Property Agents Evaded $69K in Stamp Duty by Backdating Option to Purchase; Buyers & Agents Sentenced to Jail

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Tax; some pay it dutifully, others try to evade it.

For some offenders, like this married couple we’re going to talk about, if you’re caught evading tax by the government, you’ll have to pay a much higher amount as a penalty.

So, was it worth it after all?

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You be the judge.

Property Agents Evaded $69K in Stamp Duty by Backdating Option to Purchase

In July 2018, – Daniel Halim and Lee Liu Ying – a married couple, were looking to purchase their third property here in Singapore.

With the help of their property agent Mu Shen, 50, and the seller’s agent Loy Thye Wei, 44, the couple found an apartment at Sandy Palm, a Pasir Ris condominium.

The couple viewed the property for the first time on 7 July.

Earlier that month, the Government had introduced cooling measures on property prices. One of the measures was higher additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) rates for  Singaporeans buying their third and subsequent residential property.

Before 5 July, the ABSD rate was 10%, and after, 15%.

Stamp duty refers to the tax on documents relating to the purchase or lease of a property, payable to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).

Now, since Halim and Lee already owned two properties, they had to pay the 15% ABSD rate. They were about two days too late. 

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If they had viewed the flat earlier and were granted the option to purchase (OTP) on or before 5 July, they would have qualified for the old 10% rate.

But hey, that’s life. There’s nothing you can do about it, right?

Oh, well, you could break the law. And that’s exactly what the couple did.

After viewing the property on 7 July, they suggested to Loy, through their agent Mu Shun, that the OTP be backdated to 4 July.

Big mistake. 

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On their second viewing, the couple made an offer of S$1.38 million, saying they would only proceed with the purchase if the OTP was backdated.

Loy raised concerns, but Mu Shun convinced him into proceeding with the scheme. For his role in the scheme, Loy had his commission raised from 1% to 1.5%. Her illicit profits were shared with Mu.

In doing this, the couple had avoided paying S$69,000 in ABSD by paying 10% of duty instead of 15%.

But they would end up paying more. A lot more. 

Jailed & Fined Nearly $280,000

It’s not clear how the authorities discovered their offences, but both agents and the couple were eventually caught by the authorities.

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Yesterday (24 Sep), both Loy and Mu were sentenced to eight weeks’ jail.

As for Halim and Lee, they were sentenced to six weeks in jail each and ordered to pay a penalty of S$276,000 – four times the amount of ABSD evaded.

So, was it worth evading the tax after all?

It seems that this is the first prosecution of its kind in Singapore’s history under the Stamp Duties Act.

It could have been a lot worse for the offenders, though, as the penalty for omitting information in the OTP with intent to evade duty is a jail term of up to three years.

So, if you owe tax to the gahmen, no matter what form it’s in, just pay it. Your bank account and non-existent criminal record will thank you later.

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]