16 September 2013

In the course of two public consultations held recently on the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) received 82 suggestions. The first exercise pertained to tax changes mentioned during Budget 2013, along with other non-Budget related proposals, while the second exercise concerned the exchange of information (EOI) regime.

The MOF agreed to 26 propositions and these will be incorporated into the revised Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2013.

Brief overview of the key submissions accepted by the MOF

• PIC Bonus: sections 37IA(1)(b) and 37IA(3)(c) will be amended to clarify that the taxpayer is not required to be carrying on the trade, business or profession for all three years of assessment, in order to be eligible for the PIC bonus.
• Anti-tipping off orders by IRAS: When IRAS request for information that has confidentiality conditions imposed (i.e. information holder is not allowed to tip-off the taxpayer), exceptions will be granted so that the information holder can seek legal advice. MOF will also provide immunity against any possible breach of duty resulting from the obligation of confidentiality.
• Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA): section 105K will be amended to explain that the objective of the forthcoming Singapore-US Inter Government Agreement is to enable local financial institutions to comply with FATCA.
• Deductions for hotel refurbishment expenditure: MOF will review section 14M which allows taxpayers to deduct qualifying hotel refurbishment expenditure incurred on approved restoration projects. The scheme expired on 1 July 2003.
• Alignment of definitions under section 26 of the Income Tax Act with the Insurance Act: the definition of “offshore life business” in the Income Tax Act will be simplified, to be consistent with the Insurance Act.

Source: Ministry of Finance