Undertaker Roland Tay, known for pro bono funeral arrangements for high-profile deaths, charged with evading income taxes

SINGAPORE — Veteran undertaker Tay Hai Choon, better known as Roland Tay, was charged on Friday (Sept 30) with evading income taxes and not registering his business for the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Among other charges, the 75-year-old founder of Direct Funeral Services stands accused of declaring his total income in 2011 to be S$121,051 when it was about S$1.03 million.

There were three criminal charges under the Income Tax Act and another charge under the GST Act brought against him.

Tay was offered bail of S$80,000 and will return to court on Nov 18. 

He is accused of making false entries in his income tax returns for the years of assessment 2011 to 2013. The total amount he allegedly evaded comes up to S$427,427, court documents stated.

In 2010, he supposedly failed to flag his company's liability to be registered under the GST Act. He should have paid about S$287,000 in GST for the period Oct 1, 2010 to Sept 30, 2013, court documents stated.

Business owners are required to register for GST when their business turnover at the end of a calendar year exceeds S$1 million, or when they reasonably expect that it will exceed S$1 million in the next 12 months.

In a media release following Friday’s court hearing, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) said that Tay purportedly failed to register for GST when the total value of his taxable supplies exceeded S$1 million for four consecutive quarters.

Iras added that Tay’s alleged offences were uncovered through one of its regular audit programmes that it runs “across various industries to ensure tax compliance by individuals and businesses”.

“Using data analytics and advanced statistical tools, Iras is able to verify tax reporting and detect anomalies,” the tax watchdog added.

Those convicted of tax evasion have to pay a penalty of three times the amount of tax undercharged. They can also be jailed up to three years or fined up to S$10,000, or both, for each offence.

This means that Tay could be ordered to pay a penalty of nearly S$1.3 million.

Anyone convicted of failing to notify the Comptroller of GST about their liability to be registered under the GST Act can be fine up to S$10,000.

TODAY previously reported that Tay handed over the reins of his funeral business to his daughter in 2013. He started it in the 1990s and initially operated it as a sole proprietorship.

Over the years, Tay has also provided funeral arrangements on a pro bono basis in several high-profile deaths. This includes Huang Na, an eight-year-old girl who was murdered in 2004.

In 2009, Tay was sentenced to six months’ jail for injuring and threatening to kill his former business partner. The High Court later reduced the jail term to two months.