Commission-paying organisations, here's what to do if you received a notice from IRAS
IRAS would have sent you a Notice if your organisation makes payments to commission agents who are not employees (e.g. real estate agents, insurance agents, financial advisors, multi-level marketing agents, remisiers).
From Year of Assessment (YA) 2024, all commission-paying organisations are required under the law to collect, retain and submit the identification and income information of their commission agents (including non-individuals) if they receive notice(s) from IRAS informing them to do so.
Not only does this help simplify the commission agent’s tax compliance burden, as the information is pre-filled in his/ her tax return, this also ensures greater accuracy in the organisation’s records, which in turn minimises potential disputes with commission agents regarding their income; and helps your organisation better comply with IRAS’ record keeping requirements on its expenditure.
At the same time, the commission agents that your organisation makes payment to will enjoy easy and convenient tax filing.
During this year’s tax season, some 650 commission-paying organisations already onboarded the e-Submission of Commission by submitting income information of their commission agents to IRAS.
Ahead of next year’s tax season, IRAS has issued Notices to newly identified commission-paying intermediaries to collect and retain their commission agents’ identification and income information.
If you are unsure whether your organisation is registered under the e-Submission of Commission, simply do a search by using this Commission-Paying Intermediary search engine.
Scenario 1: My organisation received a “Notice to Collect and Retain Identification Information and Income Information” from IRAS.
[For NEW organisations not registered under the e-Submission of Commission]
Your organisation will be required to register for the e-Submission of Commission and provide additional information at go.gov.sg/iras-commission by 30 Sep.
Your organisation must collect and retain the identification information, as well as the income information of commission agents who are not your employees (including non-individuals) from the effective date stated in the Notice.
[For EXISTING organisations registered under the e-Submission of Commission]
If your organisation submitted commission income information to IRAS in the past, it is likely to already be registered under the e-Submission of Commission.
If your organisation subsequently receives the “Notice to Submit Identification Information and Income Information”, the organisation must submit the required information to IRAS between 2 Jan and 1 Mar in the specified year. Do submit by early Feb to avoid last minute rush!
Scenario 2: My organisation received a “Notice to Collect and Retain Identification Information and Income Information” from IRAS but did not make/ will not be making payment to commission agents (including non-individuals).
[For NEW organisations not registered under the e-Submission of Commission]
Complete the registration form at go.gov.sg/iras-commission.
Please select ‘No’ when completing Questions 3 and 4 of the registration form, and declare that your organisation:
- did not pay/ does not have the intention to pay commission or any other income in the current year to commission agents; and/ or
- does not have the intention to pay commission or any other income next year onwards for services provided by commission agents.
[For EXISTING organisations registered under the e-Submission of Commission]
Complete the declaration/ enquiry form at go.gov.sg/iras-commission-enquiry.
When completing the form, please declare that your organisation:
- did not make payments to commission agents in the preceding year; and/ or
- did not pay/ does not have the intention to make any payments to commission agents in the current and future years.
If your organisation makes commission payments in future, submit a new registration form at go.gov.sg/iras-commission.
Scenario 3: My organisation made payment to commission agents but did not receive any notices from IRAS.
Your organisation will need to register for e-Submission of Commission at go.gov.sg/iras-commission.