Company Directors Sentenced to Imprisonment for Hiding Cash Sales to Evade Income Tax and GST

Case and status

Chia Poh Yong Tony, Chong Chew Yee and Yong Chon Ben of iQuartz, formerly Stonetile Enterprise, were convicted for corporate income-tax and GST offences. The company reported a YA 2015 loss of S$5,357 despite actual income of S$420,388, causing S$31,878 of income tax undercharged.

Facts, amounts and outcome

Cash sales also caused S$29,801 of output GST undercharged for quarters ending June 2013–March 2014. Each director received six weeks and S$95,636 penalties for the income-tax offence and one week and S$89,404 penalties for four GST offences. Their roles included instigating, entering false figures and knowingly approving a false directors’ report. Signing a report known to be false constituted intentional assistance, not merely an administrative act.

GST fraud consequences described by IRAS

The release distinguishes genuine input-tax recovery from deliberate false returns: overstated input tax, omitted output tax and fictitious transactions can constitute GST evasion. The cited consequences on conviction include a penalty of three times the tax undercharged, a fine up to S$10,000 and/or imprisonment up to seven years. These are statutory possibilities described in the release, separate from the actual sentence or allegations in this case.

Disclosure, reporting and rewards

IRAS encourages taxpayers to correct past errors and report suspected tax malpractices. The release says disclosure may be considered when deciding enforcement action; it is not a blanket promise of immunity. Where the release describes informant rewards, qualifying information leading to otherwise lost tax recovery may attract 15% of recovered tax, capped at S$100,000, at IRAS’ discretion. Informant identities are kept confidential. Use the official release links for its reporting and disclosure channels.

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