www.tax-news.com
04 March 2013

 The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has announced that, although the annual tax filing season started on March 1, tax filing will be a non-event for the majority of taxpayers as nearly 60% of the individual taxpayer base are eligible for the No-Filing Service (NFS).

First introduced in 2007 to 45,000 taxpayers, the NFS has grown in scale to benefit 25 times as many taxpayers this year. In fact, more than 1.13m out of 1.92m possible individual taxpayers are now NFS-eligible.

Taxpayers who have been informed by IRAS of their eligibility for NFS this year will not need to file a tax return, unless they have additional income to declare or changes to make to their personal reliefs.

The remaining 40% of taxpayers who are not on NFS will have received a notification informing them to file their paper returns by April 15, 2013, or via the IRAS website by April 18, 2013. Those taxpayers will also have to file a tax return this year, even if their employers have sent their salary details to IRAS under the Auto-Inclusion of Employment Income Scheme.

As announced in the 2013 Budget Speech, all individuals who are tax resident in Singapore will enjoy a personal income tax rebate for the 2013 assessment year. However, they do not need to apply for the rebate, as IRAS will automatically grant the rebate to all eligible taxpayers and reflect the amount in their tax bills.