01 Mar 2010

It is the tax filing season again. IRAS would like to remind all taxpayers to e-File their tax returns by 18 Apr 2010, or send in their paper returns by 15 Apr 2010.

About 1.57 million taxpayers are required to file their tax returns for the Year of Assessment (YA) 2010. 1.12 million among them will not need to provide their employment income information; their employers will provide the information directly to IRAS under the Auto-Inclusion Scheme for Employment Income (AIS). About 653,000 taxpayers are on the “No-Filing Service”, and do not even have to file the tax return unless they have other income that have not been auto-included (e.g. rental income, income from free-lancing) or have changes to make to their tax relief claims.

Changes to Individual Income Tax Reliefs

As announced in the Budget Speech 2010, there are significant changes to the income tax reliefs this year. A summary of the changes is given below.

Eligibility and New Income Threshold Condition for Dependant Reliefs from Year of Assessment 2010 (YA 2010)

Type of Dependant Reliefs Eligibility
  • Spouse relief
  • Qualifying child relief
  • Working mother's child relief
  • Parent relief
 Dependant's income in 2009 did not exceed $4,000
Handicapped dependant (spouse, child, brother/sister, parent) relief No income threshold

All other conditions of claim remain unchanged.

Higher Parent Relief from YA2010

Type of Parent Relief Taxpayer and parent(s) living in the same household Taxpayer and parent(s) not living in the same household
Parent relief $7,000 $4,500
Handicapped parent relief $11,000 $8,000

How to claim the reliefs

Spouse Relief

Female taxpayers claiming the Spouse Relief can send an email to [email protected] giving her name and NRIC/tax reference number, and her husband’s name, and NRIC/tax reference number. Alternatively, they may provide IRAS with the details through any of these modes:

  1. Helpline : 1800-3568300 (or +65 63568300)
  2. By Fax: +65 6351 3636
  3. By Post: The Comptroller of Income Taxx
    Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
    55 Newton Road, Revenue House
    Singapore 307987

All Other Dependant and Handicapped (spouse, child, brother/sister, and parent) Reliefs

Taxpayers who are eligible to claim the other dependant and handicapped dependant reliefs may do so when they file their tax returns. IRAS will compute the reliefs and the amounts will be shown in their Notices of Assessment. Please refer to Appendix A for a table of summary on how to make the claims.

e-Filing assistance

Taxpayers are encouraged to file early to avoid the last-minute rush. For e-Filing assistance, taxpayers may go to any of our e-Filing Service Centres including all CPF Service Centres, from 15 Mar to 17 Apr 2010. Please refer to Appendix B for the full list of e-Filing service centres.

For general enquiries, taxpayers may call 1800 3568300 or email [email protected]. For e-Filing queries, taxpayers may call 1800-2525011 during these operating hours.

Period Operating Hours
1 Mar to 31 Mar 2010 8a.m. to 5p.m. (Mon to Fri)
8a.m. to 1p.m. (Sat)
1 Apr to 17 Apr 2010 8a.m. to 7p.m. (Mon to Fri)
8a.m. to 5p.m. (Sat)
18 Apr (Sun) 10a.m. to 5 p.m.

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore

Appendices

  1. : At-a-glance: How to claim tax reliefs (PDF, 84KB)
  2. : e-Filing assistance located island-wide (PDF, 52KB)