Sng Chin Lee (孙进利, 43 years old), a property agent, was jailed 12 weeks today after he pleaded guilty to four charges involving the use of counterfeit stamp certificates in the property rental transactions that he had handled. Another two charges, one for using a counterfeit stamp certificate and another for counterfeiting a stamp certificate, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

This is the third case where a property agent has been charged under the Stamp Duties Act for passing counterfeit stamp “certificates” off as genuine.

Stamp duty is a tax payable on documents or agreements relating to properties, such as tenancy or lease agreements, option to purchase, and sale and purchase agreements. Upon payment of stamp duty, a stamp certificate will be issued to certify that a certain amount of stamp duty has been paid relating to the document or agreement.

Between July to Oct 2011, Sng collected amounts meant for stamp duty payments from the tenants for most of the transactions he handled. He kept the money for his personal use instead of paying over the amount to IRAS. Our investigation found that Sng created the counterfeit stamp “certificates” by copying and amending a genuine stamp certificate obtained from a previous property transaction he had handled. Subsequently, he used five of the counterfeit stamp “certificates” by presenting them to the property agents or landlord. They were unaware that the stamp “certificates” they received from Sng were fake. The sixth counterfeit stamp certificate was found in his Personal Computer.

Tax Crimes Involving the use of Counterfeit Stamp Duty Certificates

IRAS takes a very serious view of using counterfeit stamp duty “certificates”. Any individual or business that deliberately counterfeits stamp certificates and knowingly misrepresents that such counterfeit stamp “certificates” are genuine will have to face penalties of up to $10,000 and/or up to three years’ imprisonment. Stiff penalties of up to four times the stamp duty may also be imposed for late or non-stamping of documents.

Online Check on Stamp Certificate Authenticity

Members of the public can go to the e-Stamping website https://estamping.iras.gov.sg (“Stamp Duty Resource” > “Check Stamp Certificate Authenticity”) to check on the authenticity of the stamp certificates in their possession. If the stamp certificates are authentic, the full details of the stamp duty payment, including the document description, property address, stamp duty amount and the date of document will match those shown on the website. If no details can be found on the website, or if there are discrepancies in the details, please contact IRAS to have the authenticity of the stamp certificate verified.

Reporting Suspected Stamp Certificate Forgery

Should you suspect that you have been presented with fake stamp certificates, please send an email to IRAS at [email protected] or call 6351 3697/3698 immediately.

Should you know of any stamp certificates fraud, please also contact IRAS immediately. IRAS will ensure that your identity is kept confidential.

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore