FOR 11 years, the director of a firm offering book-keeping, secretarial and personal tax services hid more than $2.44 million from the taxman.

During that period between 1995 and 2005, Poh Chai Ha, 41, declared that she earned just over $48,000.

Income under-reported for 11 years WHAT SHE DID: Poh Chai Ha under-reported her income from 1995 to 2005. The under-reported income from the 11 counts amounted to more than $2.4 million. ... more

In reality, she made more than $2.49 million.

Yesterday, she was ordered to pay up $1.3 million in all.

In compounding her offences, the Comptroller of Income Tax considered her cooperation during investigations and the representations made by her lawyer.

Last Tuesday, Poh's company, OT Corporate Services located in Neil Road, was also taken to task for tax fraud.

OT became the first company to be convicted under a particular section of the Income Tax Act which was enacted in 2003 to punish firms guilty of serious fraudulent tax evasion.

To avoid paying tax, the firm had cooked its books in 2006 by faking payment to a subcontractor - a serious form of tax evasion which carries a penalty of four times the amount evaded.

The firm kept a record stating that it had paid out $240,000 to a Malaysian company, CPA Secretarial Services, when it had not.

For that, it was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay a penalty four times the amount of tax undercharged, which amounted to $190,000.

Read the full story in today's edition of The Straits Times