Singapore launches Seamless Filing Initiative

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can now automate the preparation and filing of their statutory returns seamlessly with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) using dedicated accounting software.

The seamless filing solution incorporates the requirements for filing tax and annual returns into the accounting software, which will automatically generate the required returns for companies with simple tax affairs and accounting transactions. The software is linked to ACRA and IRAS via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which enable companies to file their statutory filings without the need to log in to ACRA and IRAS portals.

The initiative is in line with Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative to help SMEs stay relevant and competitive by equipping them with innovative solutions to digitalise their operations and improve productivity. An estimated 200,000 SMEs potentially stand to benefit.

Companies are required to file annual returns with ACRA and corporate income tax returns with IRAS annually. Smaller firms can take up to about nine hours to manually prepare these returns and file them with both agencies, but this time is shortened to 30 minutes with the new seamless filing initiative. Any errors will also be minimised because the filings are auto-generated using the accounting data within the software, and submitted directly to both agencies.

ACRA divisional director for customer experience Ang Siok Hui said the agency plans to extend the seamless filing solution to more statutory filings in due course through private and public partnerships.