Striking Off a Company

Companies are required to settle all outstanding tax liabilities and obligations with IRAS before applying for strike off with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). Otherwise, IRAS will object to your ACRA strike off application and your strike off application will take longer to be cleared. Where IRAS’ objection is not resolved within 2 months from our objection date, companies will need to submit a new ACRA strike off application again after IRAS’ objection is cleared. Learn more about the ACRA striking off process at ACRA’s website.

Requirement to Settle Outstanding Tax Liabilities

Companies’ tax liabilities and obligations are considered settled when: 

  1. All Corporate Income Tax Returns (Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C) are filed up to the date of business cessation. If your company is filing Form C, the (1) financial statements/ certified accounts and (2) tax computation(s) for the relevant Year of Assessment (YA) must also be submitted.
  2. File your Corporate Income Tax Returns using the following digital services at mytax.iras.gov.sgSubmissions via other modes besides digital services will have a longer finalisation time of up to 6 months. View this flowchart (PDF, 148KB) to understand more about the assessment process for companies applying for strike off.
    Digital Service at mytax.iras.gov.sg  For Advance YA Corporate Income Tax ReturnFor Current/ Back YA Corporate Income Tax Return

    Apply for Waiver/ File last Form C-S/ C (Dormant/ Striking Off) digital service

    Expected submission time: 10 minutes 

    • Advance YA refers to YA where the File Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C digital service ("Corporate Income Tax Returns") is not yet available. The Corporate Income Tax Returns for each YA are usually available from May of each year e.g. YA 2023 Corporate Income Tax Returns will be available from May 2023.  
    • Where a company’s business cessation date falls on an advance YA, the company will need to use this digital service to access the advance YA Corporate Income Tax Return.  For better clarity, please view examples 1 and 2 below. 
    • After submitting the waiver application, you can file the advance YA Corporate Income Tax Return:
    • • Via a link at the waiver application acknowledgement page; or   

      • Go to Main Menu > Corporate Tax > File Form C-S/ C at mytax.iras.gov.sg.

    • Companies have 21 days from the date of the waiver application to file their advance YA Corporate Income Tax Return.
      ×

      File Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C digital service

      Expected submission time: 10-30 minutes per Form 

       

      Example 1: Date of Cessation of Business Falls Within Advance YA

      Company A with a 31 Dec financial year end ceased business on 31 Mar 2023 and wishes to apply for strike off in Jul 2023. As the business ceased on 31 Mar 2023, Company A needs to file its Corporate Income Tax Returns for the following YAs:

      • YA 2023 for basis period: 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022
      • YA 2024 for basis period: 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Mar 2023

      As at Jul 2023, the File Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C digital service is available up to YA 2023. The YA 2024 Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C is only available in May 2024. As such, Company A should use the following digital service to file its Corporate Income Tax Returns up to the business cessation date (i.e. 31 Mar 2023):

      Example 2: Date of Cessation of Business Falls Within Current YA

      Company B with a 31 Dec financial year end ceased business on 31 Mar 2022 and wishes to apply for strike off in Jul 2023. As the business ceased on 31 Mar 2022, Company B only needs to file YA 2023 Corporate Income Tax Return (basis period of 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Mar 2022) using the File Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C digital service. Company B need not use the Apply for Waiver/ File last Form C-S/ C (Dormant/ Striking Off) digital service.

    • All outstanding tax matters are settled with IRAS (e.g. there are no outstanding queries from IRAS, assessments are finalised for all YAs and the related taxes and penalties (if any) are paid).
    •  

    • GST registration is cancelled and there are no outstanding GST matters. You can check if your company is GST-registered via the Register of GST-registered Businesses. It is not necessary to log in to mytax.iras.gov.sg to access this service.
    Do not close your company's bank accounts until all outstanding matters are settled. Once your company's bank account is closed and there is a tax credit (i.e. tax refund) owing to your company, IRAS will not be able to pay over the tax credit to a third party (e.g. director, shareholder). When your company is dissolved, the tax credit due to your company will be paid over to the Insolvency Office. Your company’s shareholders may then approach the Insolvency Office if they wish to claim the tax credit, and charges will be imposed by the Insolvency Office for the processing of the claim. Find out how to make a claim at the Insolvency Office's website.

    When your company has been successfully struck off and dissolved, you must ensure that all books and papers of your company are retained for a period of at least 5 years from the date on which your company was dissolved. This responsibility also falls on any person who was an officer (generally referring to any director, secretary or person employed in an executive capacity) of your company immediately before your company was dissolved.

    How to Check for Outstanding Tax Liabilities

    mytax.iras.gov.sg

    You may access the following digital services at mytax.iras.gov.sg to check if your company has any outstanding tax issues:

    Corporate Income Tax

    • View Corporate Tax Filing Status (e.g. to check if any Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C is outstanding or whether the tax assessment has been finalised for a particular YA)
    • View Notices/ Letters - Corporate Tax (e.g. to view Notices of Assessment or letters issued by IRAS)
    • View Account Summary (e.g. to view the balance in your Corporate Income Tax account)
    • View Payment Plan

    Learn how to access the above Corporate Income Tax digital services.

    GST

    • View GST Filing Status (e.g. to check the status of GST returns or if there are any outstanding returns)
    • View GST Notices (e.g. to view acknowledgement page for submitted GST F5/ F7/ F8 returns)
    • View Account Summary (e.g. to view your GST account balance)
    • View Payment Plan

    Learn how to access the above GST digital services.

    Integrated Phone Services

    You can use our 24-hour toll-free automated answering services to check if your company has any outstanding Corporate Income Tax or GST issues.

    Corporate Income Tax

    • Assessment Status (e.g. whether the tax assessment has been finalised)
    • Status of Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C and Financial Statements (e.g. whether these items are pending submission)

    GST

    • GST Registration or De-registration Status

    Learn how to use our Integrated Phone Services.


    IRAS does not issue tax clearance letters for the purpose of applying for strike off. You can retrieve the following documents from mytax.iras.gov.sg to establish that the company has no outstanding tax matter or tax liability:

    • Tax matter - Latest Notice of Assessment issued by IRAS
    • Tax liability - Latest Statement of Accounts issued by IRAS


    FAQs

    1. My company ceased business during the financial year ending 31 Mar 2023 and intends to apply for strike off. If the company has used the Apply for Waiver/ File last Form C-S/ C (Dormant/ Striking Off) digital service and filed the Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C, financial statements and tax computation up to the date of cessation of business (i.e. the Year of Assessment (YA) 2024), is it still required to file the Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) for YA 2024?

      Your company is not required to file the ECI for YA 2024, as it has already filed the Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C, financial statements and tax computation for that YA. We will review and finalise the YA 2024 assessment based on the Form C-S/ Form C-S (Lite)/ Form C, financial statements and tax computation filed.

    2. My company received a notification from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) informing us that IRAS has lodged an objection to the company’s striking off application. What should the company do?

      IRAS will lodge an objection to your company's application for strike off if your company has outstanding tax matters. Your company is required to resolve the objection on the outstanding tax matters within 2 months from the date the objection is lodged. Otherwise, your company's strike off application will lapse and you will need to apply to ACRA for strike off again.

    3. My company has been struck off/ has amalgamated with another company. Am I still able to access mytax.iras.gov.sg to view and/or download my company’s Corporate Income Tax notices?

      A company ceases to exist when it has been struck off or has amalgamated with another company and it is not the surviving entity of the amalgamation. Access to Corporate Income Tax digital services at mytax.iras.gov.sg, including the View Notices/ Letters - Corporate Tax digital service, will no longer be available as there is no further need for the company to transact with IRAS. Should your company require its Corporate Income Tax notices, you must arrange for the notices to be downloaded and saved prior to its strike off with ACRA or date of amalgamation.

    De-registration by Singapore Branches of Foreign Companies

    Singapore branches of foreign companies must pay outstanding taxes and fulfil all tax obligations as part of the process of de-registering the branch.

    Requirement to Settle Outstanding Tax Liabilities

    Section 377(1) of the Companies Act 1967 requires the Singapore branch of a foreign company to lodge a notice with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) within 7 days after it ceases to have a place of business or to carry on business in Singapore.

    The branch should also inform IRAS in writing at the same time that it informs ACRA so that the tax matters and tax liabilities of the Singapore branch can be settled.

    The written notification to IRAS must include:

    • Subject header 'Cessation of Business in Singapore'
    • Date of cessation of business in Singapore in dd/mm/yyyy format
    • Name and contact details of a person whom IRAS can liaise with on tax matters
    • All outstanding Corporate Income Tax Returns (Form C), financial statements and tax computations up to the last day of business

    Generally, IRAS strives to complete all assessments within 1 month of receipt of complete information. However, in the event that IRAS requires further information from branches with more complex affairs or the branches have submitted incomplete information, IRAS may take up to 6 months to review the assessments. This flowchart (PDF, 148KB) illustrates the assessment process for branches that have ceased registration.