The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) would like to remind all taxpayers, including sole-proprietors and partners, to file their income tax returns from 1 Mar to 18 Apr 2018. IRAS has also introduced several features to improve the tax filing experience this year.

https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/News-and-Events/Newsroom/Media-Releases-and-Speeches/Media-Releases/2018/Tax-Season-2018—File-Taxes-Early-from-1-Mar/

One of the new features introduced (as extracted from IRAS):

Pre-Filling of Self-Employed Income for Grab and Uber Drivers ^New

IRAS has extended the service initiative to pre-fill self-employed income information to Grab and Uber drivers this year. In this pilot implementation, Grab and Uber drivers were invited to participate in the scheme through the Grab and Uber platforms. Some 9,000 drivers have opted to participate this year. They will enjoy the convenience of having their income and commission fees pre-filled by IRAS in their electronic tax returns, making the tax filing process simpler for them.

Drivers who have opted in for this service initiative will be able to view and verify their pre-filled information at myTax Portal, and declare any other sources of income (e.g. rental income). They should amend their pre-filled information if their actual income or allowable expenses are different from the pre-filled information.

The pre-filling of self-employed income information was first implemented in 2015 for individual commission earners such as property and insurance agents. IRAS will continue to collaborate with industry stakeholders to bring about greater convenience in tax filing for more self-employed taxpayers.

Getting Assistance

Our company can help you with your tax computations for the purposes of filing your tax returns. Call us at (O) 6538 7488 for a quotation without obligation.

From 9 February 2018, entity owners have the option to choose, at a fee, a preferred UEN from a list of reserved UENs during entity incorporation/registration or conversion. This preferred UEN is known as Special UEN (SUN).

Tier 1 number – Fee S$3,000
Number with consecutive same number, or any number combination involving the number ‘8’

Tier 2 number – Fee S$1,000
Number with repetitive pattern (excluding the number ‘8’), or ending with triple identical number (such as ‘222’, ‘666’, ‘777’)

For more details refer to the link from ACRA:
https://www.acra.gov.sg/SUN/

To view the available SUNs, please refer to ACRA website. Alternatively you may contact us for the updated available SUNs.

Employers are reminded to make CPF contributions for employees by 15 Jan 2018 to receive Wage Credit Scheme payouts.

Employers of eligible Singaporean employees are reminded to make the full CPF contributions for these employees by 15 January 2018 in order to receive the fifth tranche of Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts in March 2018.

For more details refer to the link from IRAS:
https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/News-and-Events/Newsroom/Media-Releases-and-Speeches/Media-Releases/2017/Wage-Credit-Scheme-Payouts-for-2018/

To further enhance corporate transparency in Singapore, ACRA is releasing more business information for public to access freely.

Public can refer to ACRA’s free Entity Search function in the BizFile+ portal now to find out the entity’s business activity (SSIC), filing history and validity of the registered business address. ACRA plans to release even more information for public to freely access later this year.

It is therefore crucial for company to engage competence accountant and company secretary to ensure all its compliance matters are met in an efficient and timely manner.

https://www.acra.gov.sg/enhanced_entity_search/

From 2 June 2017 all newly registered/incorporated entities will be given a free copy of their Business Profile upon successful registration/incorporation.

Existing business entities registered with ACRA will also receive a free copy of their Business Profile after successfully renewing their business registration, or filing their Annual Returns or Annual Declarations.

https://www.acra.gov.sg/Free_Business_Profiles/

PIC will be phased out after YA 2018. It is important to take note of when the expenditure is considered incurred for the expiry of PIC scheme after YA 2018

• Examples of when expenditure is considered as incurred and treatment of straddled items for the expiry of PIC scheme after YA 2018
• Clarification on procedures for submission of Application of Approval of IT and Automation Equipment

https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/Schemes/Businesses/Productivity-and-Innovation-Credit-Scheme/

As the PIC scheme will expire after YA 2018, companies who need to submit a case-to-case approval prior to incurring the IT & Automation equipment expenditure, have to take note of the cut-off dates for submission.

https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/uploadedFiles/IRASHome/Schemes/Businesses/Productivity_and_Innovation_Credit_Scheme/Cut-off%20Date%20for%20Submitting%20Case-by-Case%20Application%20Prior%20to%20Incurring%20the%20IT%20and%20Automation%20Equipment%20Expenditure%20for%20YA%202018.pdf

Effective 31 May 2017, all existing companies and LLPs (unless exempted) are required to set up Register of Controllers. Newly incorporated companies and LLPs have up to 30 days from the date of incorporation to meet the requirement. Detailed information such as the latest updated version of ACRA issued guidance, forms of notice and a video on how to set up the register are available on the ACRA website.

Significant changes that accountants need to be aware of.

http://journal.isca.org.sg/2017/04/24/amendments-to-ep-200-companies-act-and-limited-liability-partnerships-act/pugpig_index.html

CorpPass will be required for business transactions with the Government by end 2017

https://www.corppass.gov.sg/cpauth/login/homepage?TAM_OP=login