Tee Siew Gim (“Tee”), a 63-year-old partner of Hock Hin Undertaker and sole-proprietor of Eternal Life Bereavement Services, has been sentenced to 21 weeks’ jail and ordered by the Court to pay $341,327.75 in penalty and $3,000 in fine after being convicted of offences involving Income Tax evasion and failure to register for Goods and Services Tax (GST) for Hock Hin Undertaker.  

Tee is the fourth undertaker to be convicted for tax offences since IRAS started its investigations into the funeral industry in 2019. 

 Case background and highlights

Hock Hin Undertaker was one of three funeral operators raided by IRAS in September 2019 in an operation which covered over 10 locations in Singapore. Small businesses such as funeral operators with business practices that involve substantial cash transactions, no or poor record-keeping and weak internal controls or processes are observed to be at higher risk of tax non-compliance.

Investigations revealed that as a partner of Hock Hin Undertaker and sole-proprietor of Eternal Life Bereavement Services, Tee made false entries in his Income Tax returns for YA 2018 and 2019 with the wilful intent to evade tax.

Additionally, Tee failed to register Hock Hin Undertaker for GST when the company’s revenue first exceeded $1 million for four consecutive quarters ending 31 March 2014.

In 2019, IRAS started investigating businesses in the funeral industry and the related side businesses such as religious rites by religious practitioners (i.e. priests, monks, pastors etc.), embalming, tentage and furniture set-up and food caterers. To-date, a total of 65 businesses have been audited and investigated for anomalies in tax reporting. IRAS has since prosecuted three undertakers and one religious practitioner in court.

In the last 5 years, IRAS had recovered more than $3 million in taxes and penalties from its audits and investigations of about 49 businesses in the funeral industry.

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.

GST Registration All businesses, including individuals deriving income from their trade, profession or vocation, should closely monitor their income on a calendar year basis to assess if they need to register for GST. If their 12-month taxable turnover has exceeded $1 million at the end of the calendar year, they will be required to apply for GST registration by 30 January. They will be registered for GST on 1 March.  Additionally, if at any point in time, they can reasonably expect their taxable turnover to be more than $1 million in the next 12 months, they must register for GST within 30 days from the date of their forecast. They will be registered on the 31st day from the forecast date. 

Any business that fails to register for GST is still required to pay GST on all their past transactions from the date the business became liable for GST registration. GST is payable even if the amount was not collected from customers. In addition, failure to register for GST is an offence and businesses may be required to pay 10% of GST due as a penalty, and fined up to $10,000.

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 actions to be taken. Please refer to the IRAS website for more information on how to disclose past mistakes. Those who wish to report malpractices may make their submissions via this form.

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.

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore