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Director of Arthesdam Jewellery fined $104,400 over false GST tourist refund claims
SINGAPORE — A director of jewellery retailer Arthesdam Jewellery and his employees claimed $16,975 in Goods & Services Tax (GST) tourist refunds for claimants who did not even buy jewellery from the store.
Woo Sin Chai, 61, and nine employees claimed the refunds from 2015 to 2016, even though they were not entitled to it.
Woo pleaded guilty in court and was fined $104,400 on Wednesday (23 March). He has since paid the fine.
Arthesdam Jewellery, which has three outlets along Serangoon Road, sells gold and jewellery. Woo, as its director, oversaw the electronic Tourist Refund Scheme (eTRS), through which tourists are able to claim a refund of the GST after buying goods from participating GST registered retailers.
To make a GST refund claim at Changi Airport, tourists would have to present invoices for the item they bought, the eTRS Refund Ticket issued by the retailer and the item itself.
Assisted five claimants
Between May 2015 and 2016, Woo began engaging in conspiracies with his employees to assist claimants in obtaining GST refunds which they were not entitled to, according to a senior tax prosecutor from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).
The five claimants listed in court documents provided by IRAS were Indian nationals who had not actually purchased any jewellery and hence were not entitled to a refund ticket. However, an employee of Arthesdam had entered the claimants’ particulars into the eTRS system and issued a refund ticket for jewellery purchased.
The claimants were then able to make claims for GST refunds under the eTRS.
Penalty for false GST tourist refund
An individual who makes a false GST tourist refund claim or, abet any other person to make a false tourist refund claim may face a penalty of up to three times the amount of refund wrongfully claimed and a fine not exceeding $10,000, and/or jail of up to seven years.
If convicted of an offence under Regulation 108 of the GST (General) Regulation for abetting a person not entitled to claim tourist refunds, a person may face a fine of up to $5,000 (and in default of payment, to a jail term of not more than six months).
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