First-ever Singaporean remisier convicted of tax evasion

Other offenders warned to report brokerage income correctly.

In a release, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) announced that Ms Teo Joo Hiang, 52, a remisier, was sentenced to 1 week’s jail for under-reporting her income to IRAS.

She also had to pay a penalty of $192,926.76, three times the amount of tax evaded. Teo was unable to pay the penalty and would serve an additional 5 months and 2 weeks' jail. Two other charges were withdrawn and compounded for a sum of $ 93,380.13.

IRAS said this is the first case where a remisier has been charged under the Income Tax Act for tax evasion.

Teo pleaded guilty to two charges of making false entries in her income tax returns for the Years of Assessment (YA) 2009 and 2010. IRAS’ investigation revealed that she had declared brokerage income of $417,084, a sum significantly lower than the $945,474 brokerage income she earned from Phillip Securities Pte Ltd. Teo had evaded a sum of $64,308.92 in taxes.

IRAS said it wishes to remind all remisiers that they should include all income such as brokerage income, performance bonus and bad debts recovered in their tax returns. Remisiers should only claim for tax deductions in respect of expenses that are incurred wholly and exclusively to produce their income. These may include bad debts that are written off, entertainment expenses etc. Claims for such expenses must be supported by invoices and receipts or other relevant documents.

IRAS also said it recognises that some companies and individuals make mistakes in their tax reporting because they are negligent or unaware of their tax obligations. IRAS views such mistakes differently from tax evasion. In the spirit of encouraging voluntary compliance, IRAS imposes lower penalties for such mistakes disclosed voluntarily by taxpayers. Those who wish to disclose past mistakes can do so by contacting the IRAS.