SINGAPORE - Two Singaporean directors of a plastic card company were on Monday (July 20) found guilty of income tax evasion and failing to register their company for goods and services tax (GST).

The pair were jailed and ordered to pay penalties in lieu of the taxes they evaded.

Tan Song Cheng, 59, and Lim Geok Mee, 63, run TNT Cards & Silkscreen and TNT Art & Silkscreen.

Both under-declared their income, totalling over $1.5 million for Tan and $773,037 for Lim, resulting in $188,622 and $53,021 in tax lapses respectively between 2009 and 2016, said the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras), which prosecuted the case.

The two also did not register TNT Cards & Silkscreen for GST by April 30, 2010, causing unaccounted GST amounting to $33,315.

Any company that has more than $1 million in taxable turnover over 12 months by the end of the calendar year are required to apply for GST registration within 30 days. Iras found that Tan and Lim had colluded to reduce the company's reported sales revenue to less than $1 million to avoid this.

The court handed a 12-week jail term and a penalty of $208,309 to Tan while Lim was jailed for four weeks and ordered to pay a penalty of $63,585.

For failing to register their company for GST, they were also each ordered to fork out an additional $3,332 in penalties and fined $2,000.

Iras has said that cash rewards will be given to informants who come forward in such cases and that their identities will be kept strictly confidential.