Goods and services tax audit of large businesses in Singapore

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (hereinafter – IRAS) announced that large
businesses will be subject to the goods and services tax audit in 2016 and 2017. The IRAS does
not provide a definition of the term ‘large business’, neither does it specifies the criteria for
considering a company as a large business, but it refers to both multinational and local companies with annual turnover amounting to SGD 100 million or more.
Penalties for the non-compliance with the goods and services tax regulations will be as follows: a fine of up to 2 times the tax underpaid and a 5 % late payment penalty.
Apart from that, the IRAS recommended the goods and services taxpayers to take part in its Assisted Compliance Assurance Program to avoid audit exemption and one-off full waiver of penalties.