Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Logo of the IRAS
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1992 |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Government of Singapore |
| Headquarters | 55 Newton Road, Revenue House, Singapore 307987 |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | Ministry of Finance (Singapore) |
| Website | www |
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Chinese: 新加坡国内税务局, Malay: Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Singapura) is a statutory board of the Singapore Government under the Ministry of Finance of the Singapore government in charge of tax collection.
The Singapore Income Tax Department was created in 1947 to administer the Income Tax Ordinance enacted during that year.
Actual assessing of tax only began in November 1948. In the first Year of Assessment, about 40,000 individual tax returns and 1,000 corporate returns were received. The total tax collected for the period 1 January 1948 to 31 December 1949 was $33.2 million.
Following self-government in 1959, the Inland Revenue Department was formed in 1960 when various revenues administered and collected by a number of separate agencies were brought together.
When Singapore attained independence on 9 August 1965, substantial changes were made to the Income Tax Act, which came into effect on 1 January 1966.
By this time, the number of Acts that came under the Department's purview had increased to twelve. That year also saw the appointment of the first local Commissioner, Mr Hsu Tse-Kwang.
This period witnessed the growth of the service sector and substantial resources were devoted to staff training. In 1972, microfilming was stepped up to save space and reduce file handling. Property tax billing and collection were also computerised.
Singapore became a more expensive place for businesses with the rapid developments. Changes were introduced to government policies, incentives and taxes in order to make the economy more competitive. The late 1980s witnessed a significant shift towards lowering both corporate and individual taxes. In 1987 corporate tax rates were lowered from 40% to 33%.
This period witnessed major changes in tax policies. There was a shift towards lower direct taxes and the focus was on indirect taxes. The trend towards indirect taxation resulted in the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 1994. It is a tax on domestic consumption and applies to all goods and services supplied in Singapore except for financial services and residential properties. It was in this period that the trend of lowering corporate and individual tax rates accelerated.
Investment and talent attraction policies have been the focus at present. Tax rates were further lowered and currently capped at 18% for companies and 20% for individuals.
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