Corporate tax & GST · Singapore
A tax and GST practice that states when each filing falls due, what each engagement covers, and how an enquiry is handled before one starts.
Ask about a filing
The cost of a missed date
A page that prints a penalty figure you cannot check is worse than one that tells you where the figure lives. What is printed here instead is the route the authority takes, the two clocks your obligations sit on, and what we do when a letter arrives.
The scale is published by the authority, revised by it, and applied to the company. Ask us for the current figure for your own filing and you get the authority's number and the page it is on, in writing, rather than our summary of it.
The current figure is sent to you in writing whenever it applies to a filing of yours.Our fee is charged per obligation and per return, disclosed before the engagement and unchanged by the tax payable. Each band sits in the fee table below, with what it assumes and what it excludes.
Our own fee bands, set before the work starts — not a quotation.| Obligation | When it falls due | Who files it | Where the current rule sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed annual dates — the ones the year end sets | |||
| Corporate tax return | On the date the authority publishes for your year end | Filed with IRAS, by us as agent under the engagement | IRAS |
| Estimated chargeable income | Inside the window published after the year end; the exemptions are stated, never assumed | Filed with IRAS | IRAS |
| GST returns, once registered | On the filing cycle the authority assigns the company at registration | Filed with IRAS | IRAS |
| A period with no transactions | Still a return, on the same date as any other | Filed with IRAS — we file the nil period rather than skipping it | IRAS |
| Directors' personal returns | On the date published each year | The individual files, or we file as agent | IRAS |
| Trigger-based dates — the ones no calendar app catches | |||
| Turnover crossing the registration test | Registration is driven by your turnover, not your intention, so the date depends on the accounting period it is tested over | Filed with IRAS; we test it at each period end and tell you when registration is due | IRAS |
| Taking on or losing an employee | Employment registrations have their own waiting time, and a departing foreign employee brings a clearance filing forward of the payroll | We file; the departure date drives it | IRAS, and the employment authority |
| A share transfer or allotment | The window runs from the date the document is signed, which is usually short | Filed with IRAS | IRAS |
| A payment to a non-resident | Withholding falls due shortly after the payment is made, not at the year end | Filed with IRAS | IRAS |
| A letter from the authority | The response window is stated in the letter itself and is often short | We answer it under the engagement, as your agent | The letter, and IRAS guidance |
If a filing is missed
Outsourcing the preparation does not move the obligation, so state the boundary before stating the service.
The current published position for your filing is confirmed in writing, before anything with a date attached to it is acted on.
Where the work starts
Tax work is segmented by what has to be filed and by what went wrong. Pick the line you are on — the scope, the fee basis and the response time follow from it.
Registration when the test is met, the return cycle the authority assigns, nil periods filed rather than skipped, and the reconciliation to your books before submission.
GST scope ↗AnnualThe corporate return and the estimated chargeable income filing, with the workings written so a director can check them rather than take them on trust.
Corporate tax scope ↗Catch upMissing periods, back-filing, and a handover from another preparer or from a spreadsheet — the last filed position is established first.
Catch-up scope ↗Under enquiryA query letter, a matching review or an investigation, scoped as its own engagement with the response window and the work named before it starts.
Enquiry scope ↗Before the engagement
The most common complaint about a tax practice is the second invoice. So the exclusions are written into the table, not into the terms, and every band states what it assumes.
| Engagement | Basis | Illustrative from |
|---|---|---|
| GST returns, registered company Up to four returns a year | Per return, billed each period | S$180 |
| GST registration or deregistration | One-off, each | S$500 |
| Corporate tax return — revenue under S$5 million | Per year | S$500 |
| Corporate tax return — revenue S$5 million and above | Per year | S$900 |
| Estimated chargeable income filing | Per year, where it is required | S$120 |
| Dormant company Return and the waiver application | Per year | S$200 |
| Back-filing an overdue year | Per company year, quoted after the records check | From S$400 |
| Enquiry or audit support | Hourly, scoped and approved before it starts | S$300 per hour |
| Additional work | Basis | Illustrative from |
|---|---|---|
| An extra year brought current | Per year | S$400 |
| A second entity or subsidiary | Per entity | S$350 |
| A director's personal income tax return | Per person | S$300 |
| Withholding tax filings | Per period | S$150 |
| An amended or late return Per form, once the reason is established | Per form | S$250 |
| Attending a meeting or a review with the authority | Half day | S$1,200 |
Doing it yourself
A fee only means something against what the alternative actually costs you.
| The period's work | On your own | With us |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | The authority's charge, plus your own hours | S$180 per return, illustrative |
| Time each period | Hours reconciling and entering, every period | Records handed over once, then the return |
| A nil period | Easy to assume nothing is due | Filed, so the period is answered |
| A letter from the authority | Answered by you, inside the window it states | Answered by us as your agent |
| The record afterwards | Your own folder, if it survived | An acknowledgement kept for every filing |
The hours of representation are the line to ask about. If a provider will not put the boundary in writing, the second invoice is already decided.
What the work looks like
Three of the four engagements drawn out: what the job is, what the range covers and how it is run. The fourth — taking over a file — is a sequence that starts with a last-filed position, and it is quoted after that check.
Registration when the test is met, a return for every period the authority assigns including the nil ones, and the reconciliation to your books done before anything is submitted.
Scope: one company, one GST account, up to four returns a year, each filed inside the agreed window. A nil period is inside the annual figure rather than billed as an extra. Periods already outstanding are quoted after the records check.
The corporate return and the estimated chargeable income filing, with the computation written so a director can follow each figure instead of taking it on trust.
Scope: one company, one financial year, books supplied in the agreed format. The band follows the size of the company and the volume of records — never the tax payable, and never a percentage of it.
A query letter, a matching review or an investigation is opened as its own engagement: the window in the letter is noted the day it arrives, the records for the period are assembled, and the first response is drafted before anything is submitted.
Scope: an hourly engagement, with the hours and the boundary approved before the first response goes out. Representation beyond the named hours is quoted before it is used, and the outcome itself is not something a fee can promise.
Who signs the filing
Your engagement letter names the person who prepares the return and answers the authority's letters, the second person who covers when they are away, and who authorises a filing before it is lodged.
Two names and the sign-off rule, all in the letter before the first return.Filing on your behalf means we hold access to the authority's channel under your authorisation. We file through it, keep the acknowledgement and send you the reference; that access is listed for you and can be withdrawn at any time.
Every filing leaves an acknowledgement, and every acknowledgement is kept.The engagement letter states which returns are in scope, what each one costs, the response time on correspondence and where the boundary sits — the point at which filing work becomes advice, bookkeeping or representation. Anything past that boundary is quoted and approved before it starts.
What has been filed, what has not, and where the records currently stop.
Your three dates written down, with who does what before each one.
Outstanding periods first, then working forwards on time.
What was filed, what it cost, and what changes next year.
What we need from you
Before a fee is quoted, three things decide the scope: your revenue, your GST status and your financial year end. Tell us those and the obligations follow.
The first conversation is an intake: it produces a written list of which forms apply and what the fee is. If it turns out that no return is due, we say so and the intake ends there.
The letter states its own response window. Output: a written note of what it asks, what the deadline is, and what the first response will be.
Access is granted through the authority's own channel, and we take over the correspondence. Output: a named preparer, and you copied on everything filed or sent.
What the records show, what is being asked, and which facts support the position — before anything is submitted. Output: the workings, approved by you, and the disclosure you are signing.
Resolution of this matter, then a return to routine filing with the calendar corrected. Output: the outcome in writing, and the dates that change as a result.
Notify the outgoing provider, grant us access through the authority's channel, transfer the records and confirm the next filing date. Most handovers are done inside a week.
Establish the last filed position, reconstruct the records, file the oldest outstanding period first, then work forward. Quoted per year, after the records check.
After the return is filed
No plan is described as covering every eventuality: anything outside the named hours is quoted first, and any outcome an authority decides is not something a fee can promise.
A director's view
“The letter was answered inside its window, and the missing periods were filed oldest first. The fee table matched the invoice.”
Overdue GST periods & enquiry support · sample story
Sample story. Not a real customer review.The practical questions
The last filed position is established against the authority's own record, the missing periods are prepared from whatever the records support, and they are lodged oldest first so the record closes cleanly. Late work is quoted per year after that check rather than at a guess, and you get the authority's current position on the outstanding period in writing.
Yes. A nil period is a return, and an unfiled period is treated as unfiled whatever it contains. Nil returns sit inside the annual figure above rather than arriving as extras, and they are filed on the same cycle as any other period.
Whatever the engagement letter lists, and nothing else. On this page the extras that most often appear later — an extra year, a second entity, a director's personal return, an amended return — carry their own figures in the fee table, and every one of them is quoted and approved before the work starts.
The letter itself, the day you receive it, because the response window is stated inside it and is often short. Then the records for the period it asks about. The first response is drafted from those two things, filed as your agent, and you are copied on everything.
Yes. A handover needs the last return filed and its acknowledgement, the records behind it, and access through the authority's own channel. We write for the records, confirm the next filing date in writing, and the outgoing preparer's access is removed before we file.
The company and its directors remain responsible for the accuracy and the timeliness of what is filed, even when the preparation is outsourced. What we owe you is the work, the workings you can check, the calendar and the acknowledgement for every submission.
Start with the obligation
Give us the revenue band, the GST status and the year end, and we can say which forms apply. If a letter has already arrived, say when it is dated.
Concept only. Nothing is sent or booked.