12 December 2008
Mr Ang Tin Yong, the precedent partner of All Family Food Court (“AFFC”) and Palm Valley Food Court (“PVFC”) and a partner of Palm View Food Court (“PFC”), had wilfully with intent to evade tax, consistently under-declared his share of profits derived from the three businesses for the Years of Assessment (YA) 2000 to 2005. The total amount under-declared was $493,742.
He has therefore committed offences under Section 96 (1)(b) of the Income Tax Act (Cap 134).
Modus Operandi
The principal activities of AFFC, PVFC and PFC (“Businesses”) comprise food court operation.
Evidence shows that Mr Ang Tin Yong (“the accused”) had instructed his account preparers to understate the revenue in the statement of accounts (“SOA”) of the Businesses for submission to IRAS. Consequently, the net profits shown in the SOAs were lower than the actual amounts. Ang Tin Yong knew that by falsifying the SOA, he could under-declare his share of the profits from the Businesses. As partners in businesses are taxed on their share of profits based on the profit-sharing ratios agreed by the respective partners, partners are responsible for declaring their share of partnership income accurately in their individual income tax returns. To under-declare his income to the IRAS, Ang Tin Yong had devised a fraudulent scheme to falsify the net profits reflected in the SOAs, in order to declare smaller profits in his individual income tax returns. Ang Tin Yong committed such fraudulent acts not once but for a period of 6 years, from 2000 to 2005. Applying this fraudulent scheme and with the wilful intent to evade tax, Ang Tin Yong, went on to falsify his respective Form Bs for the YAs 2000 to 2005 by under-declaring his share of partnership profits.
The details of Share of profits under-declared are as follows:
Sentence
Mr Ang Tin Yong pleaded guilty to 6 charges of wilfully with intent to evade tax, by understating the profits of his businesses for the Years of Assessment 2000 to 2005 and his sentences are as follows:
1 Sentenced to one month of imprisonment for the 1st charge, one month of imprisonment for the 2nd charge, one month of imprisonment for the 3rd charge, one month of imprisonment for the 4th charge, one month of imprisonment for the 5th charge, and one month of imprisonment for the 6th charge, sentences to run consecutively.
2 Ordered to pay a penalty of 3 times the amount of tax undercharged of $45,728.49 in respect of the 6 charges, which amounted to $137,185.47. In default of payment of the penalty, the default sentence would be two weeks of imprisonment for the 1st charge and two weeks of imprisonment for the 2nd charge, two weeks of imprisonment for the 3rd charge, two weeks of imprisonment for the 4th charge, two weeks of imprisonment for the 5th charge, and two weeks of imprisonment for the 6th charge.
The remaining 8 charges were withdrawn and compounded for $154,059.24 in tax and penalties.
The Court granted the Accused’s application to suspend his sentence to the 29 Dec 2008, 12 p.m. on condition that he surrendered his passport, and post a bail of $20,000 in one surety.
Voluntary Disclosure
This is the third Food and Beverage business operator to have been prosecuted by IRAS for tax evasion since the Tip Top Curry Puff case in Oct 07. Mr Ang Tin Yong’s jail term of six months is the longest among the three.
IRAS believes that the vast majority of the taxpayers are law abiding and contribute their fair share of taxes. Taxpayers who realise that they may have omitted certain income or over-claimed certain expenses in the past can come forward to IRAS to disclose their errors voluntarily. Voluntary disclosure carries a low composition fine computed at an incremental rate of 10% of the tax undercharged for each back year of assessment. This is a much lighter penalty compared to a maximum penalty of 4 times the amount of tax undercharged, and an imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years when IRAS discovers the errors or mistakes in the course of our
compliance activities. Taxpayers can email us at iit_compliance@iras.gov.sg, or call 63513481/ 63513090 if they would like to make any voluntary disclosure.
Report Malpractices
Any member of the public who would like to report malpractices of others that might indicate tax evasion may write to IRAS using the following addresses:
Email: iid@iras.gov.sg
Address:
Investigation & Intelligence Division,
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
55 Newton Road
Singapore 307987
IRAS will ensure that the identities of informants are kept confidential.
Issued by Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore