We refer to the letter 'Unpaid taxes so...' by Mr Chua Wing Heng in TODAY on 23 May 2011.

We recover tax arrears from the national surplus-sharing by the government, such as Growth Dividend and Workfare Special Bonus.

These are taxpayers who have long overdue tax arrears and did not make payment arrangements. Notices are sent out to these taxpayers when we recover tax arrears through such government payouts for the first time.

We do so only as a last resort and when all previous attempts by us to get them to pay their taxes have failed. It is only fair that these taxpayers should pay their taxes like other tax paying citizens, before receiving the payouts. Even then, we have made an exception for those who are in financial hardship and have come forward to work out a payment plan for their taxes.

Taxpayers who are in genuine financial difficulty can arrange for an instalment payment plan or in some cases, we may allow taxpayers to defer their tax payment for a period of time.

We have contacted Mr Chua and worked out a payment plan for him.