A Brazilian restaurant and its director were fined $92,000 respectively in court today for collecting GST from its customers when the restaurant is not registered for GST.

Casa Do Churrasco Pte Ltd (“Casa”) and its director, Fabiane Mendes Braga (“Fabiane”), 35, faced 283 charges each for unauthorised collection of GST over the period December 2008 to October 2009. This is the second case of unauthorised GST collection that IRAS has brought the offender to court.

Unauthorised collection of GST

All businesses are required to register with IRAS before charging and collecting GST. Charging and collecting GST without being registered with IRAS is a serious offence. Offenders can be fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed up to 3 years for each offence of unauthorised GST collection.

Casa is a Brazilian steakhouse and bar that started operations in December 2008. Casa did not register for GST but it continued to charge and collect GST from its customers over an 11-month period. The GST collected from customers was not reported to IRAS.

When IRAS received information of Casa’s malpractices, IRAS officers visited the premises in October 2009 and seized Casa’s business records and sales receipts. Sales receipts dated since December 2008 with GST charged were found amongst Casa’s business records. The total GST that was collected by Casa from its customers that was not declared and accounted to IRAS amounted to $38,084.58.

Fabiane, the director representing Casa, pleaded guilty to the 92 charges proceeded on Casa and herself. The amount of GST wrongfully collected for the 92 charges is $11,247.86. Another 191 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Reporting on GST malpractices

The public is able to check if businesses are registered for GST via IRAS website or SMS to 9116 4900.

Consumers who wish to provide information on GST malpractices by businesses can write to:

The Comptroller of GST
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
55 Newton Road, Revenue House
Singapore 307987
Email: [email protected]
Tel No: 1800-356 8633
Fax No: 6351 3553

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

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore