11 December 2011

The ‘Assisted Compliance Assurance Programme (ACAP)’, a GST risk management program launched in April 2011 has exceeded its take up rate by more than 60%. IRAS has since announced a further $5 million investment from 1 April 2012.

ACAP provides a set of guidance for GST-registered businesses to undertake a holistic review of the robustness and effectiveness of their internal control system that impacts GST compliance.

GST-registered businesses with ACAP status within a five-year period ie from 5 April 2011 to 4 April 2016 will be entitled to a 50% co-funding of qualifying ACAP fees capped at $50,000 and a one-time waiver of penalties for voluntary disclosures of past GST errors.  Other benefits include three to five years of exemption from GST audits, faster GST refunds, speedier resolution of GST issues and automatic renewal of GST schemes.

The additional $5 million tranche will be allocated in three phases over the next four years. Funding allocated for each phase will be available for applications received during the respective periods until it has been fully taken up. Any balance not taken up will be carried forward to the next phase. Applications received after the funding phase will still be able to enjoy full waiver of penalties for GST errors discovered from the conduct of ACAP and other benefits or choose to defer to the next phase.

Co-funding of qualifying costs incurred is on a reimbursement basis. Successful applicants will be given a cheque within one month from the receipt of the claim form and complete set of supporting documents. IRAS will waive penalties for past GST errors disclosed, regardless of the time period to which the errors relate, subject to specified conditions.

More details can be found at the e-Tax Guide, ‘GST: Assisted Compliance Assurance Programme (ACAP)’.

Source: This article was extracted from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) website. Visit www.iras.gov.sg for more information.