Singapore Airlines pilot charged with tax offences

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Singapore Airlines pilot charged with tax offences

SINGAPORE: A pilot with Singapore Airlines was charged on Friday 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.

The court documents show that more than S $59,000 in taxes were not charged between 2014 and 2019 due to his alleged offences of under-declaring his personal income tax.

Singaporean Andrew Soo Cheng AiSoo Cheng Ai, 50, was handed 13 charges in all. His lawyer successfully applied for him to leave the country for work, because he has to fly to various countries for the national carrier.

According to charge sheets, Soo's first alleged offense occurred in August 2013 when he failed to notify the Comptroller of Income Tax about an omission of S $56,866 in his notice of assessment for the year of assessment 2013.

The tax was undercharged of S $9,188. 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 he was about S $236,600, leading to tax undercharge of about S $15,400.

The charge sheet states that his chargeable income was about S $13,700 a year ago, when he said it was about S $91,900, leading to tax undercharges of about S $3,700. He said that his chargeable income was about S $173,200 a year ago, instead of about S $226,900. This led to tax undercharge of about S $9,900.

Soo allegedly submitted multiple fictitious invoices and documents with the intention of 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 falsely 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 a tax undercharge of about S $35,300.

Soo's lawyer said on Friday that his client had unique circumstances, as he is a pilot and needs his passport for work.

He said Soo began investigations in 2017 and Soo has been cooperative since. In the year 2019, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore raided his premises, so he could have run away if he wanted to, but he didn't, he said.

The prosecutor said Soo was cooperative during investigations and provided his itinerary when asked for it. She said the investigation officer has always been able to contact him.

The prosecutor said these were fairly serious crimes, adding that Soo owns three properties in Singapore but his parents and brother live overseas. She said that Soo has multiple properties overseas, contributing to his flight risk.

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 apply again for leave. She ordered that he provide 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 was on bail for Soo. He is due to appear in court in November.