22 suggestions were accepted and incorporated into the upcoming amendment Bill

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) held a public consultation exercise on the draft Income Tax (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2016 from 8 July to 29 July 2016. The draft Bill proposed legislative amendments to effect tax changes announced in Budget 2016 on 24 March 2016, other changes arising from the periodic review of the income tax system, as well as an amendment to enable implementation of Country-by-Country Reporting.

Most of the feedback received focused on the following tax changes: 

• Introduction of the Business and Institute of a Public Character Partnership Scheme
• Introduction of a specific anti-avoidance mechanism for writing down allowances on intellectual property rights transfers
• Allocation of pre-commencement expenses to income streams that are assessed to tax under different tax rates

Key items of feedback are highlighted in Annex A (PDF, 192KB).

MOF received a total of 48 suggestions, of which 22 suggestions were accepted, with consequent revisions to be made to the draft text of the Bill. The remaining suggestions were not accepted, as they were inconsistent either with the legislative drafting conventions or the policy objectives of the proposed legislative changes.

MOF would like to thank all individuals and organisations who have taken the time and effort to provide their inputs.

Ministry of Finance