A freight manager has been fined in Singapore for evading GST payments
The manager of an Australasian freight forward company has been fined more than $60,000 for fraudulently evading goods and services tax (GST) in Singapore.
Manager of Swiftfox Foong Zhong Wen pleaded guilty to 15 charges of fraudulent evasion of GST, while another 29 similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The Singapore State Courts sentenced Foong on May 12 to a fine of $63,835 for avoiding paying GST on the importation of miscellaneous goods between April and August 2019.
Singapore Customs says it began investigating Swiftfox for suspected under-declaration of value of goods following discrepancies found in some Cargo Clearance Permits (CCPs).
These investigations revealed that a Swiftfox customer engaged the company to handle the customs clearance of shipments from China.
Foong allegedly intentionally supressed the value of the goods by amending values on the manifest before furnishing it to the declaring agent to apply for the CCPs.
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The agent then paid Singapore Customs the GST based on the suppressed values and bill Swiftfox accordingly, as Foong’s actions resulted in the under-payment of GST to Singapore Customs.
Singapore Customs says Foong did this for 52 CCPs in 2019, evading more than $15,000 in GST payments.
Singapore Customs says that any person found to have committed fraudulent evasion would be liable ot be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded.