Basic Guide for New Companies

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Access the New Company Start-Up Kit, an interactive e-learning guide, to learn more about your corporate tax filing obligations. This Kit will provide you with the information you need for your first tax filing process - from incorporation to the filing of the first Corporate Tax Return.

 Find out more about the New Company Start-Up Kit.

This video provides you with information to help you better understand the Corporate Tax Filing Obligations of your company.

All companies are required to submit two Corporate Income Tax Returns to IRAS every year:

Filing of Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI)

New companies incorporated in 2019 are required to file the ECI within three months from the company's first financial year end*. If your company has changed its financial year end, you are required to update the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) via the “Change of Financial Year End” e-Service in BizFile+. For details, please refer to Updating Company Particulars.

* A company’s first financial year end is based on the financial year end which it filed with ACRA.

If your company is incorporated in 2019 and closes its first set of accounts in 2019, no ECI filing notification will be sent to you in 2019 as most companies do not close their first set of accounts in the year of incorporation. However, you are still required to file the ECI within three months from your company's first financial year end, unless the company qualifies for the administrative concession and does not need to file the ECI.

If your company is incorporated in 2019 and closes its first set of accounts in Dec 2020, you will receive an ECI notification from IRAS in Dec 2020 reminding you to e-File your ECI by Mar 2021.

Example

Note :

As the company's first set of accounts covers a period of more than 12 months from the date of incorporation, its profit/losses must be attributed and declared under two Years of Assessment (YAs) as follows:

• YA 2020 covering the basis period from 15 Jul 2019 to 31 Dec 2019; and
• YA 2021 covering the basis period from 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020.

Time apportionment basis may be used if the company is not able to directly identify income and expenses to the two periods.

Find out more about Basis Period and Year of Assessment.

Companies That Do Not Need to Submit ECI

Your company does not need to file the ECI for that particular YA if it meets the following criteria:

1. Annual revenue is not more than $5 million for the financial year; and
2. ECI^ is NIL for the YA.

^ The ECI should be the amount before deducting the exempt amount under the partial tax exemption scheme or the tax exemption scheme for new start-up companies. 

There is no need to inform IRAS if the company meets the conditions and does not need to file its ECI.

For details, please refer to the FAQs section of Companies That Do Not Need to Submit Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI).

Using Accounting Software to Prepare and File Form C-S Seamlessly

IRAS and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) have co-created a digital solution that allows companies to automate the preparation and filing of Form C-S and Annual Return to IRAS and ACRA respectively via accounting software. The digital solution leverages on Application Programming Interface (API) to simplify the tax filing process for companies and reduces their risk of making errors.

Find out more about the digital solution.

Getting the Form C-S/ C

New companies* will start to receive the Form C-S/ C e-Filing notification only two years after their year of incorporation, as most do not close their first set of financial statements in the year of incorporation. For example, a company incorporated in 2020 will receive its first e-Filing notification for YA 2022 in May 2022.

If your company closed its first set of financial statements in the year of incorporation and has commenced business or was in receipt of any income, please e-File your company's Corporate Income Tax Return for the YA immediately following the year of incorporation via the "File Form C-S/ C" e-Service. For example, if your company was incorporated in 2020 and closed its accounts in 2020, please e-File your company’s Income Tax Return (Form C-S/ C) for YA 2021 if you have commenced business or received any income in 2020. The Form C-S/ C e-Filing service for a given YA will be made available in May of that year. Hence, you may e-File the company's YA 2021 Form C-S/ C starting from May 2021.

From YA 2020, companies that qualify to file Form C-S and have an annual revenue of $200,000 or below have the option to file Form C-S (Lite), a simplified version of Form C-S.

Find out whether you qualify to file the simplified Form C [Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)] here. 

* Please note that this is only applicable for newly incorporated companies. Singapore branches of foreign companies will be issued a return after the first year of business.

e-Filing your Company's First Income Tax Return (Form C-S/ C)

To e-File the Form C-S/ C at mytax.iras.gov.sg, please ensure that the company has authorised its staff or a third party (e.g., the tax agent) in Corppass. Please have the following information on hand:

• Your Singpass
• Company's Unique Entity Number (UEN)/ Entity ID  (e.g. 200912345N, T12AA3456X, A1234567)

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

For companies that are required to e-File their first Corporate Income Tax Return (Form C-S/ C), please refer to this step-by-step guide (PDF, 2.65MB).

Some new companies operate more than 12 months before closing their first set of accounts. When this happens, the first set of accounts covers more than 12 months.

Generally, the basis period cannot exceed 12 months, so the profits or losses must be apportioned and attributed to two different YAs.

The company should directly identify the income earned and expenses incurred for each of the two YAs, based on the actual dates the income was earned and the expenses were incurred. If this cannot be done, time apportionment basis can be applied (i.e. apportion based on number of days in the corresponding YAs).

Example

Generally, expenses incurred before a business starts its operations are not tax-deductible as these are incurred for the purpose of setting up the operations and not 'wholly and exclusively' for the production of income.

To assist business in enterprise development, revenue expenses incurred one year prior to the deemed date of commencement of business will be deductible for tax purposes.

For more details on the deductibility of expenses incurred before commencement of business and how to determine the actual date of commencement of business, please refer to the Tax Treatment of Business Expenses, or watch this video on the Tax Deductibility of Pre-commencement Expenses (4m 3s).

Company representatives who are responsible for the preparation and filing of the Corporate Income Tax Return (Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C) and other Corporate Income Tax matters are encouraged to watch the e-Learning videos or sign up for a free Corporate Income Tax webinar/ seminar conducted by IRAS. Subscribe to our eAlerts to receive updates on IRAS Event/ Seminars.

For more information, you may refer to e-Learning Videos/ Webinars/ Seminars on Corporate Tax.