Your company’s first tax filing usually comes in two parts. The first is the ECI (Estimated Chargeable Income), an early estimate of the company’s chargeable income for the year, that is, its taxable profit before exemptions. The second is the annual income tax return, which reports the company’s income, deductions and reliefs based on the finalised accounts and the tax rules that apply. Each filing has its own deadline and its own waiver conditions, so check them separately.
This guide is in five parts: the principles behind the tax, the filing dates, ECI, the annual return, and how to put errors right. Along the way it works through everyday examples such as first-year expenses and equipment purchases. All amounts are in Singapore dollars. If your company is in a special industry, claims a tax incentive or has cross-border dealings, check the specific rules for those situations as well.
1Fundamental Tax Principles
Singapore’s headline corporate income tax rate is 17%. That rate is charged on chargeable income, the profit left after the tax adjustments, less any exempt amount. It is not charged on sales or on the money in the bank. The start-up and partial tax exemptions can bring the effective rate below 17%, and any rebate is then worked out on the tax itself. So whether your company qualifies for them matters just as much as the headline rate. IRAS rates and exemption schemes
YA 2026 Only: Tax Rebate & Cash Grant
For YA 2026, IRAS gives a corporate income tax rebate of 50% of the tax payable, capped at S$40,000. Active companies that employed at least one local employee in 2025 also receive a S$2,000 CIT Rebate Cash Grant. The grant is set off against the rebate, and the S$40,000 cap applies to the two combined. The local-employee test looks at qualifying CPF contributions in calendar 2025; a shareholder who is also a director does not count.
IRAS works out the rebate itself, so do not deduct it from chargeable income in the ECI or the annual return. These measures are specific to YA 2026; do not assume they will continue into YA 2027.
Official guidance checked 16 October 2026. IRAS rebate rates and examples · IRAS cash-grant eligibility
What Counts as Taxable Income
In plain terms, a company’s taxable income is its income less the expenses it is allowed to deduct. IRAS calls the result chargeable income; this guide uses both names for the same figure. Income is wider than many owners expect. It is not just sales: interest, rent and other receipts that are revenue in nature count too.
Income minus deductible expenses equals chargeable income.
Sales and other business income, plus interest, rent and similar revenue receipts.
Costs incurred wholly and exclusively to earn that income, plus capital allowances on qualifying assets.
Exemptions come off this figure and 17% is charged on the rest. ECI estimates it before exemption.
Approved donations and any unutilised losses or allowances brought forward are also deducted before the exemptions. See Exemptions & Losses in chapter 4.
Deductible expenses are a much narrower set. To be deductible, an expense must have been incurred wholly and exclusively in producing the company’s income during the period in question. Incurred means the company became legally liable to pay it, even if it paid later. Think of the rent, salaries, materials, subcontractors and marketing it takes to deliver the product or service. The expense must also be revenue rather than capital in nature, not private, and not prohibited or restricted by the Income Tax Act.
Nor is chargeable income the same as the money moving through the bank account. Share capital and loans add to the balance without being income; buying an asset reduces it without being an expense; an unpaid customer invoice can already count as income before the cash arrives. The bank statement proves that transactions happened. The accounts and the tax computation explain what those transactions were and how they are treated.
Two Common Misunderstandings
“Interest is not taxable.” That is broadly true for individuals: interest on deposits with approved banks and licensed finance companies in Singapore is exempt from personal tax, though interest an individual earns by lending money, including to their own company, is taxable. It is not true for companies. A company’s interest income, whether from bank deposits or from money it has lent, goes into chargeable income.
“If the company paid for it, it is deductible.” Payment only shows that the money went out. Whether it is deductible depends on what the money was spent on. Three kinds of spending are commonly paid for but not deductible:
- Private costs. The owner’s family holiday is not deductible even if the company’s account paid for it and there is an invoice.
- Buying an asset. A laptop or a van is an asset, not an expense of the year. It is not deducted outright; the company claims capital allowances on it instead, where it qualifies.
- Costs the law disallows outright. Petrol, parking and the other running costs of a private S-plated car are not deductible even when the car is driven to see clients.
Chapter 4 works through these distinctions, and its worked tax computation shows the car and asset adjustments.
IRAS taxable and non-taxable income · IRAS business expense principles
Income Source & Tax Residence
IRAS asks two separate questions about every company: where its income comes from, and where the company is tax resident. The answers decide what is taxed and which reliefs are open to it.
Where does the income come from?
- What counts is where the activities that produced the income were carried out. An overseas customer, or payment into an offshore bank account, does not by itself make the income foreign-sourced.
- Singapore-sourced income is taxable unless a specific exemption applies.
- Foreign-sourced income is taxed only when it is received in Singapore. A resident company can exempt foreign dividends, branch profits and service income if the conditions are met.
Where is the company tax resident?
- What counts is where the company’s control and management are exercised: where the strategic decisions are actually made, usually where the board meets.
- Being incorporated in Singapore, or having a local registered address, is not enough on its own.
- The start-up tax exemption, the foreign-sourced income exemption, relief for overseas tax under a treaty or as a unilateral tax credit, and IRAS’s Certificate of Residence are all open only to resident companies.
Why Foreign Founders Should Hold Board Meetings in Singapore
A company whose directors all live abroad and take their decisions there can fail the residence test even though it is a Singapore company. It is then not eligible for the resident-only reliefs above, and tax overseas is affected too: a treaty partner will usually want to see a Certificate of Residence (COR) from IRAS before it reduces its withholding tax on payments to the company, and a non-resident company cannot obtain one.
IRAS issues that certificate only when it is satisfied the company is resident, and may ask for board minutes and details of where the directors are based. Hold board meetings in Singapore where you can, and keep evidence of who made the strategic decisions and where.
IRAS income source and taxability · IRAS company tax residence and Certificate of Residence
One-Tier Taxation & Overseas Tax
Singapore runs a one-tier corporate tax system. Once a Singapore-resident company has paid tax on its profits, the one-tier dividends it pays out of those profits are generally tax-exempt in the hands of its shareholders in Singapore. IRAS one-tier dividends
One hundred dollars of profit, less seventeen dollars of tax, leaves eighty-three dollars that can be paid as a one-tier dividend.
Taxable company profit, assuming no exemptions or rebate.
Corporate income tax at the full 17% rate.
After-tax profit that can be paid out as a lawfully declared one-tier dividend.
Singapore generally does not tax that S$83 again when the shareholder receives it as a dividend. The example shows how the system works. It is not every company’s effective rate, and it does not cover every kind of payment to an owner.
When Is a Dividend Tax-Free?
A one-tier dividend paid by a Singapore tax-resident company is exempt in the hands of every shareholder in Singapore, whether an individual or a company, and whatever the recipient’s business. Being an investment holding company does not change that.
Two things do change the picture. The first is a dividend from a company that is not tax resident in Singapore. That is foreign-sourced income: an individual who receives it in Singapore is generally exempt, but a company is taxed on it unless the conditions for the foreign-sourced income exemption are met.
The second is the cost of earning the dividend. Say Company A borrows to buy shares in Company B and pays interest every year. B’s dividends are exempt in A’s hands, so the interest A pays to earn them is not deductible either, and cannot be set against A’s other income. A pure investment holding company also does not qualify for the start-up tax exemption.
IRAS one-tier dividends · IRAS taxable and non-taxable income
A shareholder who lives in another country may still have to pay tax there under that country’s own laws. A Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) can decide which country has the right to tax, or give relief through an exemption, a lower rate or a tax credit. It does not guarantee that no further tax is due. Check that the agreement is actually in force, which country the taxpayer is resident in, which article of the agreement covers the income and what conditions the claim must meet. A treaty that has merely been signed is not enough, and the company’s position under a treaty is separate from its shareholder’s. IRAS how DTAs work (PDF) · Agreements and entry-into-force status
2The First YA, Commencement & Filing Dates
A company normally makes two corporate income tax filings each year: the ECI first, then the annual return on Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) or Form C. Both deadlines are set by the company’s financial year end (FYE) and its Year of Assessment (YA), so start by pinning those two dates down. A new company has a third date to settle as well: the day its business commenced for tax purposes, because that decides what happens to the money spent before the first sale.
Start with the Financial Year End & YA
The FYE is the date the company closes its annual accounts. The period those accounts cover is called the basis period, and the YA is the year in which that profit is assessed. It is normally the calendar year after the FYE. Accounts that end on 31 March 2026, for example, normally fall under YA 2027, even though most of 2026 still lies ahead when the books close. So “YA 2027” does not mean income earned in 2027. A company is free to choose its year end; 31 December is common but by no means universal.
Business Commencement & First-Year Costs
A new company often spends money for months before it earns its first dollar of business income. Incorporation brings the company into legal existence, but it does not fix the date on which the business commenced for tax purposes. As a general rule, the business has actually commenced once its profit-making structure is in place and it has begun the activities that produce income.
There is also a general deemed-commencement rule, which gives a different starting point: the first day of the basis period in which the company earns its first business receipt. Qualifying revenue expenses incurred in the year before that date are treated as if they were incurred on that date. Which starting point applies matters, because it decides both which expenses are eligible and which YA they are deducted in. This treatment does not apply to companies that fall under section 10D.
Why does the law allow this at all? The general rule is that an expense is deductible only if it was incurred in producing the company’s income. Money spent before the business has commenced fails that test, because there is no business yet for it to relate to, so on that rule alone it would not be deductible at all. That would penalise every start-up for its unavoidable set-up costs. The law therefore gives a concession: qualifying revenue expenses incurred within one year before the deemed commencement date are treated as incurred on that date, so they can be deducted against the first trading income. The window is deliberately limited to one year. Older costs are deductible only if the company can show that its business actually commenced earlier.
Commencement in Practice
A company is incorporated on 1 July 2024 and, like the company in the timeline, uses a 31 March year end. It earns its first business receipt in September 2026. Assume no earlier actual commencement has been established. Here is how those facts shape the claim.
- Keep evidence of the first receipt and the accounts that show which basis period it falls in.
- The look-back covers 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Keep a record of each expense’s date and nature, together with the supporting invoices.
- Contracts, evidence that the business was ready to operate, the activities carried out and the timing of expenses and receipts all help to support the earlier date.
Whichever starting point applies, private costs, capital costs and costs that the law specifically disallows keep their own treatment. A cost is not deductible simply because it was incurred in the first year. Chapter 4 explains capital versus revenue costs with examples · IRAS commencement guidance and examples
R&D Has Its Own Rules
Research and development has its own rules on what counts as a qualifying activity and qualifying expenditure, covering where the work is done, what documentation the claim needs and, where it applies, the Enterprise Innovation Scheme (EIS). It is sometimes described as the one exception to a rule that all first-year costs are deductible, but no such blanket rule exists. Nor does calling a project “product development” make it R&D. Before any enhanced deduction can be considered, the claim needs evidence of the project’s objectives, the technical uncertainty it set out to resolve, the work actually done and how the costs were allocated.
Putting the Dates on a Calendar
With the YA and the commencement date settled, the two filing deadlines fall into place. The timeline below follows a different company, one that starts trading on the day it is incorporated, through its first filing cycle.
Example: From a 31 March Year End to the First Return
The company is incorporated and starts trading on 1 July 2025 and chooses a 31 March year end. Its first accounts cover 1 July 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Financial year end (FYE)
The first accounts close. The profit from July 2025 to March 2026 is what will be assessed.
ECI filing deadline
Three months after the FYE, in the same calendar year, unless the company qualifies for an ECI filing waiver or exemption.
Year of Assessment: YA 2027
The profit to 31 March 2026 is assessed in the following calendar year. The YA is a label, not a filing deadline, and it is not the year in which the accounts closed.
Annual return deadline for YA 2027
File Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) or Form C. The deadline is 30 November of the YA, so not 30 November 2026, even though that date comes first. Being waived from ECI does not waive this return.
First: File ECI after the Year End
The ECI gives IRAS an early estimate of the company’s chargeable income. It is normally due within three months of the FYE, which in the timeline example means 30 June 2026, still in the same calendar year as the year end. Before concluding that nothing needs to be filed, check whether the company actually qualifies for the ECI filing waiver or an exemption. Chapter 3: ECI calculation and waiver conditions · IRAS ECI filing guidance
Next: Submit the Annual Income Tax Return
The annual return reports the company’s income, deductions and reliefs, based on the completed accounts and tax computation. Whichever of the three forms is used, the deadline is normally 30 November of the relevant YA. In the timeline example, the YA 2027 return is due by 30 November 2027, more than a year and a half after the first accounts closed. Whether a new company has to ask IRAS for its first return is explained below. Chapter 4: choosing and preparing the annual return · IRAS filing season and deadlines
Special Rules for the First Return
IRAS normally sends a company its first annual-return notification in the second year after incorporation. For the company in the timeline, incorporated in 2025 with a first YA of 2027, that timing works. It does not work for a company that closes its first accounts in the same year it was incorporated and has started business or received income in that year. Had the company chosen a 31 December year end instead, its first accounts would have run from 1 July to 31 December 2025, its first YA would be 2026, and no notification would arrive in time. Such a company has to ask for the return itself, using the “Request for Income Tax Return for Newly Incorporated Companies” service, and file by 30 November 2026. If no return shows up on the myTax dashboard, the obligation to file still stands. IRAS basis periods and first-return instructions
A long first set of accounts works differently. If the first accounts run from 1 April 2025 to 31 December 2026, the 2025 portion belongs to YA 2026 and the 2026 portion to YA 2027. The adjusted profit has to be split between the two YAs; it cannot all be put into the later one. Under IRAS’ procedure for long first accounts, both the YA 2026 and YA 2027 returns are filed by 30 November 2027. Attributing income to the earlier YA does not by itself bring the first filing deadline forward. IRAS long-accounts FAQ (PDF) · IRAS first-return filing scenarios
A newly incorporated company that has not yet started business or received any income is covered by separate IRAS filing rules. Check those rules against your company’s own situation rather than simply following the trading-company example above. IRAS filing obligations for new companies
3Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI)
Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) is an early estimate of the company’s taxable profit for the year, before the start-up or partial tax exemption and before any rebate. It is not the company’s sales figure, and it is not the tax payable. To arrive at it you still have to make the tax adjustments to the accounts. In the worked example later in this guide, an accounting profit of S$40,000 becomes S$47,000 of chargeable income before exemption. Any loss reliefs the company is entitled to can change the estimate. When filing, indicate whether the company qualifies for the start-up exemption rather than deducting the exempt amount yourself. Chapter 1: what counts as taxable income · Worked tax computation
The ECI Filing Waiver
General ECI Filing Waiver: Both Conditions Must Be Met
Annual revenue ≤ S$5 million
- The company’s annual revenue must be within this cap.
- Revenue of S$6 million with nil ECI: the company must still file a nil ECI.
ECI is nil
- The estimate itself must be nil, before any exemption is applied.
- Revenue of S$180,000 with a positive ECI: the company must still file.
Having no tax to pay after the exemptions does not mean the ECI is nil. Even when the ECI is waived, the annual return still has to be filed.
Preparing, Paying & Revising
The ECI filing also asks for the company’s revenue, which generally means income from its main business activity, leaving out gains from selling fixed assets. If the audited statements are not ready yet, management accounts can support the figure. Keep the calculation and the assumptions behind it. For qualifying Singapore-registered companies, filing early can mean more GIRO instalments: the instalment cut-offs fall on the 26th of the month and are separate from the three-month filing deadline. IRAS ECI calculation, waiver and payment guidance
When the annual return is filed later, IRAS compares the estimate with the final computation. If too much tax was paid on the estimate, the excess is generally refunded; if too little, the balance becomes payable on assessment. A large gap between the two may need explaining. If you spot an error in the ECI, correct it promptly using the revision route described in chapter 5.
4Annual Return: Forms & Preparation
Which annual form a company uses depends on where it is incorporated, its revenue, the kind of income it earns and the reliefs it wants to claim. Audit exemption is a company-law matter and has no bearing on whether the company can use a simplified tax return. A simplified form means less information is submitted with the return. It does not mean the company can skip preparing its accounts and tax computation.
Corporate income tax returns
Scroll horizontally to read the comparison.
Form | Qualifying basis | Supporting documents |
|---|---|---|
Form C-S | Incorporated in Singapore; revenue of S$5m or less; income taxed at the 17% rate, subject to stated exceptions; not making any of the excluded claims. | Prepare the accounts and tax computation, and keep them in case IRAS asks for them. |
Form C-S (Lite) | All the Form C-S conditions, plus revenue of S$200,000 or less. An optional, further simplified version. | Fewer fields to fill in, but the same duty to prepare supporting documents. |
Form C | Used when the simplified-form conditions are not met, for example where the company claims Group Relief or loss carry-back. | Submit the financial statements, tax computation and supporting schedules with the return. |
A company cannot use Form C-S or C-S (Lite) if it is claiming carry-back of current-year capital allowances or losses, Group Relief, investment allowance, foreign tax credit or tax deducted at source. The condition that income is taxed at 17% has specific exceptions, including one-tier Singapore dividends and foreign income that qualifies under section 13(8). If your company has exempt income or enjoys an incentive, check it against the official conditions before choosing a form. IRAS return eligibility
Take a Singapore consultancy with S$180,000 of revenue, all of it ordinary income taxed at 17%. If every other condition is met, it can use C-S (Lite). But if it decides to claim Group Relief, it must use Form C, even though its turnover has not changed. In other words, decide which reliefs you are claiming before you choose the form, not after.
Choosing the form only settles how the return is submitted. The figures and claims that go into it come from the tax judgments explained in the rest of this chapter, together with the first-year cost rules in chapter 2. A simplified return saves effort when the company qualifies, but the tax rules behind the numbers are the same. Chapter 2: commencement and first-year costs
From the Accounts to Taxable Profit
Chapter 1 set out what counts as taxable income. This part shows how to get there from the accounts. For a trading company, the accounts are the starting point, but it is tax law that decides which income is taxable and which expenses and allowances can be deducted. The tax computation is the bridge from the accounting profit to the taxable profit. This is why a company can be short of cash, or even show a loss in its accounts, and still not know its tax position until the computation is done. Chapter 1: what counts as taxable income
Capital & Revenue Nature
Whether spending is capital or revenue in nature depends on the part it plays in the business. Revenue expenditure is, broadly, the cost of running the operations that earn income. Capital expenditure is, broadly, the cost of acquiring or building the assets and structure those operations run on. What the invoice or the ledger calls the item does not settle the question; the actual facts and the relevant tax provisions do.
A Consultancy’s Rent & Equipment
S$2,000 monthly office rent
- Normally revenue expenditure: the cost of using premises in the day-to-day business.
- Can be claimed as an expense deduction, provided it meets the deduction conditions set out in chapter 1.
S$12,000 equipment purchase
- Capital expenditure: buying an asset the business will keep using.
- Look at capital allowances instead of assuming the whole cost can be deducted at once.
Both payments may be equally necessary for the business. Their tax treatment differs because of the different roles they play.
In the accounts, depreciation spreads the cost of an asset over the years it is used. For tax, that depreciation is added back, and capital allowances are claimed instead where the asset qualifies. Capital allowances are a deduction set by statute for eligible assets, with their own conditions and methods of calculation, and not every capital purchase qualifies. When an asset on which allowances were claimed is later sold or scrapped, a balancing charge or balancing allowance may also arise. IRAS capital allowances and disposals
The same focus on substance applies to gains. Profits from the company’s trade are revenue income. How a gain from selling an asset is treated depends on the nature of the disposal and any specific statutory rules. Labelling a gain as “capital” does not by itself make it tax-free. Gains from disposing of foreign assets, for example, may need to be analysed under their own statutory provisions. IRAS taxable and non-taxable income
From Accounts to Tax Computation
Take a company whose accounts show a profit before tax of S$40,000. In arriving at that figure, the accounts have already deducted S$6,000 of depreciation and S$4,000 of petrol and parking for the director’s private S-plated car. The company’s qualifying capital allowances for the year are S$3,000. Assuming it has no income from other sources, no other adjustments, no donations and no losses brought forward, the computation runs as follows.
- Net profit before tax per accounts
- 40,000
- Add: Accounting depreciation
- 6,000
- Add: Director’s private car expenses (S-plated, not deductible)
- 4,000
- Adjusted trade profit
- 50,000
- Less: Capital allowances
- (3,000)
- Chargeable income before exempt amount
- 47,000
The car costs were real money and reduced the accounting profit, but the Income Tax Act specifically disallows the expenses of a private S-plated car, apart from narrow statutory exceptions, so they have not reduced the taxable profit at all. The depreciation and capital allowance lines show how the accounting and tax treatment of the same asset can differ. This is why every company needs a tax computation backed by schedules, even when it files a simplified form. IRAS preparing a tax computation
One thousand dollars spent, less one hundred and seventy dollars of tax saved, leaves eight hundred and thirty dollars that the company really bears.
A deductible business expense paid by the company.
Taxable profit falls by S$1,000, so tax at 17% falls by S$170.
The deduction only saves tax equal to 17% of the spending. The other 83% is money gone.
At the 17% rate, with no exemption or loss in play. Where the company enjoys the start-up or partial tax exemption, or makes a loss for the year, the saving is smaller, or nothing at all. Rebates and cash grants are a different matter; see chapter 1.
Keep Company & Personal Spending Separate
The company’s bank account is not the owner’s personal wallet. A family holiday does not become deductible because the company paid for it or because there is an invoice, whereas a properly documented trip to visit a client normally is. The costs of a private S-plated car stay restricted even when it is used for client visits, unless a statutory exception applies.
Keep business and private use apart, and keep the receipts, the contract, a note of the business purpose and the evidence for how any shared cost was split. Paying yourself a low salary, or none at all, is not an offence in itself. What matters is that every payment to an owner is recorded as what it really is, whether salary, a benefit, a dividend or a loan. Then consider the company’s deduction and the owner’s personal tax reporting as two separate questions.
IRAS expense deductions · IRAS family-company audit findings
Company and owner separation · Director responsibilities · Shareholder rights
Exemptions, Losses & Group Relief
Once the company’s income and deductions are settled, the exemptions and loss reliefs decide how much of the resulting profit is actually taxed, and where any eligible losses can be used. A new company does not automatically qualify for every relief. Before filing, check that the company is eligible, that the claim is made in the right YA and whether a formal election is needed.
Start-Up Exemption & Consecutive YAs
The start-up tax exemption covers the company’s first three consecutive YAs, not its first three profitable years. A YA in which the company made a loss or earned nothing still uses up one of the three. If the first three YAs are 2025 to 2027, an exemption that went unused in 2025 cannot be carried over to 2028. This is why it is worth knowing which YA is the company’s first even while it is still getting ready to trade.
To qualify, the company must be incorporated in Singapore and be tax resident here, and it must have no more than 20 shareholders throughout the basis period. Either all of those shareholders are individuals, or at least one individual holds 10% or more of the issued ordinary shares. Investment-holding companies and property developers are excluded. For qualifying YAs from 2020 onwards, 75% of the first S$100,000 of normal chargeable income is exempt, and 50% of the next S$100,000. A company that does not qualify may still be eligible for the partial tax exemption. IRAS tax exemption schemes
Unutilised Losses & Allowances
A tax loss does not bring a cash refund by itself, and it does not excuse the company from filing. Carrying losses forward depends on the company passing the shareholding test, and unused capital allowances can be carried forward only if the same business continues as well. Carrying a loss back to the immediately preceding YA is a separate claim with its own conditions, its own cap and its own election. Keep the loss schedules and a record of ownership changes, because they become important if the company changes shareholders or stops a line of business. IRAS unutilised items · IRAS loss carry-back
Group Relief & Corporate Ownership
Group Relief lets one company transfer its current-year unutilised capital allowances, trade losses and donations to another company in the same group that has assessable income. It applies only to those specified items for the current year. It is not a licence to move costs or old losses between businesses as the owners see fit. Both companies must be incorporated in Singapore, share the same FYE and satisfy the 75% corporate ownership test, which looks at the entitlement to residual profits and assets as well as the shareholding.
The qualifying holding has to be maintained throughout the relevant period, and a change in ownership part-way through can limit how much can be transferred. Shares held through a foreign company, or by an individual, do not create the Singapore corporate chain the rules require. The economic rights attached to the shares count alongside the headline percentage. IRAS Group Relief system guide (PDF)
Ownership Decides the Group Relief Result
Singapore corporate parent
- The parent owns 100% of Singapore companies A and B throughout the relevant period. All the economic-rights tests are met and both have a 31 March FYE.
- A has S$30,000 of eligible current-year trade losses. B has S$80,000 of assessable income.
- Provided all the rules are met and the election is made, B can use A’s S$30,000, leaving S$50,000 on which exemption and tax are then computed.
Same individual shareholder
- Suppose instead that Ms Tan owns both A and B in her own name.
- The profit and loss figures are identical, but a common individual shareholder does not make a qualifying group. No Group Relief is available.
Both the company giving up the loss items and the company using them must file Form C. The transferor submits Form GR-A with its return and the claimant submits Form GR-B. Once made, the election is irrevocable, and revisions are allowed only in a few specified circumstances, so settle the eligibility and the order of set-off before submitting. Support the claim with ownership and economic-rights charts, evidence of the matching FYE and the loss computations. Filing Form C does not in itself create any entitlement to the relief. IRAS Group Relief conditions and claims
Charging a related company for genuine management services is a different kind of transaction altogether. It needs evidence that the services were provided, that the other company benefited, how the cost was allocated and that the price was at arm’s length. A management fee cannot be invented to soak up another company’s profits, and it is not a substitute for Group Relief. IRAS transfer pricing
Preparing & Submitting the Return
At the filing stage, the accounting records, the tax judgments and the relief decisions all come together in one consistent submission. The trial balance, bank reconciliation, receivables, payables and financial statements form the accounts. Supporting schedules then set out the disallowed expenses, the assets and their allowances, the sources of income, and any losses, donations and reliefs. Keep the evidence behind the judgments you have made along the way, on commencement, on payments to owners and on ownership.
If the company closed its accounts and started business or received income in the year it was incorporated, and the first return has not yet appeared, request it as described in chapter 2. Whoever files, whether a staff member or a tax agent, must first be authorised in Corppass for the relevant IRAS service before submitting through myTax Portal. Keep the request, the submission acknowledgement and the filing-status confirmation. Even when an agent does the filing, the directors should still review the computation themselves. IRAS first-return request, authorisation and records · myTax Portal
Source documents and schedules must be kept for at least five years from the relevant YA, and longer if there is still an open matter that needs them. That means invoices, contracts, private-use splits, payroll and benefit records, approvals and the history of tax losses. Filing a simplified form does not shorten this record-keeping duty. Bookkeeping support
5Assessments & Tax Correction
Once the return is filed, IRAS issues a Notice of Assessment based on it, showing the tax due. If the notice matches the return, pay any balance by the due date and that is the end of it. If something is wrong, the route to fix it depends on where the mistake is: the ECI estimate, the return, or IRAS’s assessment itself. It also depends on how soon it is found and whether the company underpaid tax as a result. This chapter covers the notice and the payment and objection deadlines first, then each correction route in turn, and closes with the limits of tax planning.
The Notice of Assessment
If the company filed an ECI, it usually receives two Notices of Assessment. The first comes after the ECI: IRAS assesses the estimate and the company pays tax on that figure first. That notice generally says no objection is needed, because the final figure comes from the completed assessment after the return is filed. The second comes after the return. That is the completed assessment, and the formal result. Check it against the return; the tax already paid on the ECI is taken into account and the difference is refunded or collected. If the company disagrees with the completed assessment, it generally has to object within two months of the date on the notice. Objecting does not postpone payment: the tax is still due within one month of the notice date, unless IRAS has approved an instalment plan or other payment arrangement.
Example: Completed Assessment Dated 5 January 2026
5 February 2026
Pay within one month, unless IRAS has approved a payment arrangement.
5 March 2026
Object within two months if the company disputes the assessment. Objecting does not delay payment.
Correction Routes & Time Limits
Which route applies depends on two things: whether the assessment has been completed, and whether the error made the company pay too much tax or too little.
- Assessment not yet completed: revise the ECI or the return directly.
- Assessment completed and the company paid too much: object within two months. If that deadline has passed and the error was in the company’s own return, error-or-mistake relief under section 93A can be claimed within four years.
- Assessment completed and the company paid too little: correct it through the Voluntary Disclosure Programme. The sooner, the lower the penalty.
A wrong ECI estimate can be revised with the “Revise/Object to Assessment” service on myTax Portal. An error in the return found before the assessment is completed should be corrected promptly by filing a revision on myTax Portal, stating the YA, the reasons and the revised computation. Do not count on next year’s return to fix an existing assessment, and do not assume it changes when the current tax is due. IRAS revising ECI
If the company paid too much tax because of an error in its return or statement, it can claim error-or-mistake relief under section 93A in writing, even after the objection deadline has passed. The time limit is four years, counted from the end of the YA in which the assessment based on that erroneous return or statement was made, not from the YA the return belongs to. The relief has its own conditions, and it is not a substitute for objecting on time.
For example, if an error in the YA 2024 return led to an assessment made in 2025, the section 93A deadline is 31 December 2029, provided the conditions are met. A later assessment does not restart the clock for that error. A fresh error counts separately, from the assessment that resulted from it. So keep the original return, statements and notices: they show which route is open. IRAS section 93A guidance
Voluntary Disclosure of Under-Declared Tax
If the company finds it has underpaid tax, it can put that right through the Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP). The programme sets how the penalty is worked out; it is not an amnesty. The additional tax itself still has to be paid, and the time for objecting is not extended. To qualify, the company must come forward on its own before IRAS raises a query or gives notice of an audit, the disclosure must be accurate, complete and timely, and the company must then cooperate fully and keep to any payment arrangement.
The grace period is one year after the statutory filing deadline. For example, the YA 2027 return is due on 30 November 2027, so the grace period runs to 30 November 2028. A qualifying disclosure within the grace period carries no penalty. After it, the penalty is generally 5% of the tax undercharged for each year beyond the grace period, so the longer the delay, the higher the penalty. Fix an error as soon as you find it, and do not assume every correction route allows four years. IRAS VDP conditions and examples
Tax Planning Has Limits: Avoidance & Evasion Are Penalised
Using reliefs the way Parliament intended is legitimate tax planning. An artificial arrangement set up to obtain a tax benefit that was never intended can be counteracted under section 33, which looks at the commercial substance of the arrangement and the purpose of the legislation. Tax avoidance only has to be one of the main purposes of the arrangement, not the sole purpose. An adjustment or a surcharge under these rules is not the same as a criminal conviction.
Deliberately hiding income or inventing expenses is tax evasion, which is a criminal offence.