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Couple behind Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint jailed, fined for tax evasion

SINGAPORE — The couple who used to own the famous Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint in Upper Paya Lebar have been sentenced to four weeks’ jail each for evading nearly S$55,000 in income taxes.

The main store of Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint. Photo: Google Maps

The main store of Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint. Photo: Google Maps

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SINGAPORE — The couple who used to own the famous Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint in Upper Paya Lebar have been sentenced to four weeks’ jail each for evading nearly S$55,000 in income taxes. 

They were also each ordered to pay a penalty of S$164,751.45 — three times the amount of the tax evaded, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) said in a press release on Monday (Aug 29).

Ha Wai Kay, 64, who was sole proprietor of the eatery, was found guilty and convicted of wilful intent to evade taxes amounting to $54,917.15 for the Years of Assessment (YAs) 2010 and 2011 (calendar years 2009 and 2010).

His wife, Kong Kuee Chin, 69, was also convicted of helping him in the offences.

Kong was the sole proprietor of Wan Tat Eating House at 125 Upper Paya Lebar Road, where the main outlet of Kay Lee is located. She would write down sales and daily cash collections for both Kay Lee and Wan Tat in her diary. 

These numbers were then recorded as lump sums on slips of paper and handed to their accountant, who used them to help the couple prepare their statements of accounts and income tax returns.

Investigations by the Iras revealed that the couple had knowingly under-declared Kay Lee’s total sales income to their accountant, resulting in Ha being undercharged for his income tax.

For YA2010, Kong submitted the total sales income as $531,924 after deducting Wan Tat’s total sales income, when it was really $693,839 as recorded in her diary. For the next YA, she gave a figure of $665,413 instead of the actual sales income of $829,335.

Husband and wife have pleaded guilty and repaid a total of S$329,502.90. Two further charges of income tax evasion were taken into consideration for Ha and Kong respectively.

Penalties for tax evasion could be up to four times the amount of tax evaded, and jail terms may also be imposed in some cases, Iras said. 

Apart from its main outlet at Upper Paya Lebar, Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint now has six other outlets in Singapore, as listed on its website. 

In 2014, the business was bought over by electronics firm Aztech Group for S$4 million, due partly to the high market value of its freehold shop space at the time. 

It was reported that Aztech Group’s chairman Michael Mun used to own Chinese restaurants.

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