Taxation Services

We aim to help you maximum your benefits within the tax framework. Our taxation services include both personal and corporate tax compliance and consulting. We will advise you how to obtain the optimum tax benefits. We also offer full compliance on all levels, while ensuring you meet proper deadlines and guidelines.

Taxation Services - JDT Management

Attractive Corporate Taxation Framework and Tax Incentive Schemes for Investors…

Our tax specialists even feature timely and pertinent advice on securing optimum tax benefits. Some of the tax and investment incentives include accelerated capital allowances, double deduction of qualifying expenses.

Our full range of tax services include:

Tax Compliance Services

  • Corporate Tax
  • Personal & Partnership Income Tax
  • Tax Investigation
  • Representation on Objection and Tax Dispute cases
  • Transfer Pricing
  • Scope of Tax Compliance
Scope of Tax Compliance Services
  • Review of statutory financial statements for appropriate presentation from tax viewpoint
  • Completion of Company Income Tax Return Form C
  • Preparation of tax computation and supporting schedules
  • Collation of information to facilitate the above preparation
  • Submission of Company Income Tax Return Form C and tax computation with schedules to the Comptroller of Income Tax
  • Verification of Notice of Assessment issued by the Comptroller
  • Filing of Estimated Chargeable income based on figures provided

Non-Routine Services

Preparation of withholding tax form:
  • Consideration of withholding tax requirement
  • Preparation of Form IR37
  • Computation of withholding tax
Attendance to tax inquiries from the Company and/or the Comptroller of Income tax

Declaration of dividends:

  • Computation of the amount of dividend to be declared based on one tier tax exempt
  • Computation of amount of directors’ fees, bonus and dividends to be declared for

Goods and Services Tax related matters:

  • Advice on GST registration requirements and possible structuring
  • Setting up of procedures for newly registered traders for GST filing
  • GST Health Check on compliance procedures and systems
  • Attendance to tax queries from Comptroller of Goods and Services tax
  • Request for early settlement of GST refunds or any outstanding credit balance
  • Appeal for waiver of penalty when necessary
  • Application for registration/de-registration and various schemes such as the Major Exporter Scheme
  • Any other GST related issues

Computation of Estimated Chargeable Income based on management accounts

Request for mitigation or reduction of late payment penalties

Application for Tax Incentive

Tax Planning

  • Singapore Tax Structuring and Planning
  • Tax Efficient Structuring of Employment Packages
  • Cross-border Corporate and Personal Tax Planning
  • Trust and Estate Planning

Other Tax Incentives

The Singapore government provides a host of tax incentives designed to drive economic activities and business capabilities in Singapore. These are generally available for a wide range of industries with various qualifying conditions. The below table briefly illustrates some of these incentives for Singapore tax resident companies.
Incentive Scheme Description Tax Incentive
Pioneer Certificate Incentive (PC) Companies from manufacturing or services sector that incurs significant capital expenditures resulting in leading edge technology or skill. Tax exemption on qualifying profits up to 15 years.
Development & Expansion Incentive (DEI) Encourages companies to grow and expand their business in Singapore. Reduced tax rate of 5% or 10% on incremental income from qualifying activities.
Regional Headquarters Award (RHQ) / International Headquarters Award (IHQ) The RHQ and IHQ schemes encourages companies to anchor their regional or international base in Singapore. Concessionary tax rates of 5%-15% on incremental income from qualifying activities.
Double Tax Deduction for Internationalisation (DTDi) Supports companies planning to expand in international markets. Up to 200% tax deduction on qualifying expenditure on international market expansion and investment development activities.
Global Trader Programme (GTP) Companies with qualifying trading income from physical trading, brokering of physical trades, trading in futures and derivative instruments may benefit from this scheme. Concessionary tax rates of 5%-10% on qualifying income.

GST

  • GST Compliance
  • GST Advice and Planning
  • GST Health Check
  • GST Investigation and Audit

IRAS Assisted Self-help Kit(GST ASK)

It is not uncommon to have errors in GST reporting. Errors may occur at the transaction point or reporting point. Incorrect treatment of chargeable, exempted or zero-rated supplies made, may result in transaction errors. Miscomputation or incorrect recording of values from source documents may result in reporting errors. In order to ensure an error free GST compliance, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) introduced the GST Assisted Self-help Kit (ASK) initiative in April 2010 as a self-assessment package to help GST-registered businesses (GRBs). GST ASK is a self-appraisal exercise to help the GRBs verify the accuracy of their GST returns and help them manage their compliance. It helps to identify GST errors committed by GRBs and helps them qualify for concessions available under the Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP).

Key Aspects of ASK

ASK is a self-assessment package that focuses on three key aspects:
  • Putting in place good GST Practices comprising People, Record-Keeping, Systems and Internal Controls to properly handle the GST reporting of transactions;
  • Self-assessment using the Pre-Filing Checklist to ensure that GST returns are correct before submission; and
  • Performing Annual Review of past GST returns to detect errors early and to avoid costly penalties

What if Errors are Uncovered in the review?

IRAS will waive the 5% late payment penalty if businesses undertake the ASK Annual Review to voluntarily disclose past error(s) within one year from the statutory filing date of their last GST return in respect of the financial year reviewed.

For businesses which do not adopt ASK, the penalty will be waived only if the voluntary disclosure was made within one year from the statutory filing deadline of each GST return.

This means that businesses adopting ASK Annual Review may enjoy a longer grace period for disclosure of errors. This is provided that all the qualifying conditions under the Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) are met and the situation does not fall within the specific exclusions from the programme.

For voluntary disclosures made after the one-year grace period, IRAS will impose a reduced penalty of 5% of tax undercharged if the conditions under the VDP are met.

Administrative Concessions for common errors disclosed through the ASK Annual Review

To provide greater transparency and certainty to businesses, a list of administrative concessions for common errors disclosed through the ASK reviews is published in this guide. There is no need to seek the Comptroller’s approval to enjoy any of these administrative concessions. Instead, businesses are to self-assess if their errors fall within the scenarios described and that the conditions (if any) specified are satisfied before adopting the administrative concessions.

Benefits of adopting ASK

GST-registered businesses which adopt ASK will enjoy the following benefits:
  • Understand GST requirements on filing and record-keeping;
  • Ensure accuracy of GST submissions;
  • Reduce risks of incurring penalties on errors made;
  • Discover past GST errors early for timely disclosure to IRAS, and enjoy zero or reduced penalties under IRAS’ Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP);
  • Enjoy administrative concessions for common errors disclosed through the course of ASK Annual Review; and f) Fulfill requirement for application or renewal of specific GST schemes

Is IRAS ASK Certification Mandatory?

ASK is compulsory when you are applying for the following GST Schemes:
  • Import GST Deferment Scheme (IGDS);
  • Approved Marine Customer Scheme (AMCS);
  • Approved Contract Manufacturer and Trader (ACMT) Scheme;
  • Approved Refiner and Consolidator Scheme (ARCS);
  • Major Exporter Scheme (MES);
  • Approved Import GST Suspension Scheme (AISS); or
  • Approved Third Party Logistics (3PL) Company Scheme.

Renewing GST Schemes

ASK is compulsory when you are renewing the following GST Schemes:
  • Import GST Deferment Scheme (IGDS);
  • Major Exporter Scheme (MES); or
  • Approved Contract Manufacturer and Trader (ACMT) Scheme.

ASK Annual Review

One of the qualifying conditions for these GST schemes is that businesses have to perform a self-review using ASK and submit the ASK: Declaration Form on Completing Annual Review & Voluntary Disclosure of Errors.

The ASK Annual Review must either be performed by:

  • An individual accredited with Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals (“SIATP”) as Accredited Tax Advisor (GST) [ ATA (GST) ] or Accredited Tax Practitioner (GST) [ATP (GST)] or
  • The GST-registered business and certified by an individual accredited with SIATP as ATA (GST) or ATP (GST), in adherence to the certification procedures set out in the Assisted Help Kit (‘ASK’) Annual Review Guide.
The ATA (GST) or ATP (GST) may either be an in-house staff or external party. Your staff may apply to be an accredited tax professional with the SIATP if he meets the requirements of passing the relevant examinations and having acquired the relevant experience.

An Accredited Tax Advisor or Accredited Tax Practitioner with the SIATP would have the expertise and experience to assist businesses to better manage their tax affairs.

Steps Involved in GST ASK Review

ASK Annual Review Process is a 5-step process. The subsequent paragraphs give details of the objective and requirements of each step.

1. Review GST Declarations
2. Select GST Return(s) for Review
3. Perform Checks for the Selected GST Return(s)
4. Review and Compare Financial Statements against GST Declarations
5. Quantify Errors and Submit Findings to IRAS

Why Choose our Taxation Services?

  • With our years of dealing with a diverse range of businesses we are familiar with the treatment of transaction and classification of supplies and purchases. Therefore with good practices and proper systems in place your susceptibility to errors will decline.
  • We are accredited with Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals (“SIATP”) as Accredited Tax Advisor (GST) [ATA (GST)] is able to perform the GST ASK Review annually and ensure your GST compliance as well as help you fulfill the requirements to apply or renew for specific GST Schemes.
  • If you choose to perform you review in-house we can also certify the review after a exhaustive evaluation.

Major Exporter Scheme (MES)

JDT can offer advisory and certification services to GST registered clients who wish to apply for and/or renew their Major Exporter Scheme (MES).

Why Engage Us?

JDT can offer advisory and certification services to GST registered clients who wish to apply for and/or renew their Major Exporter Scheme (MES).

What is MES?

GST is charged on nearly all supplies of goods and services in Singapore and on the importation of most goods into Singapore. Singapore Customs collects GST at the point of importation. On the other hand, MES is a scheme whereby GST payment is suspended at the point of importation of goods. MES businesses are allowed to import non-dutiable goods without paying GST to the Singapore Customs.

MES Certification

GST registered businesses applying for and/or renewing their MES, will have to submit a Declaration Form on “Completing Annual Review & Voluntary Disclosure of Errors”. Such declaration has to be certified by a tax professional who are either “Accredited Tax Practitioners” or “Accredited Tax Advisors”.

JDT has its own in-house Accredited Tax Advisor to assist you in the certification so as to meet the regulators’ requirements.

Others

  • Tax Advisory Services with respect to setting up operations in Singapore
  • Negotiation of tax incentives with relevant authorities
  • Optimizing use of tax incentives and exemptions
  • Negotiation and dispute resolution with the tax authorities

Transfer Pricing Services

Most jurisdictions with transfer pricing regimes require businesses with related party transactions to prepare and retain documentation supporting the arm’s length nature of these transactions.

Similarly, Singapore introduced compulsory transfer pricing documentation from the year of assessment (YA) 2019. A new penalty regime was included for non-compliance with the transfer pricing documentation requirements.

Assess your transfer pricing obligations in Singapore

Obligation to comply with the arm’s length principle

A Singapore taxpayer that enters into a controlled transaction (domestic or cross border) is obliged to comply with the arm’s length principle regardless of the type of transaction or value. There is no exemption from following the arm’s length principle.

Obligations to prepare Transfer Pricing Documentation in Singapore

TP documentation is expected to be prepared by taxpayers who entered into related party transactions to show evidence on how the price is in line with the arm’s length principle.

The requirements to prepare transfer pricing documentation are specified in Section 34F of the Income Tax Act (“TP Documentation Rules”), which is effective from Year of Assessment 2019. As per the Singapore Transfer Pricing Guidelines, the transfer pricing documentation must be prepared for the related party transactions undertaken in a basis period when either of these two conditions is met:

a. The gross revenue from trade or business for the basis period concerned is more than S$10 million; or

b. The company is required to prepare transfer pricing documentation for a previous basis period.

The transfer pricing documentation in Singapore should include information of companies as prescribed in the TP Documentation Rules that covers:

a. An overview of the group in which the taxpayer is a member relevant to the business operations in Singapore; and

b. The taxpayer’s business and the transactions with its related parties, including functional analysis and transfer pricing analysis.

Be informed on the penalties that are imposed for any transfer pricing non-compliance

IRAS imposes penalties for (1) non-compliance with arm’s length principle and (2) non-compliance with transfer pricing documentation requirement.

5% Non-compliance with arm’s length principle surcharge on TP adjustments regardless of whether there is tax payable.

Non-compliance with transfer pricing documentation of S$10,000

for the following offences: 1) Failure to prepare TP documentation by the time for the making of the tax return 2) Failure to prepare transfer pricing documentation with the details and in the form and content as prescribed by the TP Documentation Rules 3) Failure to retain TP documentation for a period of at least 5 years 4) Failure to submit TP documentation within 30 days from a request by IRAS 5) Providing TP documentation that is false or misleading.

The non-compliance offence applies to every offence. Therefore, if a taxpayer does not prepare TP Documentation for one basis period or more, the fine applies to each year. For example, a company that is required to prepare TP Documentation but fail to prepare it for YA 2019, YA 2020 and YA 2021. The non-compliance fine will be SG$10,000 per year for a total for SG$30,000.

How can JDT Taxation Services help?

We can assist with the preparation of transfer pricing documentation locally and regionally, Master File and Local File, local, regional and global benchmarking.

Related Services

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Corporate Secretarial /
Accounting / Tax

+65 6334-8791
(8.30am-5.30pm, Mon-Fri)
+65 9863-1270
(after office hour)
Fax: +65 6334-8075
Email: [email protected]
Address: 1 Coleman Street
#05-05 The Adelphi
Singapore 179803

Audit Assurance
+65 6837-0360
(9am-6pm, Mon-Fri)
+65 9863-1270
(after office hour)
Fax: +65 6837-0369
Email: [email protected]
Address: 1 Coleman Street
#05-16 The Adelphi
Singapore 179803