Over 12,000 employers on IRAS auto-inclusion scheme for tax reporting failed to file on time in 2025
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IRAS said most of the employers that had been fined were in the food and beverage, wholesale trade and construction industries.
PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE - Over 12,000 employers, or about one in 10, on the local tax authority’s auto-inclusion scheme (AIS), which allows employees to enjoy pre-filled tax returns, missed the deadline in 2025.
This caused inaccurate or delayed tax assessments for over 160,000 employees, said the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) on Feb 2.
A total of 1,207 repeat offenders were prosecuted in 2025, resulting in penalties exceeding $1 million.
The authority said that most of the employers that were fined were in the food and beverage, wholesale trade and construction industries.
IRAS reminded employers to submit their employees’ income information by March 1.
This applies to all employers on the AIS, even if they had fewer than five employees in 2025, and employers that started having five or more employees during 2025.
Employers who do not file on time can be fined up to $5,000. Key individuals of non-compliant employers such as company directors or partners can also be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to 12 months, or both.
IRAS said 11,000 new employers joined the AIS base in 2026, bringing the total to 123,000. They would have received a letter from IRAS in January informing them of their AIS obligations.
Over two million employees are expected to benefit from the AIS in 2026.
According to IRAS’ website, employers on the AIS can send their employees’ income details directly to the authority from their payroll software or submit them online via myTax Portal.
This means that employees do not need to manually key in their income details when they file their tax returns, reducing the risk of errors.
IRAS urged employers to submit complete and accurate employment income information for their employees.
Some common errors that are made by employers include omitting taxable benefits-in-kind, as well as employee income and benefits outside the payroll system; incorrectly reporting accommodation benefits; and under-reporting gains from exercising stock options.
Submitting inaccurate employees’ employment income information is an offence and may result in a penalty of up to double the amount of tax undercharged, IRAS noted.
Employers are encouraged to voluntarily disclose any past errors or omissions in their employees’ information immediately for reduced penalties under the authority’s voluntary disclosure programme.
Details on the programme can be found at go.gov.sg/iras-iitvdp
