SINGAPORE: Two men have been fined for fradulently evading Goods and Service Taxes (GST) on items they had imported.
Both had under-declared the value of their goods in fake invoices submitted to Singapore Customs.
PassionKites owner Tan Ting Sin, 29, was fined $96,667.45 last Thursday.
He had imported electric scooters and accessories from China on 48 occasions between last August and this April, and avoided paying more than $81,000 in GST by faking invoices.
Tan pleaded guilty to 15 charges, with another 33 charges taken into consideration during sentencing.
In a similar case, Twelvebox Enterprise director Ku Jin Hao, 28, was fined $156,000 earlier this month for under-declaring the value of pool tables, cameras, and camera accessories he had imported from Hong Kong, Japan, and China.
He evaded paying more than $42,500 in GST, and pleaded guilty to 16 charges. Another 33 were taken into consideration in the sentencing.
Those guilty of fraudulently evading GST can be fined up to 20 times the amount of tax evaded, jailed up to two years, or both.
“We urge traders who have discovered errors and omissions in their past declarations to
Singapore Customs to voluntarily come forward and disclose their mistakes,” said Mr Wan Boon Oon, who heads the trade investigation branch at Singapore Customs.
Voluntary disclosures will be taken into consideration when determining any follow-up actions or penalties.
