Couple behind livestreaming retailer fined for evading GST on branded goods

SINGAPORE: A couple behind a retailer that holds livestream sales of branded goods were convicted and fined on Tuesday (Oct 15) for evading Goods and Services Tax (GST) on imported goods.

Wang Siew Ching, the director of Vanity Closet and Rayson Loo Sian Hao, her husband and the manager of the company, had evaded about S$91,915 (US$70,250) in GST and omitted freight charges of about S$4,172 in import declarations.

Wang and Loo were fined S$396,000 and S$453,000 respectively.

Vanity Closet's main business involved conducting livestream sales on its Facebook page, showing off branded goods from overseas shops.

"Wang would source and promote branded goods via live streaming while Loo would arrange to ship the goods to Singapore," Singapore Customs said in a media release.

"In January 2022, Customs conducted checks on Vanity Closet’s shipments imported in 2021 and found discrepancies between the actual values of the goods and the values declared to Customs."

Wang, Loo and their employees would travel to the United States and the United Kingdom to visit shops selling branded goods and conduct livestreams on Facebook.

After receiving orders from their customers, they would buy the products and send them to Singapore via air.

Loo created invoices with values that were much lower than what the products actually were and submitted them to freight forwarders, who then declared the suppressed values to Customs.

"This led to GST underpayments and even non-payment in cases where the declared values were less than S$400," Singapore Customs said.

Since 2023, GST has been imposed on all goods imported via air that are worth up to S$400. 

Between August 2021 and January 2023, Vanity Closet imported 49 shipments into Singapore.

Of these, 24 shipments were declared with suppressed import values and did not include freight costs, Singapore Customs said. For the other 25 shipments, freight costs were not included in the import values declared.

The couple each pleaded guilty to to 11 charges of fraudulent evasion of GST amounting to S$67,810.

Another 13 charges of GST evasion totalling S$24,105 and 25 charges of causing incorrect declarations by omitting freight charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Anyone who evades or attempts to evade GST may be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded. They could also be jailed for up to two years, or both.

Anyone who makes a declaration that is untrue, incorrect or incomplete may be fined up to S$10,000 or the equivalent of the amount of duty or tax payable - whichever is higher. They may also be jailed for up to 12 months.