For the 2017 Year of Assessment, companies in Singapore are required to report their estimated chargeable income and gross revenues within three months of their financial year-end.
Under Singapore's Income Tax Act (the Act), companies carrying on a trade, business, profession or vocation are required to provide their estimated chargeable income (ECI) and gross revenues to the Comptroller of Income Tax (the Comptroller) within three months of the end of their financial year.
The ECI is an estimate of the company's taxable income after deducting tax-allowable expenses (including enhanced deductions, capital allowances, or the cash pay-out option under the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) Scheme), and before deducting the exempt amount under the partial tax exemption scheme or the tax exemption scheme for new start-up companies.
Revenue refers to a company's main source of income, excluding items such as gains on disposal of fixed assets. If a company is an investment holding company, its main source of income is its investment income.
Instalments
Companies can use an instalment payment plan if they have a GIRO arrangement with IRAS and file their ECI within three months of the end of their financial year. If the GIRO arrangement is not approved before the payment due date, companies will not be eligible for instalment payments, and will need to pay the full amount of the estimated tax by the payment due date.
To make use of the maximum number of instalments, companies are required to file their ECI by the 24th (paper-filers) or 26th (e-filers) of each qualifying month. The table below summarises the number of instalments that are allowed for e-filers and paper-filers:
| Where ECI filed within | e-filers | paper-filers |
| 1 month after financial year end | 10 | 5 |
| 2 months after financial year end | 8 | 4 |
| 3 months after financial year end | 6 | 3 |
| 3+ months after financial year end | No instalments available | |
Compulsory e-filing for ECI
As announced in the 2016 Budget, the e-filing of corporate income tax returns (including ECI, Form C and Form C-S) will become compulsory in a phased approach from YAs 2018 to 2020. Therefore, companies may wish to make the transition to e-filing early and take advantage of the number of instalments given above.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.