Vijey is a tax lawyer. He has extensive experience in income tax, custom duties, GST, real property gains tax, tax incentives and stamp duty. 

Unlike many other tax advisers, Vijey’s experience extends to tax litigation – he often appears before the Special Commissioners of Income Tax, the Customs Appeal Tribunal, the High Court and the Court of Appeal on major points of tax law. All in all, Vijey has acted for clients in a wide range of tax cases, including cases concerning transfer pricing, deductibility of employee share option charges claimed by subsidiaries of listed companies, timing of recognition of income for property developers, refusal of the Minister of Finance to remit taxes, taxation of interest income as a business source and taxability of compensation received for termination of a contract.

Vijey recently successfully represented a well-established Malaysian asset management company before the Court of Appeal, obtaining confirmation that capital expenditure incurred on the provision of software, including consultancy fees and related incidental charges, qualifies for capital allowance claims.

Acting on behalf of one of the largest rubber glove manufacturers in the world, Vijey obtained a judgment of the Court of Appeal that the tax holiday status given to the client could not be revoked or disregarded by the Inland Revenue Board merely by reason of some alleged non-compliance by the client as a tax-payer of the terms of the tax incentive. This issue plagues most companies that have a tax holiday status and the case sets a binding precedent on the matter.

Another decision secured by Vijey was that of the High Court which has set a precedent for trial runs to be considered part and parcel of the manufacturing process and therefore deemed to be used for purposes of business. As such, claims for capital allowance and reinvestment allowance on the machines used for trial runs are now allowed.

For a property giant, Vijey successfully argued at the Court of Appeal against the imposition of real property gains on the company. With this decision, the special power vested with the Inland Revenue to impose tax on a disposer where both the acquirer and disposer of property had been late in filing their tax returns has been severely curtailed.

In addition to court work, Vijey enjoys a tremendous variety of tax advisory work in many areas of tax law. He has provided tax advice to high profile clients from virtually every business sector – including automobiles, aviation, banking and financial services, construction, consumer goods, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, manufacturing, oil and gas, real estate, technology and telecommunications. 

Vijey has been named as a “Leading Individual” for Tax in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific in its 2018 – 2024 editions, a “Leading Lawyer” in asialaw for the years 2012 – 2015, 2018 and 2019, a “Highly Regarded Lawyer” (formerly titled “Leading Lawyer”) in IFLR1000 (International Financial Law Review) for 2011 – 2023, and a “Distinguished Practitioner” in asialaw for 2020 – 2024. His representation of clients before the Courts has earned him a place in the list of “Litigation Stars” in Benchmark Litigation for the years 2020 -2024. Vijey was named as a “Highly Regarded Practitioner” in the 2024 and 2025 editions of ITR World Tax, the “comprehensive guide to the world’s leading tax firms”.

In addition, Vijey has been highly ranked in the area of Tax in Chambers Asia Pacific from 2009 – 2024. Published testimonials include:

• ‘a well-established figure in the Malaysian tax market, with expertise in both advisory and contentious matters. Well versed in handling tax planning as well as income tax appeals, he is described by clients as “very thorough, responsive and detailed, with the courage and conviction to think outside the box”.’
• ‘… has earned a good reputation as a deft and personable lawyer in the market. Clients express their satisfaction working with him: “For a quick view or preliminary view on a matter, he’s very supportive and very accommodative.”’ 
• “He is very good and sound in terms of his knowledge.”
• “Vijey Mohana Krishnan is well regarded in Malaysia’s tax law market”
• “dynamic”
• “… a complex problem solver. He is able to read and interpret legislation in a way that provides grounds to support our position.”

The Asia Business Law Journal has named Vijey in “The A List – Malaysia’s Top 100 Lawyers” for the last few years.

Vijey has been involved in various committees including the GST and Tax Sub-Committee of the Malaysian Bar, the Tax Committee of the American Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia Technical Committee – Indirect Taxation. 

TERTIARY QUALIFICATION

• Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (University of London)

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

• Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya
• Admitted to the Malaysian Bar: 15th October 1999
• Certificate in Legal Practice, Malaysian Legal Profession Qualifying Board
• Associate of the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia