A dormant company is one that does not carry on business and has no income for the whole of the basis period. For example, if a company did not carry on business and had no income for the whole of the basis period ending in year 2019, it will be regarded as a dormant company for Year of Assessment (YA) 2020. For more details, please refer to Basis Period and Year of Assessment.
A dormant company must e-File its Income Tax Return unless the company has been granted
waiver of Income Tax Return Submission. A dormant company will need to file its Income Tax Return using the
File Form C-S/ C for Dormant Company e-Service at
mytax.iras.gov.sg. There is no need to submit financial statements to IRAS. To e-File, you must first be authorised as an "Approver" in
CorpPass. For assistance on CorpPass setup, please refer to the
Step-by-Step Guides.
For more details, please refer to the
user guide (PDF, 1.06MB) and
Tips on e-Filing for Dormant Company.
For YA 2019, if the value of the dormant company’s related party transactions disclosed in the financial statements for the financial period exceeds $15 million, it should submit Form C by
Form C (Upload) mode instead of Form C-S or Form C for Dormant Company.
From YA 2020, a dormant company is not required to complete the Form for Reporting Related Party Transactions notwithstanding the value of the company’s related party transactions disclosed in the financial statements for the financial
period exceeds S$15 million. Therefore, dormant companies which are qualified to file Form C-S or Form C for Dormant Company can continue to use Form C-S or Form C for Dormant Company.
A dormant company may still be required to submit its financial statements to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) for its annual return filing. For more information on ACRA's filing requirements for dormant companies, please refer to
ACRA's website.
A company owned investments (e.g. real properties, fixed deposits and foreign shares) during the financial year ending 30 Jun 2019. However, the company did not carry on business and had no income from its investments during the same period. The company will be regarded as a dormant company for YA 2020 and will need to e-File its YA 2020 Income Tax Return (Form C-S/ C) using File Form C-S/ C for Dormant Company e-Service at mytax.iras.gov.sg.
A dormant company that satisfies the qualifying conditions can apply to IRAS to be released from its obligation to file its Income Tax Return (Form C-S/ C). The qualifying conditions for the company are:
- It must be dormant and has submitted its Form C-S/ C, financial statements and tax computations up to the date of cessation of business;
- It must not own any investments (e.g. shares, real properties, fixed deposits). If the company owns investments, it must not derive any income from these investments;
- It must have been de-registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST) purposes prior to this application if it had previously been a GST-registered company; and
- It must not have the intention to recommence business within the next 2 years.
e-Application
Dormant companies may apply for a waiver via the
Apply for Waiver to Submit Tax Return (Dormant Company) e-Service. This e-Service is now available to companies and tax agents.
IRAS encourages companies to apply for the waiver via the e-Service. The e-Service provides companies with the convenience of e-Filing their Form C-S/ C for advance Years of Assessment (up to the date of business cessation). Companies must e-File the Form C-S/ C, financial statements and tax computations (where applicable) within 21 days from the date of application for the waiver, failing which the waiver application will be rejected.
Company A with 31 Dec financial year end ceased business on 31 Oct 2019 and wishes to apply for the waiver to submit its Income Tax Return in Jan 2020. As the business ceased on 31 Oct 2019, Company A will need to file Form C-S/ C for the following YAs:
- YA 2019 for period: 1 Jan 2018 to 31 Dec 2018; and
- YA 2020 for period: 1 Jan 2019 to 31 Oct 2019.
As the e-Filing service for Form C-S/ C is only made available in June every year, Company A can only e-File its Form C-S/ C up to YA 2019 as of Jan 2020. The YA 2020 Form C-S/ C will only be available in Jun 2020.
If Company A applies for the waiver to submit its Income Tax Return using the
Apply for Waiver to Submit Tax Return (Dormant Company) e-Service, it will be able to e-File its YA 2020 return. The YA 2020 return must be e-Filed within 21 days from the date of application, otherwise the application for waiver will be rejected.
To use this e-Service, you must first be authorised as an "Approver" for "Corporate Tax (Filing and Applications)" in
CorpPass. For assistance on CorpPass setup, please refer to the
Step-by-Step Guides.
Hardcopy Application
Dormant companies may submit to IRAS a hardcopy application by completing the
Application for Waiver of Income Tax Return (Form C-S/ C) Submission by a Dormant Company (PDF, 675KB).
Waiver Application Processing Time
You will be notified of the outcome of your application in writing at the company's registered address as follows:
e-Application | Within 2 months of receiving the application |
Hardcopy Application | Within 3 months of receiving the application |
The processing time may take longer if the case is complex. Once your application is processed, a copy of the letter will be made available in
mytax.iras.gov.sg.
Once the application is approved, the company will not be issued with a Form C-S/ C in future.
Recommencing Business
Once a dormant company recommences business, or starts to receive any income, the company has to notify IRAS within one month from the date of commencement of business or earning/ receiving the income by writing to
ctmail@iras.gov.sg to request for an Income Tax Return with all the following details (indicate "N/A" if not applicable):
a. Subject header: “Recommencement of business and request for Income Tax Return”
b. Name and Unique Entity Number (UEN) of the company;
c. Date of recommencement of business in dd/mm/yyyy format;
d. Date of receipt of other source(s) of income (e.g. interest, dividend, rent, etc.) in dd/mm/yyyy format; and
e. New principal activity and the effective date of change in dd/mm/yyyy format together with a copy of BizFile extracted from ACRA showing the principal activity of the company.