SINGAPORE – The director of a freight forwarding company in Singapore, who evaded more than $20,000 in goods and services tax (GST), has been fined $105,000.
Tang Yong Hoe, 43, director of I-Do Logistics, pleaded guilty to one charge of abetting a consignee to furnish false information to a Customs officer, and one charge of evadingGST that involved 67 import permits and a total of $16,842 in tax evaded.
Another two similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing on Sept 27.
I-Do imports goodsfrom its business partner in China, before sorting and delivering them to consignees here.
Tan, a Singaporean, was found to have under-declared the value of goods imported by I-Do Logistics and evaded $20,204 in GST between March 2017 and September 2018.
He used the packing lists from his Chinese business partner to apply for permits, despite knowing that the lists did not give the actual worth of the goods.
His offences came to light after an inspection by Customs officers on July 31, 2018.
Two consignees provided packing lists which under-declared the value of the goods so that they could be exempted from GST.
One of the consignees, who did so knowing that the information was false, was fined $2,000 on July 28.
Tang was also found to have abetted the other consignee to provide Customs officers with similar false information. Court proceedings against the consignee are ongoing.
Under the Customs Act, any person involved in evading or attempts to avoid GST may be fined up to 20 times the amount dodged.
Those caught making false declarations can be fined up to $10,000 or jailed up to a year, or both.
Any person who knowingly gives false information may be jailed up to a year or fined up to $5,000 or both.
Anyone with information on smuggling activities or GST evasion can call the Singapore Customs hotline on 1800-233-0000, or e-mail customs_intelligence@customs.gov.sg
