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Uncover the technicalities behind Missing Trader Fraud (MTF) schemes, understand the arguments raised in GHY v CGST, and learn how businesses can avoid being entangled by MTF schemes.
Missing Trader Fraud (MTF) schemes (also known as Carousel Fraud schemes) have plagued tax authorities all around the world, and Singapore is no exception. MTF schemes are particularly challenging cases to fight because very often the paperwork appears, on the surface, to be flawless. Many businesses are often mistaken in believing that so long as they have presented the relevant documents, they have the right to successfully claim for GST input taxes.
This belief is however a flawed one, with some businesses suffering losses as a result of being implicated in MTF schemes. What these businesses fail to appreciate is this: it is not enough to simply accept the paperwork at face value and do nothing more. The decision in GHY v Comptroller of GST serves to illustrate how businesses can still fail to claim GST input taxes despite presenting seemingly flawless documents.
To combat MTF, section 20(2A) of the Goods and Services Tax Act 1993 (“GSTA”) was introduced recently, which now requires a business, as a necessary condition for successfully claiming GST input taxes, to perform due diligence checks to determine whether it is implicated in a MTF scheme. In 2021, the Singapore tax authority also published a e-Tax Guide on “
Due Diligence Checks to Avoid Being Involved in Missing Trader Fraud”.
Come join this upcoming webinar to hear directly from Mr Ma HanFeng, Tax Partner at Oon & Bazul LLP, the tax lawyer who is the chief architect behind the successful case strategy adopted in the GHY v CGST decision.