18 May 2012
ATT Systems (S’pore) Pte Ltd (“ATT”), a technology company that designs and develops electronic systems, was convicted of tax evasion for Years of Assessment (YA) 2006 and 2007. ATT was ordered to pay a fine of $40,000 and a penalty of $745,391.28, four times the amount of tax evaded. Six other charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
Company Created False Business Expenses to Evade Tax
ATT is a prominent company in the technology solutions industry. It specialises in electronic systems for the healthcare, aviation and traffic management sectors.
Investigations revealed that ATT had prepared and maintained false invoices amounting to $735,012.50 for YA2006 and $206,528.00 for YA2007 respectively with the wilful intent to evade tax. This led to a corresponding reduction in profits of ATT and resulted in a total of $186,347.82 tax undercharged for both YAs.
The Comptroller of Income Tax compounded the tax offences of the directors, Tan Ann Jee and Teo Chin Tiong at $713,898.92 and $311,501.46 respectively for 1999 to 2002 and 2004 to 2007. The total penalty and composition to be paid by ATT and the directors amounted to $1,790,286.15.
Lower Penalties for Voluntary Disclosure
IRAS recognises that some companies and individuals make mistakes in their tax reporting because they are negligent or unaware of their tax obligations. IRAS views such mistakes differently from tax evasion.
In the spirit of encouraging voluntary compliance, IRAS imposes lower penalties for such mistakes disclosed voluntarily by taxpayers. Nevertheless, it is important that such voluntary disclosure is accurate and complete.
Reporting of Past Mistakes or Possible Tax Evasion
Those who wish to disclose past mistakes or who wish to report malpractices of others that might indicate tax evasion can write to:
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Investigation & Forensics Division
55 Newton Road, Revenue House
Singapore 307987
Email: ifd@iras.gov.sg
IRAS will ensure that the identities of informants are kept confidential.
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore