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PRESS RELEASE
(Source : Government Information Centre)
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Property owners convicted for tax evasion sentenced
to suspended imprisonment
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Two owners of a premises were each sentenced to
six months of imprisonment, suspended for two years and fined a total
of $1,100,000 odd for charges of tax evasion by Judge H C Wong today
(October 18). The fine is equivalent to 150% of the total tax undercharged.
In passing sentence, Judge Wong said that tax evasion is a
serious offence, which affected both the Government's revenue income
and the general public, and immediate custodial sentence should be
considered by court. The above sentence had taken into account the
defendants' background, probation reports, the guilty plea, the time
span of the offences and the tax undercharged that had been duly paid.
The first defendant, Ms Tsang Yau-chee, aged
57, had been charged with wilfully with intent to evade tax by making
a false statement or entry in the Property Tax Return - Individuals
in respect of the premises for the five years of assessment from 1995/96
to 1999/2000, contrary to section 82(1)(b) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance.
Her younger sister, the second defendant, Ms
Tsang Kit-ching, aged 49, had been charged with wilfully with intent
to evade tax by making use of fraud, art or contrivance to understate
the rental income of the premises for the five years of assessment
from 1995/96 to 1999/2000, contrary to section 82(1)(g) of the Inland
Revenue Ordinance.
The Court heard that investigation by the Inland
Revenue Department (IRD) revealed that the defendants received and
shared the total rental income of $6.9 million from the letting
of the premises during the relevant five years of assessment. However,
the defendants, wilfully with intent, created two sham head tenants
for the property and treated part of the property's rental income
as that of the said sham head tenants. Two joint name savings accounts,
in name of the first defendant and each of the two sham head tenants,
were operated and controlled by the first defendant to place the
premises' genuine rental income. The monies deposited were withdrawn
by the first defendant and then shared between the defendants.
The defendants had understated the assessable
value of the premises by $5,947,663 in the Property Tax Return -
Individuals for the five years of assessment. The resultant tax
undercharged was $347,949 in total for the first defendant and $389,727
in total for the second defendant.
A spokesman for the IRD reminded members of
the public that tax evasion is a criminal offence. The maximum sentence
is three years of imprisonment and a fine of $50,000 for each charge,
plus a further fine of treble the amount of tax undercharged.
End/Friday, October 18, 2002
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