Two brothers sentenced to 2 weeks' in jail and $253,913 in penalties for tax evasion
27 Mar 2020
Two brothers, Sibghatullah S/O Mohammed Akhtar
(“Sibghatullah”) and Mohammed Abdullah (“Abdullah”), who are also business
partners of Mohammed Akhtar Carpets, were convicted in court today for omitting
their investments income totalling $871,598 in their income tax returns for the
Years of Assessment (YAs) 2007 to 2011. Both Sibghatullah and Abdullah faced
five charges each under the Income Tax Act for wilful intent to evade tax,
amounting to a total of $118,559 in taxes evaded.
Court
Sentences
For their respective two proceeded charges, the
Court sentenced Sibghatullah to 2
weeks' imprisonment and ordered him to pay a penalty of $130,470 which is three times the
amount of taxes evaded and Abdullah was sentenced to 2 weeks' imprisonment and ordered to pay a penalty of $123,444, which is three times the
amount of taxes evaded. Their respective remaining three other charges were
taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.
IRAS Warns Against Tax Evasion
IRAS takes a serious view of
non-compliance and tax evasion. There will be severe penalties for those who
wilfully evade tax. The authority will not hesitate to bring offenders to
court. Offenders may face a penalty of up to four times the amount of tax
evaded. Jail terms may also be imposed.
Cash Rewards for Informants
A
reward based on 15% of the tax recovered, capped at $100,000, would be given to
informants if the information and/or documents provided lead to a recovery of
tax that would have otherwise been lost. All
payments are at the discretion of the Comptroller. IRAS
will ensure that the identities of informants are kept strictly confidential.
Reporting of Malpractices
Businesses
or individuals are encouraged to immediately disclose any past tax mistakes. IRAS
will treat such disclosures as mitigating factors when considering action to be
taken. Those who wish to disclose past mistakes
or report malpractices can write to:
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Investigation & Forensics Division
55 Newton Road, Revenue House
Singapore 307987
Email: ifd@iras.gov.sg
Inland
Revenue Authority of Singapore