Former Director of Engineering Company Sentenced to 2 Weeks’ Jail Term and a Penalty of $354,045.33 for Assisting in Income Tax Evasion

Case and status

Former Wesco Engineering director Kuah Pong Guan received two weeks’ imprisonment and S$354,045.33 penalties for helping the company evade income tax for YAs 2009–2010. Eighty-one cash sales were excluded without invoices, and receipts were used for gambling and personal creditors.

Facts, amounts and outcome

For YA 2009, declared sales income was S$62,253, understated by S$730,697, causing S$114,109.02 tax undercharged. For YA 2010 he declared a S$205,475 loss rather than S$77,246 profit, causing S$3,906.09 tax undercharged. The penalty was three times the combined tax. Taking corporate receipts personally did not remove the company’s need to report the sales.

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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