The Ministry of Finance is conducting a public consultation on the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2015 from 26 June to 24 July 2015 to invite interested parties to provide feedback on the Bill.

Proposed Amendments

2. The proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act (“ITA”) mainly relate to the changes announced in the 2015 Budget Statement. The key changes include:

a) Extend and enhance the Merger & Acquisition (“M&A”) scheme for five years till 31 March 2020 to provide greater support to SMEs in their strategic acquisitions. The M&A allowance rate was increased from 5% to 25%, with the acquisition cost cap lowered from $100 million to $20 million. The total amount of the M&A allowance remains unchanged at $5 million;

b) Introduce a new International Growth Scheme, to provide more targeted support for internationalisation activities undertaken by larger Singapore companies via a concessionary tax rate of 10% for five years till 31 March 2020;

c) Enhance the Double Tax Deduction for Internationalisation scheme to cover qualifying manpower expenses incurred for Singaporeans posted to new overseas entities;

d) Enhance progressivity of the personal income tax rate structure by increasing the marginal tax rates for resident individual taxpayers with chargeable income exceeding $160,000, and introducing a new 22% tax rate, with effect from YA 2017; and

e) Extend the 250% tax deduction for qualifying donations for three years from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018, to instill a culture of giving. The tax deduction rate will be further enhanced to 300% for qualifying donations made in 2015 as part of the SG50 jubilee celebration.

3. The Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2015 also provides for refinements to existing tax policies and tax administration arising from on-going reviews of Singapore’s income tax system. These refinements include 16 changes, such as to:

a) Exempt from tax the deemed withdrawals from Supplementary Retirement Scheme (“SRS”), of up to $400,000, upon death or on the ground of terminal illness. This is to ensure parity on the amount of SRS savings that could have been withdrawn tax-free had the amount been withdrawn over the full 10-year period. The change ensures that the SRS member is not unduly disadvantaged in the event of death or terminal illness;

b) Align the personal income tax rate for individual non-tax-residents to the new top marginal tax rate of individual tax residents of 22%.

Consultation Details

4. The public can access the detailed consultation documents for the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2015 on the Ministry of Finance's website (www.mof.gov.sg) and the REACH consultation portal (www.reach.gov.sg). Respondents may send their comments to the Ministry of Finance directly via the website, email, fax or post.

Ministry of Finance