IRAS’s response to public feedback in 2015

On By taxsgIn General News

23 March 2016

On 23 February 2016, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) published highlights of its response and follow-up actions in 2015 following suggestions and feedback from taxpayers. IRAS’s initiatives include:

  • More illustrations and examples of tax treatment for director’s fees approved in arrears/advance
  • An infographic for filing obligations of a new company and procedures for companies to request for an income tax return.
  • Examples added to illustrate how the number of instalments and the start date of the GIRO instalment plan will depend on the date that the company filed its ECI
  • Addition of a new webpage, “Determining the existence of a trade” to provide information on the factors to determine whether a trade exists
  • Addition of tax treatments of the Capability Development Grant (CDG) and Temporary Employment Credit (TEC) in the webpage, “Tax treatment of grants/payouts commonly received by companies”
  • Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) Scheme on the IRAS Website restructured and updated
  • E-filing system enhanced to allow taxpayers to e-file and pay the withholding tax by other payment modes such as cheque and electronic payments (internet banking, AXS stations, SAM Kiosk) from January 2016
  • “Payment Transaction ID” was implemented on April 2015 to allow e-Stamping users to reprint the Stamp Certificate once payment has been cleared
  • e-Valuation List service enhanced with automated search for past five years’ annual values.
  • Extended the validity period for MES renewals from three to five years
  • Waiver of the requirement for a section 33(2) agent to issue tax invoices to itself on behalf of the overseas principal and no prior approval is needed.

Amongst the public feedback received, one was rejected. Taxpayers had suggested allowing a consolidated cargo clearance permit be used as transport document in place of a subsidiary export certificate, to support zero-rating of a supply of goods. IRAS was unable to accept the suggestion since the permit does not show the GST-registered supplier as the exporter of the goods.

For more information, please refer to the IRAS website.

Source: IRAS