Travellers fined nearly $3.5m for tax evasion: Branded bags, jewellery, Labubu among undeclared items
From January to October this year, 13,099 travellers were caught across Singapore's air, land and sea checkpoints for evading Goods and Services Tax (GST) payments.
A total of $3,471,043 in fines was collected, with 46 offenders handed the maximum penalty of $5,000 for making incorrect or incomplete declarations of dutiable and taxable goods to customs.
The Singapore Customs said in a press release on Friday (Nov 15) that common violations involve goods across the categories of commercial goods, apparel and accessories, health and food products and cigarettes and alcohol.
One of the offenders was a woman returning from a business trip in London who had failed to declare branded goods and toys brought back as gifts.
During a bag inspection, customs officers found various bags and accessories from luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Prada, YSL, Dior and Balenciaga, as well as Pop Mart toys including the popular Labubu figurine in her possession.