Travellers fined nearly $3.5m for tax evasion: Branded bags, jewellery, Labubu among undeclared items

From January to October this year, 13,099 travellers were caught across Singapore's air, land and sea checkpoints for evading Goods and Services Tax (GST) payments.

A total of $3,471,043 in fines was collected, with 46 offenders handed the maximum penalty of $5,000 for making incorrect or incomplete declarations of dutiable and taxable goods to customs.

The Singapore Customs said in a press release on Friday (Nov 15) that common violations involve goods across the categories of commercial goods, apparel and accessories, health and food products and cigarettes and alcohol.

One of the offenders was a woman returning from a business trip in London who had failed to declare branded goods and toys brought back as gifts.

During a bag inspection, customs officers found various bags and accessories from luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Prada, YSL, Dior and Balenciaga, as well as Pop Mart toys including the popular Labubu figurine in her possession.

The traveller admitted she was aware of the GST relief limits but believed that only personal items required declaration. She was fined $5,000 and a GST of $3,963.69 was recovered for the items. 

A separate case involved a repeat offender who was intercepted at the Singapore Cruise Centre and found with new and used gold jewellery intended for commercial purposes.

She was handed a fine of $1,935, and paid GST of $96.95 for the items.

A third case involved a man delivering items for another person. He was questioned after a failed transaction at the self-help Customs Declaration Kiosk at Woodlands Checkpoint.

Officers discovered undeclared items such as religious effigies across two vehicles and also found several undeclared invoices with suppressed values.

The man was fined $3,920 and a GST of $441.05 was recovered.

Singapore Customs explained that all goods brought into Singapore by travellers, including foreign visitors and residents, are subject to GST, regardless of any foreign sales or value-added tax paid.

"Evading duties and/or GST at checkpoints is a serious offence that cannot be condoned," said a Singapore Customs spokesperson.

"This revenue belongs to Singapore, and its collection is essential to maintaining a level playing field for local businesses that pay these taxes."

All travellers arriving in Singapore should accurately declare goods and pay applicable duties and/or GST. This can be done in-person at checkpoints or digitally through the Customs@SG web application.

"The responsibility falls on all arriving travellers to declare all goods in their possession accurately and pay the applicable duties and/or GST," added the spokesperson.

Under the Customs Act, it is an offence to fraudulently evade or attempt to fraudulently evade any customs duty or excise duty.

Offenders may face a fine of up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded or a jail term for up to two years.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com