Four benefits Commission Agents can enjoy with pre-filling of income

Are you a commission agent (e.g. real estate, insurance, financial advisor, or multi-level marketing agent) and is your commission-paying organisation submitting your income information to IRAS?

If your answer is ‘Yes’, good news! With your Income Tax Return pre-filled, you can enjoy these benefits:

Simplified income tax filing with pre-filled income information
Minimise errors during the self-declaration process
Automatic computation of business expenses based on the fixed expense deduction ratio (FEDR) if qualifying conditions are met
Potentially enjoy No-Filing Service (NFS)

Did you know? Even if your commission-paying organisation submits your income information to IRAS, you are still required to file an Income Tax Return unless you have been selected for NFS. Log in to myTax Portal to verify the pre-filled income and declare your other sources of income (e.g. rental income) if any.

Fixed Expense Deduction Ratio (FEDR)

You will automatically be allowed a deemed business expense (i.e. FEDR) of 25% of pre-filled gross commission income if qualifying conditions are met.

To claim FEDR, you must fulfil all the qualifying conditions below:

1. Carried on a trade, business, profession or vocation;

2. Incurred allowable business expenses on the income earned; and

3. Your total annual gross revenue (including commission, referral fees, training fees, retail profits, allowances, incentives, etc) from all sources as a commission agent does not exceed $50,000.

Did you know? If your actual amount of allowable business expenses is more than the FEDR, you can choose to claim the actual allowable business expenses incurred in earning your income instead of the FEDR.

Still unsure? Below are some commonly asked questions and answers:

1. How do I know if my commission-paying organisation is submitting my income information to IRAS?

Use the ‘Search Commission-Paying Organisation’ search engine to check whether your commission-paying organisation is required to submit the income information of its commission agents to IRAS.

2. I have received a notification from IRAS that I am required to file an Income Tax Return. However, my commission income is not pre-filled in my tax return. What should I do?

Use the ‘Search Commission-Paying Organisation’ search engine to check your commission-paying organisation’s submission status if they are required to submit the commission agents’ income information to IRAS. If they have not done so, please request your commission-paying organisation to submit the information to IRAS.

You will need to declare your annual gross commission income along with other sources of income, if any, and file your Income Tax Return by 18 April.

3. The income that is pre-filled in my electronic Income Tax Return is different from my commission statement. What should I do?

If there is an error in the income records, please inform your commission-paying organisation to submit an amendment to IRAS.

You may view the amended income information in myTax Portal within 7 days after your commission-paying organisation has submitted the amended records to IRAS. If the amended records are not reflected by the filing due date (i.e., 18 April), you should amend the ‘Revenue (Total Sales/Income)’ to reflect the correct amount and submit the Income Tax Return by 18 April to avoid late filing penalties.

For more information about the Pre-filling of Income initiative for SEPs, visit go.gov.sg/iras-prefilling.