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the MAICSA Appeal Tribunal Committee. Simon has also been nominated to be MAICSA’s representative of the Corporate Secretaries International Association (CSIA) and a council member of CSIA, effective from January 2025.
During his tenure as a Partner at Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn Bhd, Simon has had considerable experience in all aspects of Malaysian tax and business consultancy which was complimented by a myriad of leadership roles. He was the Country Tax Quality & Risk Management Leader, Malaysian Global Compliance Reporting Leader and Malaysian Corporate Services Leader-ACR. He was instrumental in the start up of the Corporate Services group-ACR group in the Kuala Lumpur office.
His professional experience spans over 30 years in taxation, and he started his career with two globally renowned international professional firms, namely PwC and EY. He has been involved in all facets of tax assignments, including corporate tax due diligence, tax compliance, tax planning, and advisory matters such as corporate tax restructuring. He has also provided advice on selecting tax incentives and on inbound and outbound investments for local and international corporations.
He has served clients from private and public companies, as well as government-linked companies and multinationals. Notably, he was the tax engagement partner for Bursa Malaysia and its group of companies. He was also regularly involved in speaking at tax seminars, trade and business councils, and has appeared on national television discussing the annual tax budget. Additionally, he has contributed articles on corporate social responsibility from an income tax perspective.
Post EY, and after serving various office bearers positions in MAICSA, he was elected as the 28th President of MAICSA in July 2022. During his tenure as President, he was actively involved in discussions with the management teams of the Securities Commission, Bank
Negara, Inland Revenue Board, Companies Commission of Malaysia, Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance, Bursa Malaysia, and various professional bodies, including the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Chartered Institute of Taxation Malaysia, Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants, CPA Australia, as well as the Bar Council and Inns of Court. These discussions focused on corporate governance issues and other matters.
As a Chartered Governance Professional, Simon has been actively involved in corporate governance matters and contributed various articles to the Star-ESG section on the topic of corporate governance in Malaysia. He has also spoken at conferences about the critical role of corporate governance within the ESG framework. Given his vast experiences in taxation as well as corporate governance, Simon has been actively involved in moderating and conducting webinars on various topics, including corporate governance, risk management,Tax Corporate Governance Framework, ESG and sustainability reporting, Section 17A of the MACC Act, updates on Industrial relations Act, E-invoicing and cybercrime. Previously, he was also involved in moderating and conducting training on behalf of MAICSA to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy on Malaysian company law and corporate governance. Simon also initiated the Young MAICSA Governance Professional program and served as the chief judge for this programme.
As the Chairman of the Taxation Committee of MAICSA, he has been actively involved in working closely with various professional bodies and contributing to the yearly dialogues with the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board and the Ministry of Finance regarding Annual Tax Budget issues.
Apart from the above, Simon is currently the Chairman of the Malaysian Tax Research Foundation (MTRF). In this role, he has been involved in discussions with numerous universities, as well as the Inland Revenue Board and the Ministry of Finance, on various tax research projects. Additionally, Simon is a member of the Disciplinary Committee Panel of the Bar Council under Section 96 of the Legal Profession Act 1976. Simon is also currently the non-executive independent director of Tricor Trustco (Labuan) Ltd.
Simon is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Governance Institute, UK, a Fellow Chartered Governance Professional and Chartered Secretary of MAICSA, a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation Malaysia, and a Member of the Inns of Courts Malaysia. Associate Member of the Malaysian Institute of Management. He is also an approved Tax Agent with the Ministry of Finance under Section 153 of the Income Tax Act 1967.
