Local singer fined $30k for evading GST
She did not declare or pay GST on over $200,000 worth of branded goods
A local singer had evaded over $14,000 worth of taxes on 141 pieces of branded goods, which she had bought overseas to sell on Instagram in Singapore.
Investigations showed that the 35-year-old Singaporean, Nur Sarah Aqilah Sumathi, better known as Sarah Aqilah, did not declare or pay goods and services tax (GST) on goods worth over $205,980 between June 2015 and November 2017.
Nur Sarah, who was the 2009 winner of Mediacorp's Suria reality singing competition Anugerah, was sentenced by the State Courts yesterday to a fine of $30,600 for fraudulent evasion of GST.
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She was convicted of two charges of fraudulent evasion of GST and another five charges were taken into consideration in the sentencing, said the Singapore Customs in a press release.
The business's Instagram account has a total of over 17,000 followers, and Nur Sarah has over 35,000.
Singapore Customs found that Nur Sarah had travelled to Europe to purchase branded goods such as handbags, wallets and shoes, and brought these items back for sale without declaring the goods and paying GST.
Singapore Customs said: "In 2017, Nur Sarah expanded her business and started to provide personal shopping and concierge services for her clients during her travels overseas via social media platforms."
She did not declare and pay GST on the goods purchased overseas upon her return to Singapore.
The Singapore Customs spokesman told The New Paper that the highest amount of GST evaded by Nur Sarah in a single charge was $4,665.74 for goods with a total value of $66,652.80.
The Singapore Customs said: "It is the responsibility of all arriving travellers to make accurate and complete declaration of the dutiable and taxable items in their possession of duty and GST payment."
Under the Customs Act, any person found guilty of fraudulent evasion of GST will be liable to a fine up to 20 times the amount of tax evaded or be jailed for up to two years, or both.
Members of the public with information on smuggling activities or evasion of Customs duty or GST can call the Singapore Customs hotline at 1800-2330000, e-mail customs_intelligence@customs.gov.sg or use the Customs@SG mobile app or to report the illegal activity.
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