19 June 2013

A public consultation on the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2013 will be conducted by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) from 17 June to 7 July 2013.

The proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act (ITA) which principally relate to the changes announced in the 2013 Budget Statement are as follows:

• Granting corporate tax rebate at 30% of tax payable capped at $30,000 per Year of Assessment (YA) for YAs 2013 to 2015,
• Provision of a Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) bonus up to $15,000 over three YAs (YAs 2013 to 2015)
• Enhancements to the PIC Scheme by liberalising the scope of automation equipment eligible for PIC and by extending PIC beyond IP acquisition to IP in-licensing, and
• Granting personal income tax rebate for YA 2013 for resident-individual taxpayers. The rebate is 30% of tax payable, capped at $1,500 for taxpayers below 60 years old, and 50% of tax payable, capped at $1,500 for those aged 60 years and above.

The Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2011 also provides for refinements to existing tax policies and tax administration which include the following:

• Lifting current restrictions on deductions/capital allowances for foreign-hired and foreign-owned cars
• Simplifying capping rule on tax deduction and tax exemption for third-party voluntary contributions (VC) made to an Employee or Self-Employed Person (SEP)’s medisave account, and
• Allowing taxpayers in a non-taxable position to apply to Comptroller to amend tax assessments to correct for their own error.

For full details please refer to the Ministry of Finance’s website.

Source: Ministry of Finance