Honourable Minister of Power and Energy,

Honourable Minister of Technology and Research,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen

Less than two months ago, IRAS celebrated our 20th anniversary as a statutory board. We have achieved many significant milestones – from being a mere tax administrator to a service-oriented organization that views taxpayers first as our customers, and then as our partners in nation building and economic development.

IRAS’ transformation over the years is the outcome of our never-ending quest for excellence. Being an organization that few would miss … because not many would voluntarily pay taxes if given a choice, IRAS could have merely been a tax collector, fulfilling our responsibility of collecting taxes through the judicious use of our powers. Yet we have chosen to embark on the Business Excellence journey – because we believe in giving our best to our nation and to the larger international community - and in so doing, realize our aspiration to be the leading tax administration in the world.

Over the years, we have introduced significant changes to help our taxpayers. Tax filing for individual taxpayers is now a breeze as it takes only minutes to complete a tax return given our extensive efforts in pre-filling returns with income and relief data obtained directly from source or our database. For those whose tax matters are relatively simpler, they do not need to file a tax return under the No-Filing Service.

We forged a voluntarily compliant taxpayer community by helping businesses set up proper systems and internal control programmes to manage their tax risks. Our service culture is strong, where even tax enforcement officers regularly receive compliments from errant taxpayers.

More recently, we committed ourselves to ensure that Singapore has a competitive tax system by proactively working with stakeholders to ensure that our tax policies are relevant and encourage enterprise. This will facilitate economic growth, so that businesses will be successful and Singaporeans will have good jobs and higher income.

We are very proud to receive the Global Performance Excellence Award from the Asia Pacific Quality Organisation (APQO). The award is a strong endorsement of our contributions towards Singapore’s economic growth and competitiveness in the global arena. The recognition will definitely spur us to blaze new trails of excellence in the next 20 years and beyond.

I would like to thank the Asia Pacific Quality Organisation and its team of assessors for their endorsement of IRAS as a World Class Organisation. Have a good evening. Thank you.