What is seamless filing?

In line with the Smart Nation initiative to help SMEs stay relevant and competitive, ACRA and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) have partnered accounting software providers to co-create a new digital solution that allows SMEs to automate the preparation and filing of statutory filings with ACRA and IRAS seamlessly.

The seamless filing solution incorporates the requirements for filing tax and annual returns into the accounting software, allowing companies to record their operating transactions and generate the required statutory filings using the accounting software. The software is linked to ACRA and IRAS via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which enables companies to file their statutory filings without the need to log in to ACRA and IRAS portals.

Benefits

Currently, smaller companies can take up to about 9 hours to manually prepare and file the annual and tax returns with both ACRA and IRAS. With this new seamless filing initiative, it now takes about half-an-hour for these companies to prepare and file Annual Return with Financial Statements in Simplified XBRL format with ACRA, and Corporate Income Tax Return (Form C-S) with IRAS at one go. This translates into time saving of more than 90% for these companies, enabling them to improve efficiency and productivity. Any errors in the annual return and tax filings would also be minimised as the filings are auto-generated using the accounting data within the software, and submitted directly to both agencies.  

seamless filing

Who is it for

The seamless filing solution is suitable for smaller companies with simple tax affairs and accounting transactions. The following types of companies are encouraged to adopt the seamless filing solution:

ACRA filings

A company can file Annual Return and Financial Statements (in Simplified XBRL format) with ACRA using the accounting software if it meets the following conditions:
(a) The company has revenue of S$500,0001 or less for the current financial year;
(b) The company has total assets of S$500,0001 or less as at the current financial year-end; and
(c) The company is not
  • listed or is in the process of issuing its debt or equity instruments for trading on a securities exchange in Singapore;
  • listed on a securities exchange outside Singapore; and
  • a financial institution. 

1 The amount threshold of S$500,000 is determined based on the current financial year in the financial statements or (where the company is a parent company) consolidated financial statements as required to be prepared under the Companies Act, regardless of the number of months in that current financial year. 

A company can file Annual Return with ACRA using the accounting software if it meets the following condition:
The company is either:
  • filing financial statements in PDF format as company limited by guarantee; or 
  • not required to file financial statements with ACRA as a solvent exempt private company or a dormant relevant company. 

IRAS filings

A company can file tax returns to IRAS using the accounting software if it meets the following conditions:

(a) The company must qualify to file Form C-S, i.e.
  • incorporated in Singapore; 
  • has an annual revenue of $5 million or below in the preceding financial year; 
  • derives income taxable at prevailing corporate tax rate of 17%;
  • Not claiming or utilising carry-back of current year capital allowance or losses, group relief, investment allowance or foreign tax credit and tax deducted at source; (
(b) The company maintains Singapore dollar as its functional and presentation currency;
(c) The company is not an investment holding company or a service company that provides only related party services; and
(d) The company does not own subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures, and has no investment in intangibles.

Adopting the seamless filing solution

Companies interested in the seamless filing solution can contact the list of software vendors (PDF, 164KB).  The list will be updated periodically to include more software solutions that integrate the seamless filing feature.

Grants Available

SMEs can tap on existing government grants such as the Productivity Solutions Grant, SMEs Go Digital Programme and Digital Resilience Bonus to get a head start in going digital.

Please contact the respective agencies or visit their websites for details.

Type of Grant  Target Audience Incentive  
Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) 
- Offered by Enterprise Singapore		 Businesses can tap on existing PSG for purchase of software from ESG's existing list of pre-approved Accounting Management Solutions.

Eligible for SMEs who are:
(i) Registered & operating in Singapore
(ii) Purchase / Lease / subscription of the IT solutions or equipment must be used in Singapore		 Up to 80%1, capped at $30,000 per enterprise per year.

Available for an SME's first purchase of a solution. Subsequent purchase of the solution qualifies if it is deployed at a different location.

1 From 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020 only
SMEs Go Digital - Administered by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)  Aims to help SMEs use digital capabilities to seize growth opportunities in the digital economy.

Targeted for newly incorporated SMEs that are new to using digital technology. 		 Minimum 6 month free subscription with a minimum 18-month contract period. 
Digital Resilience Bonus offered by IMDA  Targeted for SMEs in the Food Services & Retail Sectors  Food Services and Retail enterprises that have PayNow Corporate, e-invoicing, and use pre-defined categories of digital solutions for Business Processes, Digital Presence and Data Mining and Analytics can receive bonus payouts of up to $10,000. 

FAQs

Check out the FAQs. 
 
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