Case and status
Singapore permanent resident Zheng Da Fei was convicted of asking a tourist to claim GST on a watch bought by his wife. He received a S$4,500 fine, with three weeks’ imprisonment in default.
Facts, amounts and outcome
At Changi Airport in May 2014, Zheng approached a Chinese tourist to claim S$2,911.21 on a S$44,500 watch. He knew neither he nor his wife qualified as tourists; Customs detected the claim. The release explains the historical eTRS process using a purchase receipt and ticket, with possible goods inspection. Asking an eligible traveller to submit a local resident’s claim does not transfer refund eligibility to that purchase.
Tourist-refund conditions and examples
The release treats the scheme as a refund for an eligible tourist’s actual purchases taken out of Singapore. Buying another customer’s receipt, using someone else’s passport or returning refunded goods to a local person can defeat those conditions and create offences. Retailers and helpers can also face action for their participation. The eTRS tickets, airport procedures and examples in older releases describe the system at publication; current operational details remain on IRAS’ official guidance.
Official source
This report is independently written from the IRAS release dated above. Case status, policy announcements and historical figures refer to that release.
Read the complete IRAS release ↗