Ministry of Finance seeks public feedback on changes to income tax act

The Ministry of Finance is seeking public comments on the changes to be made to the income tax act so that Singapore can cooperate more easily with other countries to catch tax cheats.

Last month, the Government announced that Singapore will sign up to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) multilateral treaty on sharing tax details.

Singapore will also now extend help to existing partners under a global standard without having to renegotiate tax agreements.

These two changes bring the number of countries with which Singapore can exchange information from 41 to 83.

Furthermore, the tax authorities here will soon no longer need a court order to obtain bank and trust information to help other countries.

Finally, the Government will also sign a deal with the United States to make it simpler for financial institutions here to comply with a new US tax law - the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act - that comes into effect next year.

The Ministry of Finance welcomes the public to provide feedback on these proposed amendments to the income tax act.

The public can access the consultation documents for the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2013 on the Ministry of Finance's website, www.mof.gov.sg, and the Reach consultation portal, www.reach.gov.sg.

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