Tuition centre, second-hand car trader fined for failing to register for GST
SINGAPORE — A tuition centre and a second-hand car trader were fined at the State Courts on Friday (17 May) for failing to register for Goods and Services Tax (GST) when their businesses crossed the $1 million threshold.
Ideas Ink School, located at One-north Gateway, was fined $2,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of $7,645.
It failed to register for GST by 30 July 2012 when it crossed the threshold the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, second-hand car trader Tay Soo Suan, 74, was fined $6,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of $68,464.
He failed to register for GST by 30 March 2012.
All businesses, including individuals deriving income from their trade, profession or vocation, have 30 days to apply for GST registration if their past 12-month taxable turnover exceeds $1 million at the end of any calendar quarter. GST is payable even if the amount was not collected from customers.
Errant businesses may be required to pay 10 per cent of GST due as a penalty, along with a fine up to $10,000.
Tuition centre’s directors evaded income tax
Ideas Ink School’s two company directors Pek Kim Beng and Pek Kim Yew were also sentenced on Friday for understating income in their tax returns.
Pek Kim Beng, 33, was fined $6,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of $95,584.
He understated his net income for the year of assessments 2011 to 2014 as $88,000, $89,800, $139,000 and $102,000 respectively.
But his real net income was actually $214,391, $223,431, $293,319 and $150,696 respectively.
As a result of the under-declaration, the amount of tax undercharged for those years was $17,657.23, $19,688.04, $28,103.97 and $6,200.85.
Pek Kim Yew, 31, was fined $2,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of $14,831.
He understated his net income for the year of assessments 2011 to 2014 as $45,847, $51,000, $98,000 and $102,000 respectively.
But his real net income was actually $103,447, $101,587, $123,974 and $112,576 respectively.
As a result of the under-declaration, the amount of tax undercharged for those years was $3,801.62, $3,614.06, $2,636.50 and $2,034.68.
Meanwhile, the directors’ mother Chee Mee Yen, who is Ideas Ink School’s bookkeeper, also faces charges for abetting the centre and its directors in evading tax. Her case is pending before the courts.
In a statement, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said it takes a serious view of non-compliance and tax evasion.
“There will be severe penalties for those who wilfully evade tax. Taxpayers are responsible for the information declared in their income tax returns. The authority will not hesitate to bring offenders to court,” said IRAS.
The penalties for tax evasion can be up to four times the amount of tax evaded. Offenders may also be jailed.
IRAS also offers a cash reward, based on 15 per cent of the tax recovered and capped at $100,000, to informants whose information leads to recovery of tax that would have otherwise been lost.
IRAS said all payments are at the discretion of the comptroller of income tax and informants’ identities will be kept strictly confidential.
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