MOF issues response to public consultation on draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2019

29 August 2019

From 19 June 2019 to 10 July 2019, the Ministry of Finance (“MOF”) conducted a public consultation on the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2019. The draft Bill proposes legislative amendments to effect tax changes announced in Budget 2019 and changes arising from the periodic review of the income tax system.

The key feedback received pertained to the following tax changes:

  • Increasing the prescribed deemed expense ratio, and increasing or removing the revenue threshold, for self-employed commission agents;
  • Providing clarity on the revocation of tax incentive awards when an incentive recipient fails to meet the conditions of a tax incentive;
  • Clarifying that the amendment of definition of qualifying debt securities under section 13(16) of Income Tax Act will allow alternative set of qualifying conditions for insurance-linked securities; and
  • Clarifying the amendment relating to the lapsing of the Approved Unit Trust scheme.

Responses to the key feedback can be found in Annex A to the Summary.

Of the 46 suggestions received, 28 suggestions were accepted and incorporated into the draft text of the Bill. The other suggestions were not accepted as they were inconsistent with the policy objectives of the proposed legislative changes or with legislative drafting conventions.

The proposed legislative changes would be incorporated into the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2019 to be presented to Parliament in the last quarter of 2019.

Reference materials

The following materials are available on the MOF website www.mof.gov.sg:

 

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