Mother and son charged with lying to IRAS over 99-to-1 property purchase in first such prosecution
THE CASE
The Singaporean pair charged on Friday received five charges each under the Stamp Duties Act for conspiring to provide misleading information to IRAS.
Tan purchased the residential property in his name on Sep 24, 2021, and subsequently sold a 1 per cent share to his mother.
In 2023, IRAS began auditing the related transactions and sought information from Tan via email.
When asked why he did not jointly purchase the property with his mother at the outset, Tan allegedly said that he had made a hasty decision to buy the property, with the understanding that his family would support him financially.
He is also accused of lying that his family was unable to do so and that he had to add his mother as a joint owner to take a loan.
Tan is also accused of providing misleading information to IRAS in the form of incomplete WhatsApp messages.
Neither Tan nor his mother have indicated how they would plead. They will return to court in October.
If convicted of providing false and misleading information to IRAS, Tan and Ng could be jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.
IRAS said it will recover the rightful amount of stamp duty from buyers if it discovers tax avoidance. A surcharge of 50 per cent of the additional duty payable can be imposed, and there is no statutory time limit for stamp duty audits.
Purchasers who entered into a two-step 99-to-1 property purchase arrangements should voluntarily disclose their arrangements to IRAS, the taxman said.
“Depending on the circumstances, IRAS is prepared to consider such cases more favourably,” the agency added.
Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in May that IRAS had found 166 cases involving tax avoidance in its review of 187 such 99-to-1 cases, adding that about S$60 million in ABSD and surcharges will be clawed back.
