Deloitte Tax Challenge 2017 champions unveiled

KUALA LUMPUR, 2 November 2017 — The nationwide search and intense level of challenge for this year’s tax whiz is over! The winners of the 10^th Deloitte Tax Challenge (DTC) were announced last night at the Gala Dinner in One World Hotel, Petaling Jaya. At the Grand Finals which took place earlier on the same day, the finalists comprising 16 challengers from the individual category and seven teams of four participants each from the team category went all out in a nail-biting competition to clinch the top spots in DTC 2017.

In the end, Team Taxpacito from Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) comprising Carlos Wong Fook Chin, Chong Hsien Leon, Tiffany Thong Siew Mun and Yap Chin Siong) emerged the team category winner of DTC 2017, taking home the grand prize of RM11,000 in cash and other prizes, while Marissa Lee Sher May from Sunway-TES was crowned champion in the individual category, taking home RM5,000 in cash and other prizes.  

In addition to the overall cash prizes for both categories, participants who excelled in selected areas were presented with special awards. In acknowledging the Challengers’ strengths, event sponsor ACCA named Chong Hsien Leon, Tiffany Thong Siew Mun and Lee Peng Qing, all from TAR UC, together with Chai Woei Shiuan from Sunway TES the Best Presenters in the team category. Marissa Lee clinched the Best Presenter award in the individual category.  

Farah Nabilah Mohamad Yusof from INTEC Education College walked away with the Best Writer Award sponsored by Wolter Kulwer for the individual category, while Team Survivors members Kong Ying Jo, Lim Tze Shuang, Ong Yue Hian and Soon Yan Wen from University Tunku Abdul Rahman won for the team category.

“2017 is a special year for us. We are celebrating 10 years of making an impact through the Deloitte Tax Challenge,” said Yee Wing Peng, Deloitte Malaysia country tax leader. “DTC has been going from strength to strength, producing a noteworthy pool of tax professionals and benefiting over 19,000 students nationwide to date,” he added.

This year, the DTC received more than 3,214 participants from 50 universities and colleges, both local and international across Malaysia - a remarkable 26% increase in participants as compared with 2016. This is indeed a significant recognition that DTC is relevant and well received among the accounting and finance undergraduates.

Deloitte Tax Challenge is an annual tax-based competition that is designed to encourage and develop students from higher learning institutions to hone their tax knowledge, improve their engagement capabilities, and articulate their insights and views on communication and writing skills. “As I have shared with the Challengers, to be a tax professional today is not just about being technically competent. A successful tax professional needs to have strong engagement and communications skills to articulate their insights and views in writing, in speaking with stakeholders and presenting at the highest level,” said Yee.

Exhilarated at being crowned the team category winner, Chong Hsien Leon of team Taxpacito said, “Hard work forever pays – consistently brush up on your knowledge and be well prepared,” when asked what advice he could offer to future DTC participants. Chong, whose team won the Best Presenter award, was also a Merit Award recipient in the individual category. This was his first time participating in a tax challenge, and he was ecstatic at the results of his attempt in both the individual and team categories.

Meanwhile, Marissa Lee, individual category champion and Best Presenter award recipient, said she was elated and felt really blessed to win the awards. She agrees that the exposure and experience gained from joining this competition is highly beneficial. Her advice to future participants is “to never think that you can’t do it because you will never know until you try. So always give your best because you will never know the outcome till you give your best.

Apart from securing a job placement in Deloitte Malaysia, champions of the DTC will move on to the next level of this competition – Southeast Asia Deloitte Tax Challenge (SEA DTC) in Jakarta, Indonesia. The SEA DTC will feature regional participants including our winners. The event is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2018.

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