S’porean woman fined S$11.4K for not declaring jewellery worth S$10.5K found in car entering S’pore

Woman said she had nothing to declare despite knowing GST was payable on jewellery in the car

A 32-year-old Singaporean woman was fined S$11,400 for not declaring S$10,512 worth of jewellery that she was attempting to bring into Singapore.

The jewellery was found in the boot of a car about to enter Singapore via the Woodlands Checkpoint, said Singapore Customs in a media release on Monday (17 Aug).

Woman says nothing to declare but jewellery found in car boot

On 5 April, Nabilah Binte Jaafar Al-Kathiri arrived at Woodlands Checkpoint as a passenger in a Malaysian-registered vehicle.

She told Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers that she had nothing to declare.

However, the vehicle was checked and 22 parcels were found inside a polymer bag in its boot.

Packed in the parcels were 23 pieces of jewellery, comprising 21 pieces of gold jewellery and two pieces of titanium jewellery.

Woman didn’t declare jewellery despite knowing GST was payable

It was established that the jewellery belonged to Nabilah, and she had not declared them despite knowing that Goods and Services Tax (GST) was payable on the pieces.

As the jewellery was valued at about S$10,512, the GST evaded amounted to about S$946.

The case was referred to Singapore Customs, which arrested her at Woodlands Checkpoint.

All 23 pieces of jewellery were seized.

Woman ran business selling jewellery from M’sia to S’pore customers

According to investigations, Nabilah lived in Malaysia at the time and ran an online business selling gold and titanium jewellery to Singapore customers.

She promoted the business on social media, including Facebook and Telegram, and obtained jewellery from shops in Malaysia.

She would then deliver the items to Singapore for her customers.

Of the 23 pieces seized, 19 were intended to be sold for profit. The others were supposed to be personal gifts.

After appearing at the State Courts at 2.30pm on 5 Aug, she was eventually fined S$11,400 for fraudulent evasion of GST.

Evasion of GST or duty a ‘serious offence’

Singapore Customs reminded the public that fraudulent evasion of GST or duty is a serious offence under the Customs Act and the GST Act.

Convicted offenders can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed for up to 12 months, it noted, adding:

Singapore Customs ensures the revenue is collected to maintain a level playing field for law-abiding local businesses in Singapore.

Thus, all arriving travellers have the responsibility to make an accurate and complete declaration of the items in their possession for duty and GST payment. They can do so via the Customs@SG web application or at the checkpoints.

Members of the public with information on such illegal activities are advised to report it to Singapore Customs.

Also read: 2 S’poreans fined over S$2.6M for under-declaring imported vehicles to evade duty & GST

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Featured image adapted from Singapore Customs.