SINGAPORE: For more than seven years, the director of multiple companies submitted fraudulent tax claims amounting to over S$1.4 million for her firms.
She then transferred part of the tainted funds to her boyfriend, and the money was used to pay the mortgage instalments for a house in Malaysia, credit card bills and insurance policy premiums.
On Tuesday (Oct 28), Tan Kian Peng, 38, pleaded guilty to making false entries in GST returns, money laundering and hindering Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) officers from carrying out their duties.
She was sentenced to 10 months and 74 weeks’ jail, fined $1,000 and ordered by the court to pay more than $1.9m in penalties.
From August 2017 to October 2024, Tan submitted 87 GST returns for herself and her firms across different accounting periods.
Tax prosecutors Yeow Ing Yee and Joel Lee and Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Ho said that in each of these returns, the net input tax was wrongfully claimed as there was, in fact, no net input tax claimable.
The court heard that Iras paid out at least $661,700 of the net input tax claimed, but Tan has made no restitution of this amount.
After Tan received money in her bank account, which was not derived from her business earnings but due to her false entries in GST returns, she transferred over $212,000 to her boyfriend.
The prosecutors said the money represented Tan’s benefits from criminal conduct, which were due to the false entries in GST returns that she filed.
The money was then used for household expenses, to repay debts and to purchase a Subaru XV.
Between December 2017 and March 2022, Tan also applied for voluntary GST registration of her companies and, in support of the applications, she deliberately submitted invoices which she knew to be fictitious.
“This hindered officers from the Goods and Services Tax Division in the accurate processing of the applications. The said fictitious invoices were fabricated by the accused herself,” said the prosecutors.
Those who wilfully evade tax by submitting false GST returns can face a penalty of three times the amount of tax undercharged, fined up to $10,000, and/or be jailed for up to seven years. - The Straits Times/ANN
