Filing Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) and Paying Estimated Taxes

For YA 2020, companies will be granted a CIT tax rebate of 25% of the corporate tax payable, subject to a cap of $15,000.

Companies need not factor in the CIT rebate when filing their ECI for YA 2020 as IRAS will compute and allow the rebate automatically.

For more information on the CIT rebate, please refer to Corporate Tax Rates, Corporate Income Tax Rebates and Tax Exemption Schemes.

From YA 2020, e-Filing of the ECI is compulsory for all companies.

In line with Government's direction for more cost effective delivery of public services and the Smart Nation vision to harness technology to enhance productivity, e-Filing of the Corporate Income Tax returns (including ECI, and Form C-S/ C) is compulsory. A phased approach is adopted from YAs 2018 to 2020 as follows:

Step 1: Before e-Filing, please ensure:

1. You have been authorised by the company as an "Approver" for Corporate Tax (Filing and Applications) in CorpPass; and
2. You have the company's tax reference number, your CorpPass ID and CorpPass password.

For assistance on CorpPass setup, please refer to Step-by-Step Guides.

Step 2: e-File via mytax.iras.gov.sg

 For assistance on e-Filing, please refer to the relevant guides:

• User Guide - e-File Estimated Chargeable Income (Company) (PDF, 947KB) 

• User Guide - e-File Estimated Chargeable Income (Tax Agent) (PDF, 941KB)

Only Singapore-registered companies that are on GIRO are allowed to pay their taxes in instalments. Companies that do not have an existing GIRO arrangement for Corporate Tax are encouraged to apply for GIRO at least 3 weeks before e-Filing their ECI.

If the GIRO arrangement is not approved before the payment due date, the company will not be eligible for instalment payment and will need to pay the full amount of estimated tax by the payment due date. You can check the status of your company's GIRO application through the Corporate Tax Integrated Phone Service (PDF, 371KB).

As announced in Budget 2020 on 18 Feb 2020, companies that are on GIRO and filed their ECI on time (i.e. within three months from the end of their financial year) (i.e. qualifying companies) will automatically qualify for an additional two months of interest-free instalment, if the ECI is filed as follows:

1. during the period from 19 Feb 2020 to 31 Dec 2020 (both dates inclusive); or
2. before 19 Feb 2020 and the company has an ongoing instalment payment to be made in Mar 2020.

Qualifying companies who have filed their ECI before 19 Feb 2020 and have ongoing instalment payments to be made in Mar 2020 would have received a letter from IRAS on the automatic two months extension of the instalment plan. Companies can also view their revised instalment plan at myTax Portal.

The table below sets out the number of instalments a qualifying company would receive if it qualifies for the automatic two months extension of the instalment plan:

Notes
1. The instalment plan is subject to a minimum monthly GIRO deduction amount of $50.
2. The first few instalments may be combined and deducted on the first GIRO deduction date, depending on the date of filing of ECI. Please see example 2 below.
3. IRAS may vary the instalment plan for companies that file revised ECIs.

Companies need not factor in the Tax Exemption Scheme for New Start-Up Companies/ Partial Tax Exemption and the YA 2020 Corporate Income Tax (CIT) rebate when filing their ECI. IRAS will compute these and allow the New Start-Up Companies/ Partial Tax exemption and YA 2020 CIT rebate automatically.

Property developers should report their ECI based on the Completed Contracts Method.

Example: Calculation of ECI for YA 2020
Your company’s Profit and Loss statement for financial year 2019 (Year of Assessment 2020) is as follows:

The company also purchased a new private car (SJX 123), a computer for $1,200 and a filing cabinet for $300 in YA 2020. There were no unutilised capital allowances brought forward from the previous YA.

 The calculation of the company’s ECI is as follows:

When e-Filing the ECI, the company can report its revenue as “$80,000” and ECI figure as “$5,645” under the 17% tax rate category. If the company also qualifies for the Tax Exemption Scheme for New Start-Up Companies, the company has to indicate accordingly in the relevant box of the ECI return. For more information, please refer to the File Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) (PDF, 947KB) user guide.

Please click here (PDF, 164KB) for more examples on how to calculate the ECI.

 ¹ No capital allowance is to be given on private cars (S-plated cars), RU-plated cars and company cars (Q-plated or S-plated cars). 

After IRAS has processed your company's ECI, you will receive a Notice of Assessment (NOA), which is an official Notice that states the amount of tax to be paid. You can also view the NOA at mytax.iras.gov.sg. However, no NOA will be issued if your company filed a "Nil" ECI amount.

The tax must be paid within one month from the date of the NOA, unless you are paying via instalment (GIRO). Deferment of tax payment may apply as announced in the Resilience Budget on 26 Mar 2020.

The NOA will include information on the various ways to pay.

Ways to Pay

There are two ways to pay your taxes:

1. Payment by GIRO
   Companies that wish to pay taxes by instalment must sign up for GIRO. For more information, please refer to Apply for GIRO arrangement. 
2. Payment by other Electronic Modes
   You can also make payment via internet Banking, Phone Banking, NETS, etc.

For details on other payment modes, please refer to Electronic Payment Modes.

If your company requires assistance in paying the taxes, please refer to Experiencing Difficulties in Paying Your Tax for more information.

GIRO Instalment Plans for Singapore-registered Companies

You may qualify for GIRO instalment plan as long as you are a Singapore-registered company.

To further ease the cash flow needs for companies in the immediate period, it was announced in the Resilience Budget on 26 Mar 2020 that all companies with CIT payments due in the months of Apr, May and Jun 2020 will be granted an automatic three-month deferment of these payments. The CIT payments that are deferred from Apr, May and Jun 2020 will be collected in Jul, Aug and Sep 2020 respectively. The deferment applies to CIT payments due in the months of Apr, May and Jun 2020, regardless of which YA the taxes or payments relate to. This relief measure complements the automatic extension of two months interest-free instalments as announced in Budget 2020 on 18 Feb 2020.

Companies with corporate tax payments that are due from 1 Jul 2020 onwards will not be given any deferral and are required to settle their payment(s) by the stipulated due date(s).

The table below illustrates how the automatic three-month deferment of CIT payments works for a company that is on GIRO and has either ongoing instalment payments or one-time payment due in Apr/May/Jun 2020:

View Worked Examples (PDF, 108KB) for more illustrations on the new dates for GIRO instalment payments with the CIT payment deferment. 

Eligible companies can expect to receive a letter from IRAS by Apr 2020. Companies who are on GIRO will be able to view their revised instalment plans at myTax Portal from 1 May 2020. Companies that are not on GIRO and are required to make a one-time CIT payment in Apr/May/Jun 2020 can use the Corporate Tax Payment Deferment Calculator (XLSX, 28KB) to view the revised payment due date. 

Companies that do not wish to enjoy the CIT payment deferment may: