My Expertise
My major areas of research expertise are GST/VAT law, international taxation, environmental taxation, and studies of the history of tax law. I have research experience in the fields of inter-governmental fiscal relations, constitutional development and tax reform, and income inequality. I also have expertise in taxation and climate change and green energy transformation and would be able to share my expertise in these areas.
Fields of Research (FoR)
Taxation law, Public economics - taxation and revenue, Public international law, Comparative lawBiography
Yan Xu is Scientia Associate Professor of Tax Law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Business School. She has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Columbia Law School and has held visiting positions at the University of Oxford, New York University and the University of Melbourne. Her research has been published in leading international journals, including the British Tax Review, Cambridge Law Journal, International and Comparative Law...view more
Yan Xu is Scientia Associate Professor of Tax Law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Business School. She has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Columbia Law School and has held visiting positions at the University of Oxford, New York University and the University of Melbourne. Her research has been published in leading international journals, including the British Tax Review, Cambridge Law Journal, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Journal of Environmental Law and Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. Her book VAT in the Digital Era: Unilateral and Multilateral Options for Reform (Oxford University Press, 2023), for which she was the sole editor and a contributing author, is among the first comprehensive studies to analyse critical issues in international VAT law in the digital age.
Yan has secured and led substantial research grants through competitive government funding schemes, including Lead CI on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project and Principal Investigator on several Hong Kong Research Grants Council general fund projects (comparable to Discovery schemes). Her funded research examines taxation of the digital economy, cross-border trade and investment, sustainable fiscal governance and the green transition. She regularly presents at major international conferences and has delivered invited presentations for institutions and organisations including the Australian Treasury, the International Fiscal Association, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Her research interests include comparative tax law and policy, international taxation and environmental taxation.
My Grants
Competitive Government Grants:
- Lead CI, “Sustainable Fiscal Federalism and Reform of the GST Distribution System”, Australian Research Council (ARC), Discovery Projects 2023, DP230100702 (A$194,807);
- Principal Investigator, “Indirect Taxation and the Digital Economy: Challenges and Responses in China”, Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), General Research Fund 2019 (No. 14613619, HK$491,000);
- Principal Investigator, “Tax Reform, the Rule of Law and Representative Government”, Fulbright-Hong Kong RGC, Senior Research Scholar Award 2014-15 (HK$496,504);
- Principal Investigator, “Taxation and Development: Case Study of China”, Hong Kong RGC, Early Career Scheme 2015 (No. 24607815, HK$598,016));
- Co-investigator, “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading in China: Insights from the EU’s Experience”, Hong Kong RGC General Research Fund 2017 (No. 14634116, HK$427,992);
- Partner CI, “Mitigating Tax Barriers to Trade and Investment between Australia and the People’s Republic of China”, ARC Discovery Projects 2011, (A$198,550, 2012-2015);
- Co-investigator, “Managing the Globalisation of Water Services in a World Affected by Climate Change”, WUN Research Development Fund 2013 (HK$546,000);
- Co-investigator, “Europe-Hong Kong Tax Treaties”, Eurasia Pacific Uninet Multilateral Project 2013 (HK$114,000).
Internal Grants:
- Lead CI, “A Multilateral Response to Global GST/VAT Challenges of the Digitalised Economy”, UNSW Business School CLMR Spring Research Grant 2021 (A$10,000);
- Lead CI, “Taxing Road Transport Fuel: Making Taxation an Effective Tool for Climate Action”, UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute, Interdisciplinary Seed Funding Award 2020 (A$30,000);
- Principal Investigator, “The Impact of the Global Campaign against Tax Avoidance on Hong Kong”, CUHK United College Lee Hysan Foundation Research Grant (2018-19, HK$30,000);
- Principal Investigator, “Achieving a More Equitable Development: the Role of Taxation”, CUHK Faculty of Law Direct Research Grant (2013-2014, HK$30,500);
- Principal Investigator, “Enduring Echoes in a Changing Landscape: Lessons from China’s Tax History”, CUHK Faculty of Law Direct Research Grant (2012-2013, HK$59,104).
My Qualifications
- PhD in Law, The University of Hong Kong
- MSc in Taxation, The University of Oxford
- LLB & MPhil in Law, Wuhan University
My Awards
- Scientia Fellowship, UNSW Sydney (2023);
- Scientia Fellowship, UNSW Sydney (2019);
- Fulbright Senior Research Scholar Award, US Department of State and Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) (2014-15);
- Harvard Law School Institute for Global Law and Policy Award 2014;
- Brown University International Advanced Research Institute Scholarship 2013;
- Abe Greenbaum Fellowship 2012, UNSW Atax;
- OeAD Scholar Award, Austrian Federal Government Ministry of Education, Science and Research and Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research, 2008-2009, Austria.
My Engagement
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TaxCOOP (Canada-based NGO), documentary interview on tax competition, 8 July 2020 and film documentary on “Fast & Furious Race to the Bottom” (released 15-16 October);
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Public media consultations: Tax Analysts, The Economist, Wolters Kluwer, China Law & Practice, Phoenix TV, South China Morning Post, International Taxation Review.
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0758-9458