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Published: 25 November 2015

From 23 November 2015, the corporate operations of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board at the CPF Building, 79 Robinson Road will relocate to Novena Square Towers A and B. The relocation will free up prime office space in the Central Business District for higher-value uses.

The new CPF Board corporate address at Novena Square is:
238B Thomson Road
#08-00 Tower B Novena Square
Singapore 307685

The move does not affect the CPF Service Centre at 79 Robinson Road which will continue to operate on the second floor of CPF Building till further notice. The customer hotline (1800-227-1188) and email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) also remain unchanged.

The CPF Building at 79 Robinson Road has been put up for sale through a tender and bids are currently being evaluated.

Service Centre Operating Hours:
Mondays to Fridays: 8am to 5pm
Saturdays: 8am to 1pm (Robinson Road Service Centre is closed on Saturdays)

Customers are encouraged to make an appointment before visiting the Service Centres. Click HERE for more details.

Source: CPF Board

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Published: 21 November 2015

Singapore and Russia signed a Protocol on 17 November 2015 to amend the existing Singapore-Russia Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement (DTA).

The Protocol was signed in Moscow between Singapore’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Ms Lim Kheng Hua and Russian Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Sergey Shatalov.

Amongst other changes, the Protocol lengthens the threshold period for determining the presence of a permanent establishment and lowers the withholding tax rates for dividends, interest and royalties. These changes are expected to enhance trade and investment flows between the two countries.

The full text of the Protocol is available HERE. The Protocol will enter into force after its ratification by both countries.

Source: IRAS

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Published: 18 September 2015

BizFinx will be undergoing maintenance on 20 Sep 2015 (Sun) from 12am to 2pm. Annual Return filing will not be available. eNets Debit is also not available on 20 Sep 2015 (Sun) from 3am to 6am due to scheduled maintenance by OCBC Bank.

You may make payment for your transactions using:
Credit Card (Visa, Master and American Express)
ENets Debit (Internet Banking with Citibank, DBS or UOB)
Deposit Service Account (for professional firms only)

Source: ACRA/BizFile

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Published: 14 August 2015

There have been reported cases of individuals receiving emails, letters, Short Message Services (SMS), or phone calls purportedly from IRAS, requesting you to do one or more of the following:

• Open an email link or file attachment to review your income or tax statement;
• Transfer a sum of money, supposedly for tax purposes, to accounts belonging to named individuals (usually an overseas account); and/or
• Pay sums of money to named individuals (usually a party not residing in Singapore) before an inheritance/estate of a deceased party is released.
• Provide your bank account numbers to claim tax refunds, enjoy cash rewards, or pay outstanding tax bills; and/or
• Provide confidential personal information such as personal particulars, personal identification numbers, passwords and bank account numbers, either by completing a form on a website or to someone who impersonates as IRAS staff.

For your own interest, please be extra careful when you receive unsolicited emails, letters, SMSes, phone calls, online chats or all other forms of communication asking you to provide confidential or personal information. Under no circumstances should you give personal information including credit card or banking details to third parties via email, letter, SMS or phone.

Important Note:

1. Lately, scam emails that mimicked IRAS’ email address ending with “ @iras.gov.sg” have been sent to some members of the public. Certain parts of the email details have been changed by the scammers to make them appear as if the email was sent by IRAS. Such scam emails usually carried a file attachment requesting the recipients to open it. You are advised not to click on any link or open any attachment in the email as it may contain computer virus.
2. IRAS does not send out official emails from personal email accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail, or other unfamiliar email domains. IRAS’ email replies are usually signed off with an officer's name, designation and contact information. IRAS also does not send out confidential documents such as tax return forms, notices of assessment, refund letters or other tax statements through unsecured emails. Confidential documents are deposited in the secured tax portal at mytax.iras.gov.sg. Taxpayers may log in to the portal using their SingPass to retrieve their tax statements or e-File their tax returns via mytax.iras.gov.sg.
3. IRAS will not ask you to provide your confidential personal details through emails. We encourage you to use myTax Mail to correspond with IRAS. If your enquiry contains confidential information, we will respond to you via myTax Mail.
4. When you make a cheque payment for tax, it must only be made payable to one of the relevant payees, as given below :

• Comptroller of Income Tax
• Comptroller of Goods & Services Tax
• Comptroller of Property Tax
• Commissioner of Stamp Duties

Here are some tips to recognise a scam:

Promises of money for little or no effort
Deals that sound too good to be true
Peculiar email addresses and website URLs

How to report a scam

Anyone who has received a suspicious email, letter, SMS or phone call purportedly from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) should immediately contact IRAS at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on 1800 356 8225 to verify the authenticity of such request.

Do not respond to them or click on any hyperlink in the email. In the case of suspicious phone calls, you should request for the caller’s full name, telephone number and department and validate this through our QSM helpline at 1800 356 8225.

If you suspect that you have responded to a phishing scam with personal or financial information, you are advised to:

• lodge a police report;
• change the passwords or PINs on all your online accounts; and
• contact your banks to stop any transactions.

Source: IRAS

Details

Published: 08 August 2015

All companies, regardless of annual revenue, can now e-File their Corporate Income Tax returns. E-Filing of Simplified Form C (Form C-S)¹ was first introduced for small companies in 2012, and the take-up has been encouraging. IRAS is now extending the convenience of e-Filing of Form C to all companies, allowing companies with annual revenue of more than $1 million to enjoy the benefits of e-Filing for the first time from Jun 2015.

The availability of e-Filing for Form C also means that companies can go fully paperless when it comes to tax matters, thanks to a full suite of e-Services for companies – whether it is filing of GST returns, Corporate Income Tax returns, or Withholding Tax, companies can benefit from reduced compliance costs and productivity gains while enjoying the convenience of going paperless.

More Small Companies Switching to e-Filing

The number of small companies that have e-Filed Form C-S has grown steadily since 2012, with about 10 per cent more qualifying companies choosing to e-File each year. IRAS expects the number to continue growing, and encourages companies who have not made the switch to do so.

Companies and Tax Agents Benefit from e-FIling Form C/C-S

Tax agents who e-Filed Form C-S or participated in the pilot run of Form C e-Filing last year enjoyed the convenience of being able to file anytime, anyplace. Without the need to submit original, signed hardcopies of the forms, clients’ busy schedules and overseas trips become less of an obstacle to getting them submitted on time.

Companies and tax agents also noted a reduction in printing and courier charges, which led to greater cost savings.

Other benefits of e-Filing include:

• 15-day extension till 15 December to file the tax return, instead of 30 Nov
• Filing assistance with the iHelp facility, in-built formulae that auto-fill certain fields and an estimate of tax payable
• Function to save draft version up to 15 Dec until it is ready for submission
• Instant acknowledgment upon successful e-Filing

Corporate Tax Season 2015- FIle by 30 Nov, e-File by 15 Dec

IRAS would like to remind all companies to file their income tax returns by 30 Nov 2015. All companies will need to file a tax return, even if there was no business done, so long as they have received the Form C or Form C-S package. Companies that e-File have up to 15 Dec 2015 to do so.

¹ Companies with annual revenue of $1million or less can file their tax returns using Form C-S, a simplified 3-page tax return. More information on Form C-S is available HERE.

Source: IRAS