Nudging Form M taxpayers towards online filing
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The project: Nudging Form M taxpayers towards online filing
What you need to know about Form M
If you are a foreigner, Singapore permanent resident or Singapore citizen residing outside Singapore permanently and own a property in Singapore, chances are you are renting out the property for rental income.
Filing paper Form M can be inconvenient as this group of overseas taxpayers need to manually fill in the form every year and also post the forms to IRAS. There could also be risks of delays in postal mail or even lost mail as these mail go through the international postal system. To address these issues, IRAS reached out to Form M taxpayers to encourage them to sign up for Singpass Foreign User Accounts and file their Form M online.
Through this initiative, 70.4 per cent of Form M taxpayers e-Filed in Year of Assessment 2024 and enjoyed the convenience of pre-filled rental income for subsequent years’ filing and earlier tax bills.
The team: Converting Form M paper filers to file digitally
The team that initiated the project to convert paper filing of Form M to digital filing was confident that with the right nudges, paper filers could benefit from digital filing and the convenient services of IRAS’ myTax Portal.
Team members: (left to right) Low Suat Hoon, Assistant Director; Andy Choo, Deputy Director; Lim Peck Kwang, Senior Manager; Bena Neo, Director; and Ong Mei Li, Manager (not in photo).
What sparked the idea for this project?
Project team: Making tax filing easy for taxpayers and helping them to file on time are important to us.
Our analysis revealed that Form M taxpayers who are residing overseas could be affected by postal disruptions. The once-a-year filing obligation could be challenging for some as they might also be unfamiliar with Singapore’s tax regime.
The project team’s motivation was to help as many Form M taxpayers as possible to enjoy the benefits of e-Filing, i.e. for taxpayers to:
- Be guided by online prompts when filing their Form M so that filing errors are reduced
- Have their tax information prefilled in subsequent years’ filing, shortening the time needed to file their tax forms
- Receive their tax bills earlier to enjoy tax certainty
- Be able to access their tax bills online at myTaxPortal anytime, anywhere, from the year they start to e-File.
- Save costs on postage
What strategies did the team tap on to ensure that users are receptive?
Project team: The project adopted IRAS’ user-centred problem-solving framework. A profiling of our Form M taxpayers revealed insightful information of the profile of these taxpayers and enabled the team to identify and address taxpayers’ pain points and ease them into e-Filing.
For example, to access e-Filing, Form M taxpayers need to sign up for Singpass Foreign user Account (SFA). This requires a one-time effort. To make the process simpler for taxpayers, the team adopted Behavioural Insights in the design of our SFA application process guide, making it easier for taxpayers to sign up for SFA. Half the battle was won, once taxpayers obtained their SFA.
We also monitored contacts and queries from taxpayers as these are valuable insights into how we can improve in our quest to help taxpayers onboard e-Filing.
The project team also partnered with internal stakeholders within IRAS such as the Service Branch of Individual Tax Division, Service Experience Centre of Taxpayer Experience Division and Infocomm Application of Infocomm Division to ensure smooth implementation of the project. Environmental friendliness and reducing carbon footprint were also considerations in adopting the project.
In three sentences, what sums up the benefits of digital filing for this group of users?
Project team: Seamless filing experience using myTax Portal.
Improved taxpayers' service experience as they will receive their Notice of Assessment earlier.
Having access to digital tax bills and other e-services such as tax payments.
What was a memorable moment for the team?
Project team: Our efforts were recognised as we received an award for innovation, otherwise known as the IRAS LEA:D Award.