Rationale and Scope
Majority of taxpayers want to comply with their tax obligations. Some occasionally make errors in their tax returns due to lack of care or awareness of their tax obligations. The IRAS Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) aims to encourage taxpayers who have made errors in their returns / forms to come forward voluntarily, in a timely manner, to correct their errors for reduced penalties.
The IRAS VDP applies to Income Tax (including cash payouts / bonus), GST, Withholding Tax and Stamp Duty.
Qualifying Conditions
To qualify for IRAS' VDP, you need to submit a timely, accurate, complete and self-initiated voluntary disclosure. A voluntary disclosure is considered timely and self-initiated when it is made before you receive a query from IRAS relating to your tax or cash payout / bonus matters, or before you receive notification from IRAS on the commencement of an audit or investigation on your tax or cash payout / bonus matters.
You must also:
- Cooperate fully with IRAS to correct the errors made; and
- Pay or make arrangements with IRAS to pay additional taxes or amount exceeding cash payout / bonus than entitled to and penalties imposed (if any), and honour such arrangements till all payments are made.
For more details, please refer to the e-Tax Guide on IRAS' Voluntary Disclosure Programme (PDF, 519KB).
Reduced Penalties
Type of Voluntary Disclosure | Penalty Treatment |
|---|
Voluntary disclosure made within the grace period of one year from statutory filing deadline, and the qualifying conditions are met | No penalty imposed |
Voluntary disclosure made after the grace period and qualifying conditions are met | Reduced penalty of : - 5% of the income tax undercharged or of the amount of cash payout / bonus exceeding entitlement obtained, for each year the error was late in being rectified
- Flat 5% of the GST undercharged
- Flat 5% of the outstanding Withholding Tax
|
Voluntary disclosure for late stamping or underpayment of Stamp Duty and the qualifying conditions are met | Reduced penalty of : - 5% per annum computed on a daily basis on the Stamp Duty payable
No grace period for Stamp Duty |
In light of
the latest measures to manage the COVID-19 situation, IRAS has extended the
filing deadlines for (i) YA 2020 Individual Income Tax returns, (ii) GST
returns for accounting period ending Mar 2020, and (iii) YA 2020 Income Tax
returns for trusts, clubs and associations. IRAS has also provided a one-month
extension of submission deadlines for (i) S45 withholding tax forms due in Apr
2020 and (ii) tax clearances. For more details, please visit our page on COVID-19 support
measures.
New To support
taxpayers that want to rectify past errors, but experience difficulties putting
together the information during this time, we will be providing a one-time
extension of timelines for determining whether an error was
disclosed within the grace period. The details are as follows:
| Concession | Affected returns | Example and illustration |
| Extension of
grace period for Voluntary Disclosure to the extended filing/submission
deadlines announced earlier by IRAS | This applies
to errors that relate to: - YA 2019
Individual Income Tax returns
- GST returns
for accounting period ended Mar 2019
- YA 2019
Income Tax returns for trusts, clubs and associations
- S45
withholding tax forms due in Apr 2019
| For example,
an individual taxpayer discloses an error in his YA 2019 return on 1 May 2020. Prior to the
extension, the error would attract penalty, as the disclosure is made more than
1 year after the statutory filing deadline of 15 Apr 2019, i.e. after the grace
period. With the
extension, the disclosure will be treated as falling within the grace period,
and will not attract penalty. This is because it is made before the extended YA
2020 Individual Income Tax filing deadline of 31 May 2020. |
Voluntary Disclosure of Past Actions Involving Wilful Intent to Evade Taxes or to Obtain a Higher Amount of Cash Payout / Bonus than Entitled to
Taxpayers who commit offences involving wilful intent to evade taxes or to obtain excessive cash payouts, including persons who assisted in such acts, may face prosecution, and the consequent punishment of being jailed up to 7 years and / or fined up to $50,000, and penalised up to 400% of tax undercharged / unpaid.
When you come forward and voluntarily disclose past actions involving a wilful intent to evade taxes or to obtain excessive cash payouts, you may be accorded the treatment of having your offences compounded at a reduced penalty rate of 200% in lieu of prosecution. If you do not meet the qualifying conditions for IRAS' VDP, you may be charged in court for your tax evasion offences.
For more details, please refer to the e-Tax Guide on IRAS' Voluntary Disclosure Programme (PDF, 519KB).
Making a Voluntary Disclosure
If you would like to make a voluntary disclosure, you can inform us in the following ways:
Tax Type | How to Inform IRAS |
|---|
Individual Income Tax | Email required information and supporting documentation (detailed in Annex F of e-Tax Guide (PDF, 519KB)) to iit_compliance@iras.gov.sg |
Corporate Tax | Email required information and supporting documentation (detailed in Annex F of e-Tax Guide (PDF, 519KB)) to ctmail@iras.gov.sg |
GST | Send an electronic request to IRAS for GST F7 (Disclosure of Errors on GST Return) and e-File the GST F7 at any time, up to 14 days from the date of request for the GST F7
For GST late registrants, register for GST online at myTaxPortal
For unauthorised GST collections, email gst@iras.gov.sg |
Withholding Tax | Submit S45 VDP application here |
Stamp Duty | Stamp document via the e-Stamping system |
All Tax Types | For voluntary disclosures of past actions involving a wilful intent to evade taxes or to obtain excessive cash payouts, you can email IRAS at ifd@iras.gov.sg. Alternatively, you can write in to: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Revenue House
55 Newton Road
Singapore 307987 |