06 Feb 2009

Mr Ang Boon Chye (“ABC”), a partner of All Family Food Court (“AFFC”) had wilfully with intent to evade tax, consistently understated his share of profits from AFFC for the Years of Assessment (YA) 2000 to 2005. The total amount understated was $536,535.

He has therefore committed offences under Section 96 (1)(b) of the Income Tax Act (Cap 134).

Modus Operandi

On 12 Dec 2008, AFFC’s precedent partner, Mr Ang Tin Yong had 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. He was sentenced to six months of imprisonment and 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.

AFFC’s two other partners are ABC and Wong Kee Yock (“WKY”). ABC was aware that ATY had intentionally falsified the statement of accounts (“SOA”) so that the falsified figures therein could be used to under-declare ATY’s, WKY’s and ABC’s share of profits in their respective income tax returns for the said YAs. Accordingly, applying this fraudulent scheme and with the intention to evade tax, ABC went on to falsify his respective Form Bs by under-declaring his share of partnership profits. ABC then submitted the falsified Form Bs to the IRAS for the YAs 2000 to 2005.

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.

ABC has therefore intentionally put himself in a lower tax payable position. ABC also knew that by making such false entries in the Form Bs, his income tax would be undercharged and he would thereby evade tax for the said YAs, for the income he received from AFFC.

The details of share of profit understated are as follows:

  Food Court Case Charges.jpg

The total amount of profits ABC understated for the stated YAs for AFFC was S$536,535.00.


Sentence

Mr Ang Boon Chye 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 1 month of imprisonment for the 1st charge, 1 month of imprisonment for the 2nd charge, 1 month of imprisonment for the 3rd charge, 1 month of imprisonment for the 4th charge, 1 month of imprisonment for the 5th charge, and 1 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 $68,566.07 in respect of the 6 charges, which amounted to $205,698.21. In default of payment of the penalty, the default sentence would be 5 weeks of imprisonment for the 1st charge and 5 weeks of imprisonment for the 2nd charge, 2 week(s) imprisonment for the 3rd charge, 2 week(s) imprisonment for the 4th charge, 2 week(s) imprisonment for the 5th charge, and 2 week(s) imprisonment for the 6th charge.

Voluntary Disclosure

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 the 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 [email protected], or call 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: [email protected]
Address: Investigation & Forensics Division,
55 Newton Road,
Singapore 307987

IRAS will ensure that the identities of informants are kept confidential.

INLAND REVENUE AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE