Pilot gets 6 months’ jail, ordered to pay about S$182,000 for under-declaring rental income to evade tax

SINGAPORE — A 51-year-old pilot leased two properties to tenants but did not declare them in his income tax return with the intention to evade tax, despite being given several opportunities to furnish the correct information. 

On one occasion, he declared an amount lower than the income earned when asked to provide information regarding how much he earned from rental properties for a specific period of assessment years.

As a result of his offences, Andrew Soo Cheng Ai was sentenced to six months’ jail and ordered to pay S$181,996 in penalties, after being convicted of four charges under the Income Tax Act, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) said in a media statement on Friday (April 21).

Soo owned two properties where he collected rent: One located on Balestier Road and another on Kim Yam Road near Robertson Quay.

WHAT HAPPENED

On Oct 13, 2017, the comptroller of income tax sent him an email asking for details of his rental properties.

He responded to the email on June 22, 2018, with the total gross rent, expenses and net rent of his rental properties for the assessment year of 2013 to 2018. 

However, the information he provided was lower than the figures that he had filed in his income tax returns for the relevant assessment years. 

"Soo gave false replies in response to Iras’ request for details of his rental properties during audit. Although Soo was given multiple opportunities to furnish correct information to Iras, the information that he provided was false and if had been accepted by Iras, would have resulted in S$35,310 in taxes undercharged," the authority said.

No further details were given by Iras or in court documents on how many times exactly and when he was told to make corrections.

From assessment year 2013 to 2018, Soo under-declared his income by S$229,307.

For the assessment year of 2014, for instance, he failed to declare rental income in the sum of S$89,715 received from his rental properties, resulting in S$15,354 in taxes undercharged. 

The incorrect total chargeable income he declared was S$146,858, when it should be S$236,573.

In addition, he committed fraud by creating and submitting fake invoices and documents to the comptroller of income tax by email.

He did this to support his alleged claims for expenses pertaining to his rental properties. 

These falsified expenses included painting and general construction services, air-conditioning services, and an alleged one-month waiver of rent. 

If these fake invoices had been accepted by Iras, it would have resulted in S$7,500 in taxes undercharged.

His offences came to light after an investigation by Iras. Ms Sharon Leong Mei Qi, a senior tax investigator of Iras, reported him to the police. 

In its statement, Iras said that it takes a serious view of non-compliance and tax evasion, both of which will incur severe penalties.

It added that the authorities will not hesitate to haul offenders to court. If found guilty, they may face a penalty of up to four times the amount of tax evaded and be jailed.

“All businesses and individuals are reminded that they are required to provide full cooperation during the course of Iras’ audits and investigations. 

“Iras will not hesitate to take stern actions against those who deliberately give false information to Iras officers,” the statement read.

Anyone found guilty of giving false answers verbally or in writing to any request for information by Iras to evade tax will be ordered to pay a penalty of three times the amount of tax undercharged, and can be fined up to S$10,000 or jailed up to seven years, or both.