How much do you think a curry puff stall owner can earn in Singapore? $1k/mth? $2k/mth? $3mth? Read on...SINGAPORE: The owner of a famous curry puff stall in Ang Mo Kio Central has been sentenced to two weeks' jail for under declaring his profits so as to evade taxes.
Looi Saan Cheng, the boss of Tip Top Curry Puffs, pleaded guilty in the Subordinate Courts on Friday.
Besides a jail term, he also has to pay a penalty three times the amount of tax undercharged.
The 63-year-old runs a successful curry puff business, and was even mentioned during a National Day Rally.
The court heard that Looi had on 2 April 2005 made a false entry when he filed his income tax returns.
He stated that he had earned a net profit of $6,080, when the actual amount was $199,960.
Looi under-declared again in 2006.
This time, he stated that net profit earned was $18,204 when the amount was in fact $236,140.
As a result, the amount of tax evaded in both instances came up to $65,396.
The judge sentenced Looi to two weeks' jail on each of the two charges.
So Looi will only serve a two-week jail term.
He will also have to pay a penalty of $196,195.
Full story.
Using 2005 net profit of $199,960, his monthly income was close to $17k while based on 2006, he achieved close to $20k/mth!
What does this tells us? 2 things I can think of.
Firstly, human is greedy by nature. And evil is always harboring your thoughts anytime, anywhere and under any circumstances. Stand still, hold your guard, do not let evil take over your mind. Perhaps the stall owner do not have much education level, hence did not know enough about the tax system or how efficient is the IRAS at tracking down those who "cheat" in their income tax.
For more information about Income Tax, you can refer to their web site here.
Secondly, you might not need a Master or some Doctorate education level in order to earn big bucks. Simple idea like selling curry puff can be a very profiting business too. You do not have to know how to start a business, you do not have to learn some basic accounting. All you need is just a skills, a specialized skills that make you unique. Mr Looi might only know how to make nice curry puff. But this "non-professional" skills is enough to make him a millionaire in less than 10 years if he adopt average business marketing skills. If your curry puff is nice, people will come back, people will recommend more friends to come, in the end its free marketing. Of course, your "tool" need to be powerful enough to generate this kind of free marketing.
Gosh, mentioned about curry puff, I am beginning to crave for my school's Canteen B curry puff which cost $0.50 but worth much more than OCK's $1 curry puff (or is it $1.10/$1.20 now?)
OMG! I'm SO going into this curry-pok business! Study so much for what!!! haha he so naive.. think the gahmen really believe he only earn 6k in annual turnover! This doesnt stop me from continuing to eat his curry poks though,, wish they had good curry poks here in melbourne..