Some self-employed taxpayers in S’pore to get tax bills directly from Iras for the first time

SINGAPORE – Close to 500,000 taxpayers will be getting their tax bills directly from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) this tax season, with some self-employed individuals to benefit from this scheme for the first time.

From mid-March, these taxpayers will receive tax bills with their income information automatically included and tax reliefs pre-filled under the Direct Notice of Assessment initiative.

The initiative now extends to those who are self-employed, Iras said on March 11, because of income information

submitted by intermediaries

such as commission-paying organisations and private-hire car operators. Iras plans to roll this out to the majority of taxpayers over the next few years.

The 500,000 or so taxpayers will be among more than 1.9 million individuals who are eligible for the No-Filing Service – which means they are not required to file a tax return – Iras said.

To check if you will get your tax bill directly, go to the myTax portal’s notification centre or view Tax Matters at a Glance. Amendments can be made within 30 days from the date of your tax bill.

With changes in criteria for dependant-related tax reliefs taking effect from the 2025 year of assessment, or income from 2024, the authority reminded taxpayers to verify the pre-filled information provided in their tax returns.

Any changes that need to be made should be done through the

myTax portal

, and income tax returns need to be filed by April 18, said Iras.

In 2025, all tax residents will receive a

60 per cent personal income tax rebate

for income earned in the past year, capped at $200 per taxpayer, as outlined by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during his Budget speech on Feb 18.

There will also be changes to the annual income threshold for dependant-related reliefs, from $4,000 to $8,000.

The changes, which were announced in the 2024 Budget speech, will apply to spouse relief, parent relief, qualifying child relief, working mother’s child relief, Central Provident Fund cash top-up relief when top-ups are made to the accounts of spouses or siblings, and grandparent caregiver relief.

The working mother’s child relief will also be tweaked. Instead of being a percentage of an eligible working mother’s earned income, it will now be a fixed dollar tax relief for those with a qualifying child who is a Singapore citizen born or adopted on or after Jan 1, 2024.

The tax relief will amount to $8,000 for the first child, $10,000 for the second, and $12,000 for any subsequent children.

The last of the changes will affect those who are still filing their taxes physically – about 2 per cent of taxpaying individuals in the population.

To align with the deadline for those filing taxes electronically, the deadline for those filing their taxes on physical forms will now be April 18, instead of April 15.

The paper form will be provided to them between February and March, although Iras said it encourages taxpayers to shift to electronic filing.

For the payment of taxes, the authority recommends using payment methods such as Giro or PayNow QR.

It said individuals should click only on links that include “iras.gov.sg” or “go.gov.sg”, and that Iras will not ask for personal or confidential information through e-mail or unsecured internet links.