Technical file format/specifications

• The server/ software/ application must be able to meet the pre-requisites to:
  1. Support the following protocols: HTTP/2, TLS 1.2/1.3, and
     
  2. Trigger HTTP/GET and HTTP/POST requests.
     
• The server/ software/ application must have a Callback URL to redirect users to the payroll software after Corppass login and consent. The Callback URL must use Fully Qualified Domain Name (FDQN), and meet all of the following requirements:
  
  1. Must be able to accept parameters,
     
  2. Must not contain IP address, port number, Hash (#) or Wildcard (*) characters, and
     
  3. Must not be the same URL for Sandbox and Production environments

Your payroll system must be able to support at least one of the formats (TXT and/or XML). If your payroll system supports the XML format only, you may refer to the “specifications of TXT files for all forms” document as a reference for the business rules that apply to the corresponding fields of the XML format.

All amount fields will only accept value in Number (9). 

• If decimals exist for income fields, to round down the amount to the nearest dollar.
• If decimals exist for deduction fields, to round up the amount to the nearest dollar.

The following data items will not be required:

• Citizenship
• Formatted Address (Block/ House No., Street name, Level No., Unit No., Postal Code)
• Cessation Provision Indicator
• Compensation for loss of office Indicator
• Gratuity/ Notice Pay/ Ex-gratia payment/ Others indicator
• Period of Gross Commission payment
• Commission Payment Type
• Breakdown for Allowances items: Transport, Entertainment and Others
• Approval obtained from IRAS for loss of office compensation
• Approval date on compensation for loss of office
• Pension (combine ‘Pension’ with ‘Retirement benefits’)
  

Form IR8S will not be required.

Please note that interest on refund of employee’s CPF contribution remains taxable. Any refund claim amount must be submitted under the item ‘Allowances’ in the IR8A form.

The maximum number of Employee Equity-Based Remuneration Scheme (EEBR) records allowed per employee will be increased to 30, up from 15.

Number of shares, Exercise price and OMV per share at exercise date will only accept values in Decimal (9,5). 
All the Gross Amount of Gains fields will only accept values in Decimal (9,2). 
If the Total Gains and Profits amount from Share Options for S10(1)(b) and S10(1)(g) contain decimals, drop the decimals when populating the amount into the corresponding field in IR8A.

The following data items will not be required:

• Open Market Value Per Share as at the Date of Grant of ESOP/ESOW Plan
• Gross amount qualifying for income tax exemption for stock option plans under ERIS
• Gross amount not qualifying for tax exemption
• Date of Incorporation for ERIS (for start-up only)

The calculation of the gross amount of gains from ESOP/ESOW Plan will also be adjusted correspondingly.

Tax changes and new government initiatives may result in changes to the technical file format/ specifications. We will publish the changes on our website by Aug every year and inform all AIS payroll software vendors via email.

Yes, our API endpoints have to be triggered from a Server-to-Server connection. Your server/ software/ application must be able to:

1.  Support the following protocols: HTTP/2, TLS 1.2/1.3, and 
2.  Trigger HTTP/GET and HTTP/POST requests.

A Callback URL is also required to redirect users to the payroll software after Corppass login and consent. The Callback URL must use Fully Qualified Domain Name (FDQN), and meet all of the following requirements:

1.  Must be able to accept parameters, 
2.  Must not contain IP address, port number, Hash (#) or Wildcard (*) characters, and
3.  Must not be the same URL for sandbox and production environments.

Vendors should mimic the fields in the official copy of the income tax forms (https://go.gov.sg/iras-formir8a) to customise the printouts. The payroll software should be able to capture these fields’ input based on the file format specifications, and generate the printout accordingly.

For clients who are in the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS), the following statement must be displayed at the top header of the form(s):

“This statement can only be issued by an employer in the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) and is for your retention. The information in this statement will be automatically included in your income tax return, so you need not declare them in your tax form. You can check if your employer is in the AIS at IRAS website, https://go.gov.sg/iras-ais-search.”

There are instances where the same company has more than one payroll system administrated by different departments or HR personnel as the nature of income is different. For such cases, the amount given in two different files should be added and not overwritten.

To avoid confusion to the filing of employment income details, changes to the amounts must be given as the difference.

Employers participating in the Auto-Inclusion Scheme can submit via 2 modes:

a) e-Submission of Employment Income

b) Provident and Tax (PAT) system

IRAS’ file format specifications are for employers submitting via a). If you plan to support employers submitting via b), you must use the file specifications provided by CrimsonLogic. For enquiries pertaining to Provident and Tax system, please contact CrimsonLogic at 6887 7888 or email to [email protected].

No. IRAS’ applications use the Secure Socket Layers (SSL) technology, which is the industry standard protocol for secure, web-based communications and transactions.  SSL creates a secure communication channel between the server and the consumer’s browser. SSL provides message privacy by encrypting all information exchanged between the web server and the consumer’s browser.