Mr Toh Joo Hock (51), the Finance Executive of T.E. Fasteners Pte. Ltd. (“TEFPL”), a business dealing in the wholesale, import and export of fasteners, was found guilty of assisting TEFPL to evade tax on income of $1,639,060 for the Years of Assessment 2006 to 2008. He was jailed 2 weeks and ordered to pay a penalty of $735,036.

Investigations revealed that Mr Toh Joo Hock had created fictitious entries in the accounts of TEFPL when there were no such business transactions by TEFPL. He also deliberately inflated the purchase amounts so as to under-report TEFPL’s net profit in its income tax returns for the Years of Assessment 2006 to 2008.

TEFPL, for wilfully evading tax, was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to pay a fine of $6,000 for the first charge and $6,000 for the second charge. The company was also ordered to pay a penalty of $735,036. A third charge was taken into consideration in sentencing.

Businesses must keep records to support declarations

IRAS would like to remind all businesses to keep proper records and accounts of all their transactions. Businesses must keep their records up-to-date and ensure that the records support their income tax and/or GST declarations.

Voluntary Disclosure Pays, Tax Crime Does Not

Tax evasion and tax fraud are criminal offences punishable under the law and the Court imposes severe penalties for such offences. Businesses and individuals should disclose any past tax evasion immediately. IRAS will treat such disclosure as a mitigating factor when considering the penal charges. IRAS is also aware that some businesses and individuals could be negligent or unaware of their tax obligations, resulting in mistakes. 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.

Taxpayers who wish to disclose errors in their GST and Income Tax returns or report malpractices that might indicate tax evasion should email to [email protected] or write to:

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Investigation & Forensics Division
55 Newton Road, Revenue House
Singapore 307987

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

More information on voluntary disclosure is available in IRAS' e-Tax Guide (PDF, 476KB).

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore