Faq

You must register when:

• At the end of a quarter if your taxable supplies exceed S$1 million for a quarter and the immediate past 3 quarters. Quarter refers to March, June, September or December; or
• At any time if your taxable supplies are expected to exceed S$1 million for the next 12 months.

You can choose to register voluntarily when:

• You make taxable supplies below S$1 million annually; or
• You make Supply of Goods outside Singapore
• You provide Financial Services that are also international services

It is a condition that you must remain GST-registered for at least 2 years for voluntary registration. IRAS may also impose other conditions e.g. the requirement of Security Deposits on a case-by-case basis.

Overseas companies must appoint an agent in Singapore to be responsible for its GST matters and obligations when applying for GST registration.

Goods and Service Tax is like value added tax in some countries is payable by an entity. In Singapore if any time the taxable supplies are expected to exceed S$1million in the next 12 months of operation in Singapore.

You are required to register for GST, you must apply and register within 30 days of becoming liable to pay the tax as mentioned earlier Para.

Exports are made out of Singapore are ‘ZERO’ rated and in order to claim the GST you have suffered at the time of import or local purchase of goods it is advisable to register for GST, even though you will not exceed S$1 million business in any financial year.

For GST registration requirements and any other formalities, kindly contact our Tax Dept for details and information or email tax@nscpa2000.com.

Payments of levy under the skills development levy act (CAP.306) and the skills development levy regulations 1991.

SDL is payable for all employees whose gross remuneration is less than or equal to the salary ceiling of SGD 4,500/- per month and the employees include casual, part-time, temporary and foreign workers rendering services wholly or partly in Singapore.

Rate of contribution is 0.25% of employees’ gross remuneration* for the month or $2 whichever is the greater (i.e. minimum of $2 is payable for employees earning $200 or less)

Employers should make full payment on SDL together with the other monthly contributions to the central Provident Fund (CPF) Board as CPF is collecting SDL on behalf of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency.

A local company is required to hold its Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) within 18 months of its incorporation and present its accounts to its shareholders. These accounts must not be made up to a date older than 6 months from the date of the AGM for a private company/unlisted public company, or 4 months for a public listed company. Thereafter, an AGM must be held once every calendar year but not later than 15 months from the date of the last meeting. A company has to file its Annual Return together with the accounts or the Exempt Private Company Certificate online within one month from the date of the AGM. Failure to comply with these statutory requirements may render the company and all its officers liable to prosecution.

With effect from 1st October 2004, the Companies Act will require every company to have the registration number (in addition to its registered name) on all business letters, statements of account, invoices, official notices and publications of or supporting to be issued or signed by or on behalf of the company. Bills of exchange, promissory notes, endorsements, cheques, orders, receipts and letters of credit issued by or purporting to be issued or signed by or on behalf of the company only needs to have the company’s registered name appearing on them. The rationale for the amendment is that the company registration number acts as a unique identifier distinguishing one company from another.

Now all employers with 10 or fewer employees can submit CPF via the 300 AXS Stations Island wide!

With AXS stations, you can submit your CPF contribution details without computers or the need to look for Internet access. CPF e-Submission is now right at your doorstep with 300 AXS Stations conveniently located island wide. This is an extra convenience you enjoy as compared to manual submission. Pay with NETS or cash card at the AXS stations and you don’t have to worry about late or missing cheque anymore.

It takes just a few steps to complete your CPF submission at AXS stations:

• Select “Employer Contribution”
• Log on with your 7- digit Employer reference Number followed by your CPF Account Number
• Enter details of payment
• Select mode of payment

For further details visit www.cpf.gov.sg

Every company must appoint a secretary within 6 months of the date of incorporation.

A company is required to hold its first AGM within 18 months after its incorporation Under Section 175. Subsequent AGMs must be held every calendar year and the interval between AGMs should not be more than 15 months.

A company has to file its Annual Return together with the accounts or the Exempt Private Company Certificate online within one month from the date of the AGM. These accounts must not be made up to a date older than 6 months from the date of the AGM for a private company/unlisted public company, or 4 months for a public listed company. Failure to comply with these statutory requirements may render the company and all its officers liable to prosecution.

The company has to file to the income tax department the estimated chargeable income within 3 months from the date of closing the books of accounts of the company. If the company is dormant and is not engaged in any business, you still need to file a ‘NIL’ income statement to the department.

If you fail to do so, the tax department will estimate the chargeable income and expect the tax to be payable within one month of the assessment order being issued. Hence, we request you to liaise with us to file your returns for your company on time.

Please ignore this letter if your company has held its AGM and filed the AR.

Non-resident Indians (NRIs) are Indian citizens who stay abroad for employment or other purposes. NRIs include Indian citizens working abroad on assignments with foreign governments/government agencies or international/regional agencies such as the UN, IMF and World Bank. It also includes Indian officials (Centre, State and public sector undertakings) deputed abroad on temporary assignments or posted to their offices (including Indian diplomatic missions) abroad.

Overseas Corporate Bodies (OCBs) are bodies predominantly owned by individuals of Indian nationality or origin resident outside India and include overseas companies, partnership firms, societies and other corporate bodies which are owned, directly or indirectly, to the extent of atleast 60% by individuals of Indian nationality or origin resident outside India as also overseas trusts in which atleast 60% of the beneficial interest is irrevocable held by such persons. Such ownership interest should be actually held by them and not in the capacity as nominees, The various facilities granted to NRIs are also available with certain exceptions to OCBs so long as the ownership/beneficial interest held in them by NRIs continues to be at least 60%.

There are two types of investment opportunities available to NRIs:

• Investment with repatriation benefits
• Investment under non-repatriation basis

You can trade in shares and debentures through any member of a stock exchange, after obtaining necessary RBI permission. To obtain RBI permission, you need to open a bank account in India (under the Portfolio Management Scheme) with a designated bank. Through this bank, the RPI form is forwarded to RBI seeking permission to trade in shares and debentures from the secondary market on a repatriable basis. This form is to be filled by the client in duplicate.

RBI permission is blanket permission valid for five years. Investments on a non-repatriation basis can also be made from NRO accounts and also from funds remitted directly. For this, an NRI form must be submitted to RBI.

Yes, RBI approval is necessary for NRI investors to deal in the Indian capital market.

No, the RBI has granted permission to authorised dealer banks to purchase such shares/Debentures on behalf of NRIs/OCBs.

As per the FEMA (Transfer or Issue of Foreign Security) Regulations, 2004, Indian companies as well as individuals can make overseas investments. The investment by companies is referred to as “Corporate ODI”, while the investment by individual is referred as “Individual ODI”. In light of your queries, the difference between Corporate ODI and Individual ODI is summarized as follows:

Note: All the compliances applicable in case of Corporate ODI (eg., filing of Form A-2, ODI, APR, valuation of shares etc.) are applicable in case of Individual ODI as well.

It is preferable that NRI investors deal only with one designated bank branch under portfolio investment services. To open an account, an undertaking letter, the bank account opening form and the following annexure should be submitted:

• Two photographs signed across.
• Copy of passport (first four pages and last page) and visa. These copies should be attested by the Bank Branch Manager (Overseas)/ Notary Public/an official of the Indian Embassy in the country of residence. 3. RPI form for repatriating the benefits or NRI form for non-repatriating the benefits.

A: In terms of the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Any Foreign Security) Regulations, 2004, the Indian company shall have to submit an Annual Performance Report (APR) to the RBI in Part II of Form ODI (as attached), on or before Dec 31 st every year. The APR shall be based on the audited annual accounts of the overseas subsidiary for the preceding year, unless specifically exempted by the RBI.

A: Section 13(1) of FEMA prescribes the penalty for any contravention of the provisions of the FEMA or any rule, regulation, notification, direction or order issued thereunder, which, upon adjudication

• shall be up to thrice the sum involved where such amount is quantifiable, OR
• up to two lakh rupees where the amount is not quantifiable;
• In case of contravention is a continuing one, further penalty up to five thousand rupees for every day is prescribed.

A: The requirement of consolidation of accounts of subsidiaries by an Indian Holding Company is prescribed under Section 129 of the Companies Act, 2013, which is applicable to all the companies, i.e., private as well as public companies. Section 129(3) requires an Indian company to consolidate Financial Statements (FS) of all of its subsidiaries, which includes overseas subsidiaries as well. The Listing Agreement, which applies only to the public companies listed on any stock exchange in India, additionally prescribes such requirement.

A: The audited consolidated FS are required to be laid before the shareholders at the annual general meeting of the company, to be held every year within 6 months of the closure of the financial year, i.e., by September 30 th . As per section 137(1), the audited FS are thereafter required to be filed with the Registrar of Companies, within 30 days of the date of annual general meeting.

As per the Income Tax Act, 1961, the Indian company shall be required to prepare its standalone financial statements and get them audited. The financial statements along with the audit report would have to be filed by the company to income tax department by furnishing a Return of Income before 30 th September of the subsequent year. Thus, in most of the cases, the Indian companies would not be required to furnish the consolidated financial statements to the income tax department. However, where the corporate entity in India is the parent entity having subsidiaries outside India, then it may be required to report its consolidated financial statements to the income tax department, subject to certain conditions provided in section 286 of Income Tax Act, 1961 (Country by Country Reporting). The text of Section 286 is attached for ease of reference.

A: Regulation 4 of Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India) Regulations, 2000, provides that a Person of Indian Origin Resident Outside India (PIO) may acquire any immovable property in India other than any agricultural property, plantation, or a farm house without any prior approval of the RBI. The payment of purchase price can be made through normal banking channels by way of inward remittance from any place outside India or through funds held in any non-resident account, if any. The immovable property thus acquired can be transferred by way of sale without any prior approval of RBI, but only to a person resident in India. Such sale proceeds can be repatriated outside India subject to the following conditions:

• The amount to be repatriated does not exceed the amount paid for acquisition; and
• In case of residential property, repatriation is restricted to not more than 2 properties.

A: Under the LRS Scheme any resident individual of India is allowed to invest by way of subscription / acquisition of shares of overseas companies (listed as well as unlisted), within the overall limit of USD 2,50,000 per financial year. No restriction is prescribed as regards the controlling interest of the Indian investor. However, the overseas company should be engaged in bona fide business activity and not in real estate / banking / financial services. Further, such entity must be an operating entity only and no step down subsidiary is allowed to be acquired or set up.

A: All remittances under the LRS can be made through an Authorized Dealer (Indian Bank). The remitter is required to furnish Form A2 (as attached) and Form ODI (Part I) to its Bank, at the time of each remittance. Thereafter, the APR shall have to be filed annually (Please refer to our response to Q # 1 above)

India’s Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (‘DTAA’) with Singapore is only in respect of Direct Taxes covered as per Article 2 of the said DTAA, which states that:

(a) in India:

income-tax including any surcharge thereon (hereinafter referred to as “Indian tax”);

(b) in Singapore:

the income-tax (hereinafter referred to as “Singapore tax’)

Service tax is an indirect tax and not a direct tax and as such is not covered by Article 2 of the said DTAA and hence charterer is not entitled to get credit in Singapore.

Please note that India has not signed any tax Treaty in respect of indirect taxes.

INDIA’s Finance Act 2017 has made it mandatory to enrol for Aadhar (a 12-digit unique identification number issued by the Indian government to every individual resident of India) to file tax returns in India or apply for a Permanent Account Number (PAN) card. Aadhar card has been made mandatory for anyone filing an Income Tax return.

According to the Act, only a resident individual is entitled to obtain Aadhar, wherein resident means an individual who has re- sided in India for a period or periods amounting in all to 182 days or more in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of application for enrolment. Accordingly, the requirement to quote Aadhaar as per section 139AA of the Income-tax Act is not applicable to an individual who is not a resident as per the Aadhar Act, 2016.