SINGAPORE: A pilot with the Singapore Airlines was charged in court on Friday (Sep 30) with various tax offences, including under-declaring his personal income tax over six years and submitting false documents when asked for details of his rental properties.
As a result of his alleged offences of under-declaring his personal income tax between 2014 and 2019, more than S$59,000 in taxes were undercharged, court documents show.
Singaporean Andrew Soo Cheng Ai, 50, was handed 13 charges in all. His lawyer successfully applied for him to leave the country for work, as he has to fly to various countries for the national carrier.
According to charge sheets, Soo’s first alleged offence occurred in August 2013, when he failed to notify the Comptroller of Income Tax about an omission of income of S$56,866 in his notice of assessment for the year of assessment 2013.
This led to tax undercharged of S$9,188.02. In the six years that followed, Soo allegedly under-declared his personal income tax. In 2014, he stated his chargeable income as about S$146,900 when it was about S$236,600, leading to tax undercharged of about S$15,400.
The year after this, he stated his chargeable income was about S$13,700 when it was about S$91,900, leading to tax undercharged of about S$3,700, according to charge sheets. This continued every year up to 2019, when he allegedly stated his chargeable income was about S$173,200 instead of about S$226,900. This led to tax undercharged of about S$9,900.
On top of this, Soo allegedly submitted multiple fictitious invoices and documents with the intention to evade tax in June 2018, in relation to his rental properties in Balestier Road and Kim Yam Road.
When asked for details of his rental properties, Soo purportedly gave a false answer in an email reply. If the reply had been accepted as correct, there would have been an understatement of income of S$229,307 in Soo’s revised notices of assessments for the years of assessments 2013 to 2018, leading to tax undercharged of about S$35,300.
On Friday, Soo’s lawyer said his client had unique circumstances as he is a pilot and needs his passport for work.
He said investigations against Soo began in 2017 and Soo has been cooperative since. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore raided his premises in 2019, “so he could have run away during that time if he wanted to, but he didn’t”, said the lawyer.
The prosecutor confirmed that Soo was cooperative during investigations and provided his itinerary when asked for it. The investigation officer has also always been able to contact him, she said.
However, the prosecutor said these were fairly serious offences, adding that Soo owns three properties in Singapore but his parents and brother reside overseas. Soo also has multiple properties overseas, contributing to his flight risk, she said.
She asked for his bail amount to be doubled from S$80,000 to S$160,000 if he were allowed to leave Singapore for work.
The judge granted Soo’s request to leave jurisdiction, but only for work. If he were to travel for leisure, he will have to reapply for leave to do so. She ordered that he provide an additional S$60,000 bail to leave the jurisdiction and asked the defence to liaise with the investigation officer over the issue of keeping his passport.
A colleague stood bail for Soo. He is set to return to court in November.