All employers are required by law to prepare Form IR8A and Appendix 8A, Appendix 8B or Form IR8S (where applicable) for all your employees who are employed in Singapore and give it to them by 1 Mar 2017; or submit electronically (under AIS scheme) the employment income information to IRAS by 1 Mar each year.
The employer must prepare Form IR8A and Appendix 8A (if applicable) for the following employees:
- Full-time resident employee;
- Part-time resident employee;
- Non-resident employee;
- Company director (including a non-resident director);
- Pensioner; and
- Employee who has left the organisation but was in receipt of income in 2016 (eg. stock options gains)
The Form IR8A and Appendix 8A (if applicable) must be completed and signed by the company secretary/director, precedent partner, sole-proprietor, manager, honorary secretary/treasurer of Clubs and Associations, local representative of a non-resident company or a person authorised by the employer. For a computer-printed Form IR8A, signature is not compulsory. However, the name, designation, contact number of the authorised person and the date must be stated.
The completed Form IR8A and/or Appendix 8A (for year ended 31 Dec 2016) should be given to your employees by 1 Mar 2017. Do not send the completed forms to IRAS.
For employers who are participating in Auto Inclusion Scheme (AIS) (if you have been notified to e-submit the employment income information to IRAS compulsorily or if you have arranged with IRAS to e-submit your employees’ salary data), you do not need to prepare the Form IR8A and/or Appendix 8A/8B/Form IR8S for your employees. However, you may wish to provide your employees with a separate statement of earnings for their record. Please include in the statement of earnings that the income and deductions are not required to be reported in the employees’ tax form as the information will be automatically included in their income tax assessments. All salary data for the year ended 31 Dec 2016 should be submitted electronically to IRAS by 1 Mar 2017. Please ensure that the employment income information submitted electronically to IRAS is correct and complete.
Employers (including those participating in AIS) who fail to comply may be charged under Section 94 of the Income Tax Act. The penalty upon conviction is a fine not exceeding $1,000 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months.
Source: IRAS
