Scenario 1: You failed to withhold monies with no valid reason
You are required to withhold all monies due to your employee from the date you are aware of the employee's impending cessation of employment or departure from Singapore.
If you failed to withhold monies from your employee and did not provide any valid reasons in the Form IR21, you may be held liable for the amount of tax which should have been withheld.
For example, your employee gave one month's notice of his intention to cease employment on 15 Jan 2018. The amount of monies due to him was $600, which comprised his salary for Jan 2018 ($450) and Feb 2018 ($150). The full amount should be withheld for the purpose of tax clearance.
However, you decided to pay him $450 and withheld only $150. Assuming that your employee's tax liability is $500, you would then be liable for the amount payable of $500 as stated in the Directive, since you should have withheld $600, which would have been sufficient.
Scenario 2: You have reasons for not being able to withhold all monies due to your employee
Please provide IRAS with the following information via email or post to Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, 55 Newton Road, Singapore 307987:
- Tax Reference Number of the employee;
- Date of resignation/termination notice;
- Amount of last salary paid, applicable period and date of payment; and
- Reasons for not withholding all monies for the purpose of tax clearance.
We will notify you of the review outcome. However, notwithstanding any objection, you are required to pay the amount of tax stated in the Directive within 10 days from the date of the Directive.