Former recruitment firm director first to be jailed for unauthorised collection of GST

A FORMER recruitment firm director was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail, and ordered to pay S$83,300, for unauthorised collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This makes Vijay Kumar Muvva the first such person to be convicted and jailed under Section 64A of the GST Act, said the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore on Wednesday (May 29).

The 48-year-old ex-group executive director of Ensoft Consulting was also convicted that same day for failing to notify the Comptroller of Ensoft’s liability to register for GST. For this offence, he was ordered to pay a total of S$15,961.

Investigations revealed that the value of Ensoft’s taxable supplies for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2017, as well as the three quarters preceding it, had exceeded S$1 million.

Businesses have to register for GST if their taxable turnover for a 12-month period at the end of each calendar year exceeds S$1 million.

Despite knowing Ensoft was not a GST-registered company since 2016, Vijay did not notify the Comptroller of its liability to register for GST, as required by law.

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The net GST due arising from his failure to register Ensoft for GST was S$139,612.09.

Further, the court heard that Vijay continued to authorise his employees to collect GST from his clients, as he was concerned that they may become suspicious otherwise.

Between Jan 1, 2019, and Sep 12, 2019, Ensoft issued 34 invoices to its customers on over 34 occasions. These invoices had charged 7 per cent GST and the customers paid the tax to Ensoft, despite the latter not being GST-registered.

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Over the 34 occasions, the company collected taxes totalling S$27,766.71.

Vijay has since made full restitution of the tax collected. His wife, Suchitra Ambati, 46, who was also involved in the case, will be dealt with by the court separately.