SINGAPORE: To support more companies and tax agents to adopt seamless filing from software for greater productivity, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) is pleased to announce two new benefits for those filing Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Returns (Form C-S) seamlessly from software for the Year of Assessment (YA) 2023 to YA 2025. The two benefits are:
- Automatic 15-day extension of filing due date; and
- Waiver of penalties for errors made in the return due to unfamiliarity with its use.
This is part of IRAS’ digitalisation blueprint to provide hassle-free tax filing experience for companies and tax agents by integrating tax into the systems that businesses use in their daily operations. Businesses will be able to enjoy up to 95% time-savings and improved compliance as their tax computations and returns will be automatically generated and filed from their software.
Two New Benefits for Companies & Tax Agents Adopting Seamless CIT Filing
IRAS has been actively engaging and partnering companies and tax agents to promote adoption of seamless filing from software. Most agreed that it would improve productivity. While some businesses are keen to try the software, they are concerned about needing time to be familiar with its use, and the possibility of making errors in their submission in doing so.
IRAS has considered the feedback and will be providing two new benefits between YA 2023 to YA 2025 to support companies and tax agents who are transiting and familiarising themselves with filing Form C-S seamlessly from software:
- Automatic extension of filing due date by 15 days (i.e., from 30 Nov to 15 Dec) for YA 2023 to YA 2025 Form C-S filed seamlessly from software. Companies and tax agents do not need to separately request for the extension.
- Waiver of penalties for errors made due to unfamiliarity with the use of the software for YA 2023 to YA 2025 Form C-S filed seamlessly from software by the filing due date. The waiver does not apply to errors made without reasonable excuse, through negligence, or with wilful intent to evade tax.
Other similar benefits will also be available for the adoption of seamless filing for Goods & Services Tax (GST) returns, Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) submissions, and Tax Clearance for Foreign & Singapore Permanent Resident Employees (IR21) due from 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2025. For more information, please refer to the IRAS website and Annex A – Summary of Benefits for Adoption of Seamless Filing from Software.
Companies and tax agents that adopt software with seamless filing capability can prepare and file Form C-S within 15 minutes, achieving time savings of more than 95%. In addition, they can reduce potential transposition errors by eliminating the need for manual data entry in myTax Portal, and improve the accuracy of Form C-S with software features such as pre-filling of tax data. See Annex B – Illustrative Examples on Seamless Filing from Software for illustrative examples of how seamless filing from software can ease tax filing for companies and tax agents.
Companies and tax agents that are keen to adopt seamless filing from software can refer to IRAS’ Accounting Software Register Plus (ASR+) for the list of software that enables them to fulfil their tax filing obligations seamlessly. Businesses are encouraged to consider using Tier 3 software (see Annex C – Tier 3 Software in the Accounting Software Register Plus (ASR+) Listing for the list) in the ASR+ Listing that will enable seamless filing for both CIT and GST returns. Tax agents can also connect their in-house system with IRAS’ system to enable the seamless filing of Form C-S via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Source: IRAS
