Around 23,700 travellers fined over S$7 million for tax evasion at checkpoints: Singapore Customs

[SINGAPORE] Data from Singapore Customs released on Monday (Dec 1) said that 23,742 travellers were caught across air, land and sea checkpoints for not declaring dutiable and taxable goods brought into Singapore within the first 10 months of this year.

This is a surge from the 13,099 and 7,139 travellers apprehended during the same time period in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

The entire composition sum or penalty imposed was around S$7.1 million.

The statement noted that the total composition sum imposed was close to S$3.5 million in 2024, and S$2.3 million in 2023.

“Of the cases this year, 142 offenders were issued the maximum penalty of S$5,000 for making incorrect or incomplete declarations to Customs,” the statement said.

In comparison, there were 46 such offenders in 2024, and 51 offenders in 2023.

SEE ALSO

Singapore crowned world’s No 1 container port: report

Common violations across the categories of commercial goods; apparel and accessories; consumer goods; and cigarettes and alcohol were observed in 2025. This was consistent with previous years, Singapore Customs said.

All goods brought into Singapore by travellers, including foreign visitors and residents, are subject to goods and services tax, regardless of any foreign sales or value-added tax paid.

Under the Customs Act, any person who is in any way concerned in any fraudulent evasion of, or attempt to fraudulently evade any customs duty or excise duty, shall be guilty of an offence. Those concerned will be liable on conviction to a fine of up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, or jailed for up to two years.