Man jailed for helping firm commit GST fraud
AsiaOne
Wednesday, Jul 04, 2012
A man who helped his company falsify its goods and services tax (GST) accounts has been sentenced to a week in jail and given a penalty of $78,974.
This amount is three times the amount he was found guilty of overstating on his employer's input claims with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) .
On Wednesday, the 39-year-old manager was found guilty of fraudulently claiming GST refunds of up to $26,325 for wholesale trading company AFGB.
Joseph Tan Seng Beng admitted to two charges of helping the company evade tax by overstating input tax amounts of $13,621 on June 1, 2009 and $12,704 on October 19, 2009.
Businesses registered for GST are eligible to claim the GST charges they incurred on business expenses, otherwise known as input tax, if they satisfy conditions set by Iras.
Under this rule, businesses can submit a claim for the GST incurred on their business expenses if it exceeds the amount of tax collected from sales.
Tan was considered on four charges, each carrying with it a fine of $10,000 and/or a jail sentence of up to seven years, on top of the penalty of three times the amount of tax undercharged.
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