Singapore Fines Importer $5.6M for Evading Duties, GST on Imported Vehicles
Singapore State Court sentenced Lin Junjiang, the sole owner of J21 Imports, to prison and to pay a $5.6 million fine (in Singapore dollars) for evading duties and Goods and Services Tax, Singapore Customs said March 10. Lin undervalued 464 motor vehicle imports brought into Singapore in 2016. After the case was brought to court, Lin pleaded guilty to one charge under the Customs Act and one charge under the Road Traffic Act, Singapore Customs said. He didn't pay the fine and will serve 40 months in prison in the fine's stead, the notice said. Lin will also serve another four weeks in prison for underpaying the Additional Registration Fee, the notice said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Singapore Customs uncovered the customs fraud after an investigation revealed that J21 created two invoices for each vehicle import. The first would describe the partial value of the vehicle; the other would show its balance value and label it "liaison fee," Singapore Customs said. "J21 had only declared the partial value in the first invoice in the submissions to Customs but failed to declare the 'liaison fee', despite knowing that this amount had to be declared to Customs. The intentional omission of the 'liaison fee' from the declarations to Customs resulted in the short payment of duty and GST amounting to about $703,600 and $295,510 respectively."