Singapore serves as an attractive business hub for companies looking to expand into the emerging Asian Economy for numerous reasons, top of which include ease of setting up, attractive corporate and personal income tax rates, tax reliefs, absence of capital gains tax, and extensive double tax treaties.
Singapore adopts a territorial basis of tax – income sourced and received in Singapore is taxed on companies at the corporate income tax rate of 17%. Foreign sourced income is taxable in Singapore only when received in Singapore.
We will help you better understand a company’s’ tax filing obligations in Singapore.
Year of Assessment
Year of Assessment (“YA”) refers to the year in which income tax is calculated and charged.
Singapore taxes income on a preceding year basis. Income earned in 2019 is taxed in YA 2020.
For a company whose financial year end is December, its income from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 is assessed in YA 2020. The tax filing deadline for YA 2020 tax return is 15 December 2020.
All companies are required to prepare the following documents before completing the Corporate Income Tax Return (Form C-S/C):
- Audited/unaudited financial statements
- Tax computation and supporting schedules
- Other claim forms
For Form C-S/Form C-S(Lite) filing, these documents need not be submitted to IRAS but should be retained in the event IRAS requests for a detailed review. For a Form C filing, the financial statements and income tax computation are required for submission to IRAS.
From YA2020, companies can only e-file (not paper file) their income tax return.
Companies are required to authorise staff or an appointed tax agent for “Corporate Tax (Filing and Applications)” in CorpPass before they can log in to e-File Form C-S/ C on behalf of the company.
Companies can e-File their Form C in 2 ways:
- Online Form C (Preferred) – Complete and file Form C online at myTax Portal. This is the preferred mode of e-filing. Attach tax computation, financial statements, detailed profit & loss statement, other supporting documents and submit them to IRAS.
- Form C (Upload) – You can upload Form C to myTax Portal and submit it with tax computation, financial statements, detailed profit & loss statement, and other supporting documents. This upload method will be discontinued from YA 2021.
For a step-by-step guide to e-filing Form C, click here.
Form C-S and C-S(Lite) can only be filed via method I at myTax Portal. From YA2021, Form C filing can only be done via method I.
The authorised staff member can e-file the Company’s Form C/C-S/C-S(Lite) by logging on myTax Portal and selecting Business Tax Matters.
For a step-by-step guide to e-filing your Form C-S, click here.
All materials have been prepared for general information purposes only. The information presented in this document is not legal advice, is not to be acted on as such, may not be current and is subject to change without notice. Professional advisory should be sought before taking or refraining from any action as a result of the contents of this document.