SINGAPORE: A director of robotic ice cream kiosk company Robofusion has been sentenced to six weeks in jail and charged with a penalty of about S$107,000 for assisting the company in evading Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said in a press release on Thursday (Jul 6) that it had detected anomalies in Robert Taramelli’s tax declarations during its regular audits. The company director filed a false invoice which investigations revealed had already been claimed in Robofusion’s GST return for an earlier accounting period.
The company was also convicted of overstating GST input tax on its GST return. Robofusion was fined S$8,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of $107,003.55 – three times the amount of GST undercharged.
GST claim offenders face a penalty of three times the amount of tax undercharged, a fine not exceeding S$10,000 and/or jail of up to seven years.
This was not the first time the company has landed itself in hot waters.
On Apr 27 this year, the firm and another company director were convicted for giving false information when making an application for a Productivity and Innovation (PIC) cash payout.
Yong Tai Kok used the names of two people who were not Robofusion employees in a PIC application, while the company assisted by making contributions to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts. Yong paid a penalty of S$120,000 plus a S$4,000 fine, while Robofusion had to pay S$60,000.