Mr Ong Boon Lee (“Ong”), a certified public accountant (CPA), has paid a heavy penalty for assisting a company to evade tax.

Ong, who owns Benedict & Associates, was earlier charged on two counts of helping Darma Consultants Pte Ltd (“Darma”) falsify expenses in its income tax returns for the Years of Assessment 2005 and 2006, purportedly as payments made to a shell company in British Virgin Islands which he helped to set up.

The two charges were withdrawn after taking into consideration additional facts and representations made by the defence counsel. Ong has to pay a total of $270,983 for seven offences of assisting the company to evade tax. The composition includes the sum of $37,096, which is three times the amount of tax evaded by Darma.

Heavy Penalties for Errant Tax Agents

Under the tax laws, a person who assists anyone to evade tax by falsifying any books of account or records or by use of any fraud is liable to a penalty of up to 4 times the amount of tax evaded, a fine of not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both. IRAS takes a serious view of such offences by errant tax agents. Tax agents have extensive knowledge and understanding of tax laws and are responsible for giving tax advice to help taxpayers fulfil their tax obligations. IRAS believes that majority of them perform their duties professionally. IRAS will not hesitate to take harsh actions against those who help their clients evade taxes or abuse the tax system.