SINGAPORE: The director of a used car dealership was convicted for understating more than S$6 million of company income, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said on Friday (Jul 17).
Low Soon Leong, 50, was given a S$1,006,122 penalty - two times the tax undercharged - or serve a jail term of 150 days.
AdvertisementAdvertisementLow is the company director of BW Automobiles and had declared a total of S$1.24 million on income in company tax returns from the years of assessment 2011 to 2013.
Investigations revealed that he did not look carefully at the financial statements given to him to check the revenue figures. Instead, he had accepted the company's returns prepared by the company's tax agent, a certified public accountant.
"The understatement of income resulted in tax undercharged of over S$1 million," said IRAS.
“Of the three charges, the prosecution proceeded with one charge against Low for abetting the company to omit income from its tax returns without reasonable excuse," it added.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe remaining two charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
For this, he also received a fine of S$5,000.
IRAS warns that it takes a serious view of non-compliance and tax evasion.
“There will be severe penalties for those who willfully evade tax. Taxpayers are responsible for the information declared in their income tax returns,” it said.
The authority will not hesitate to bring offenders to court, IRAS said, adding that penalties for tax evasion can be up to four times the amount of tax evaded.
“In certain situations, jail terms may also be imposed.”
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