TAR UC Student Keeps Malaysian Flag Flying at International Tax Competition

Carlos Wong Fook Chin, a Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (‘TAR UC’) Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) student, has made Malaysia proud when he emerged not only as the Champion in the Ernst & Young Young Tax Professional of the Year 2018 (‘EY YTPY 2018’) Malaysia but he was also recently named as the first runner-up at the EY YTPY international final held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, earning him the distinction of being the second Malaysian to have won the first runner-up prize at international level of the said competition.

The EY YTPY is a global competition in which young and successful students, graduates and professionals are selected in countries across the world to participate and demonstrate their tax technical, professional and inclusive leadership skills.

At the national level of EY YTPY 2018, Carlos demonstrated high resilience and strong technical capability against 10 contestants from 8 institutions of higher learning at the final stage to excel. From oral and video presentation to case study, he put to good use all the knowledge and skills he learnt and his strong will to prove himself helped him to secure the win.

Having won the national level, this former student from Tsun Jin High School was qualified to represent Malaysia at the international level of EY YTPY 2018. Nevertheless, the global stage was very competitive with all the national champions from 21 countries all over the world convened to vie for the top prize. On top of that, the average age of the contestants at international level was 25 with many of them completed diverse Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as well as working experience and these factors could be Carlos’ Achilles’ heel as he was still pursuing his undergraduate studies at TAR UC at the time of the competition. Despite this, he beat the odds by being one of the youngest contestants to win the first runner-up prize and the second Malaysian to have won the said prize. With this win, Carlos will embark on a 10-day visit to one of EY’s Area Tax Centers for networking opportunities with some of the world’s leading Tax professionals.

Carlos was ecstatic with his recent win at Amsterdam. “All I did was to give my very best and leave the rest to the jury. I personally think that the opportunity to gather with finalists from different parts of the world is precious enough. Therefore, this first runner-up prize is a bonus for me,” he enthused.

He went on to describe how the international level of the competition differed from the national level. “For national EY YTPY, one substantial part being tested was on the understanding of Malaysian tax systems. But, at the international level, instead of testing on a specific country’s tax systems, it examined the contestants on the understanding of global tax issues that are affecting global operations,” he said.

When facing other finalists who had higher qualifications and more experienced, Carlos said: “In order not to be intimidated, I only focused on doing the best I could, fully utilising my strength in the competition with the belief that I would get what I deserved.”

Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei, President of TAR UC, was very pleased with Carlos’s achievement. He said: “All of us in TAR UC are very proud of Carlos’s achievement. What he has achieved proves the efficacy of our holistic education which has nurtured many outstanding graduates over the past 50 years. Increasingly we see TAR UC students excel not only in national competitions but even the global ones and this goes to show the quality of TAR UC’s education in developing the leaders of tomorrow.”