In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes

Benjamin Franklin once wrote in a 1789 letter that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

This month, IRAS has prosecuted “UC”, a sole proprietorship in a business that provides funeral and funeral-related services for a total penalties and finestotalling $256,976for giving incorrect information in his Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Income Tax return for a period dated back almost 17 years ago.

UC has incorrectly reported its liability to registered for GST is 2005 when in fact it should be registered for GST in 2002. Its sole proprietor, Mr Q has incorrectly reported that UC revenue only exceeded $1m – the GST mandatory registration requirement, in 2005 instead of 2002. In addition, UC was found to have included private car expenses as a tax deductible item in the year of assessment 2011 tax submission, thereby under declaring the income tax payable for that year.

And certainly, we have seen the certainly of taxes coming onto an industry dealing with death albeit late but certainly. This is IRAS’ first prosecution case for the funeral industry and certainly will not be the last. in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes; indeed.