| Publications
and Press Releases :
Press Release
: News Archives
Property owner jailed for two months over tax
evasion
************************************************************
A property owner convicted in the Eastern Magistrates' Courts of
evading property tax was today (January 7) jailed for two months
and fined $23,000.
The defendant, Cheng Miu-ling, let
out her jointly owned residential property at Kornhill during the
five years of assessment 1998-99 to 2002-03. She handled all the
rental affairs and received rental income of $1,588,865 for the
relevant years of assessment but falsely stated in the tax returns
for the relevant years that the Kornhill property was not let. The
total tax undercharged was $208,916.
The defendant pleaded guilty to nine
counts of making false statements or entries in the relevant property
tax returns for the five years of assessment 1998-99 to 2002-03,
and in her tax returns-individuals for the four years of assessment
1999-2000 to 2002-03, contrary to section 82(1)(b) of the Inland
Revenue Ordinance; and one count of signing her tax return-individuals
for the year of assessment 1998-99 without reasonable grounds for
believing the same to be true, contrary to section 82(1)(d) of the
ordinance.
A spokesman for the Inland Revenue
Department reminded taxpayers that tax evasion was a criminal offence
under the Inland Revenue Ordinance. Upon conviction, the maximum
penalty for each charge is three years' imprisonment and a fine
of $50,000, plus a further fine of three times the amount of tax
evaded.
Ends/Monday, January 7, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:42
NNNN
|
|