Following investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department (“CAD”) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (“IRAS”), two men, aged 40 and 73, will be charged in court on 5 August 2025 for their suspected involvement in a Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) Missing Trader Fraud involving approximately $181 million in fictitious sales.

 The two men are believed to have set up four shell companies and used them to operate a fraudulent business between November 2017 and April 2018. The men allegedly sold goods from one company to the other companies at inflated pricing amounting to approximately $181 million. It is believed that the sales and purchases amongst the companies are sham transactions, created to facilitate the claiming of GST from IRAS. Both men will face four counts each of fraudulent trading under Section 340(5) read with Section 340(1) of the Companies Act.

To complete the alleged fraud, the 40-year-old man allegedly submitted three fraudulent GST refund claims to IRAS in an attempt to cheat IRAS into disbursing $11.8 million. The man is also alleged to have forged a supplier’s invoice and submitted it to IRAS to cheat IRAS into approving the GST registration application of one of the shell companies. In addition, the 40-year-old man purportedly made three fraudulent GST refund claims under the Electronic Tourist Refund Scheme (“eTRS”) by deceiving IRAS into disbursing GST cash refund of more than $140,000, when the purchases under the eTRS did not take place. For these, the 40-year-old man faces the following additional charges:

• Three counts of attempted cheating under Section 420 read with Section 511 of the Penal Code; 
• One count of forgery for the purpose of cheating under Section 468 of the Penal Code; and
• Three counts of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

If convicted, both men may face the following punishments:

• For each charge of fraudulent trading under Section 340(5) of the Companies Act, imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years, or a fine, or both; 
• For each charge of forgery under Section 468 of the Penal Code, imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years and a fine; and
• For each charge of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code or attempt to cheat under Section 420 read with Section 511 of the Penal Code, imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years and a fine.

The Police and IRAS take a serious stance against tax offences and will take stern enforcement action against perpetrators of such fraudulent arrangements.

From 1 January 2021, any GST-registered business that claims input tax on any supply made to them which it knew or should have known to be part of a Missing Trader Fraud arrangement, will be denied input tax and be subject to a 10% surcharge on the input tax denied. Businesses are therefore strongly advised to perform due diligence checks and take appropriate actions to address the risks identified to avoid participating in transactions suspected to be part of a Missing Trader Fraud arrangement. For more information, please refer to the e-Tax Guide “GST: Guide on Due Diligence Checks to Avoid Being Involved in Missing Trader Fraud”.

With effect from 1 January 2023, under the Goods and Services Tax Act, any person who participates in a specified arrangement, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that the person’s participation is for a fraudulent purpose, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.

SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
INLAND REVENUE AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE