Income Tax (Amendment No. 2) Bill

Bill No. 32/1992

Read the first time on 31st July 1992.

An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (Chapter 134 of the 1992 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Income Tax (Amendment No. 2) Act 1992.

(2) Sections 4 and 5 shall be deemed to have come into operation on 13th March 1992.

(3) Section 16(a) and (d) shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1st January 1992.

(4) Sections 16(b) and 19 shall come into operation on 1st January 1993.

(5) Sections 3, 9, 11, 12(a), 13(a), (b) and (e), 15 and 17(a) shall have effect for the year of assessment 1993 and subsequent years of assessment.

(6) Section 7 shall have effect for the year of assessment 1994 and subsequent years of assessment.

Amendment of section 13

2. Section 13(1) of the Income Tax Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended by inserting, immediately after paragraph (o), the following paragraph:

“(p)	for a period of 5 years from the commencement of its business, such income of the RAS Commodity Exchange Limited as may be prescribed;”.

Amendment of section 13B

3. Section 13B of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “or 43J” wherever they appear in subsections (1), (2) and (8)(a) and substituting in each case the words “, 43J or 43K”; and

(b)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (8), the following subsection:

“(9) This section shall not, in relation to any income of an insurance company which is subject to the concessionary rate of tax prescribed by regulations made under section 43C, apply to such part of the income ascertained under section 26(3A) as is apportioned to the policyholders of the company in accordance with those regulations.”.

Amendment of section 13E

4. Section 13E (11) of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “or 43J” in the sixth line of paragraph (b) and substituting the words “, 43J or 43K”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “a company resident in Singapore receiving in Singapore income which is derived from Malaysia” in the first, second, third and fourth lines of paragraph (c) and substituting the words “income derived from Malaysia and received in Singapore by a company resident in Singapore”.

Amendment of section 13F

5. Section 13F (1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “where such ship is used by that person” in the fourth and fifth lines of paragraph (b) and substituting the words “or to another approved international shipping enterprise where such ship is used by that person or enterprise”.

Amendment of section 14

6. Section 14 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the words “1st July 1991” in sub-paragraph (i)(L) of the proviso to subsection (1)(e), the words “and before 1st July 1992”; and

(b)

by deleting the comma at the end of sub-paragraph (i)(L) of the proviso to subsection (1)(e) and substituting a semicolon, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following sub-paragraph:

“(M)	commencing on or after 1st July 1992 shall not exceed 18%,”.

Amendment of section 14B

7. Section 14B of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (3), the following subsections:

“(3A) As soon as any amount of further deduction is allowed to any company under this section, section 14C, 14E or 14J, a sum equal to that amount shall be credited to an account (referred to in this section as the further deduction account) to be kept by the company for the purposes of any of those sections.

(3B) Where for any year of assessment a further deduction account of a company is in credit, the company shall —

(a)	debit from that account such amount as would have been the chargeable income had the further deduction not been allowed or the amount of the credit in that account, whichever is the less; and
(b)	credit the amount debited under paragraph (a) to an account to be called a tax exempt account which shall be kept by the company for the purposes of this section, section 14C, 14E or 14J,

and any remaining balance in the further deduction account shall be carried forward to be used by the company in the first subsequent year of assessment when the company has chargeable income had the further deduction not been allowed, and so on for subsequent years of assessment until the credit in the further deduction account has been fully used.

(3C) Where a tax exempt account of a company is in credit at the date on which any dividends are paid by the company out of the amount credited to that account, an amount equal to those dividends or to that credit, whichever is the less, shall be debited to the tax exempt account.

(3D) Section 13B(4) to (7) shall apply with such modifications as may be necessary in respect of any dividend paid out of the tax exempt account of the company.

(3E) Notwithstanding anything in this section, where it appears to the Comptroller that in any year of assessment —

(a)	any further deduction which has been allowed under this section, section 14C, 14E or 14J; or
(b)	any dividend, including a dividend paid by a holding company, which has been exempted from tax in the hands of any shareholder,

ought not to have been so allowed or exempted, as the case may be, the Comptroller may, within the year of assessment or within 12 years after the expiration thereof —

(i)	make such assessment or additional assessment upon the company or any such shareholder as may be necessary in order to make good any loss of tax; or
(ii)	direct the company to debit its tax exempt account with such amount as the circumstances require.”.

New section 14J

8. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 14I, the following section:

“Further deduction for expenditure on research and development of new financial activities

14J.—(1) Subject to this section, where the Comptroller is satisfied that the following expenses have been incurred on or after 1st April 1992 by a financial institution, there shall be allowed a further deduction of the amount of such expenses in addition to the amount allowed under section 14 —

(a)	salary, wages and other benefits paid or granted in respect of employment, whether in money or otherwise, to an approved employee engaged in the research and development of any approved new financial activity;
(b)	legal expenses, excluding expenses incurred in respect of litigation, which, in the opinion of the Comptroller, are directly attributable to the research and development of any approved new financial activity; and
(c)	expenses incurred in respect of any approved course of instruction or training conducted in Singapore by an approved employee.

(2) The maximum amount of expenses to be allowed under subsection (1) to any financial institution in the basis period for any year of assessment shall not exceed 30% of such amount as would have been the statutory income of the financial institution for that year of assessment had the further deduction not been allowed; and any expenses in excess of the amount allowed under this subsection shall not be carried forward to any subsequent year of assessment.

(3) The Minister or such other person as he may appoint may —

(a)	approve any financial institution for such period not exceeding 5 years as he may specify and such approval may be extended for further periods not exceeding 5 years at a time; and
(b)	impose such conditions as he thinks fit when approving the institution, employee or new financial activity and may specify the period or periods for which deduction is to be allowed under this section.

(4) No deduction shall be allowed to a financial institution in respect of any expenses which are not allowed as a deduction under section 14.

(5) For the purposes of this section —

“approved” means approved by the Minister or such other person as he may appoint;

“financial institution” means a bank, merchant bank, securities dealer, investment adviser or futures broker which is approved for the purposes of this section;

“new financial activity” means a new or innovative financial activity or instrument which falls within the following categories of activities or instruments:

(a)	derivatives trading including share options, currency options and interest rate options;
(b)	swap transactions excluding plain vanilla swaps;
(c)	technical trading computer systems and software;
(d)	risk management services which employ sophisticated hedging techniques and instruments;
(e)	development of synthetic securities and instruments linked to derivatives;
(f)	research on foreign securities; and
(g)	such other category of activities or instruments as may be prescribed.”.

Amendment of section 26

9. Section 26 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the word “Act” in subsection (1), the words “except that nothing in this section shall affect the chargeability to tax of any income of an insurance company under section 10”;

(b)

by deleting subsections (3) and (3A) and substituting the following subsections:

“(3) In the case of a life insurance company, whether mutual or proprietary, the gains or profits on which tax is payable shall be ascertained by taking the aggregate of —

(a)	the life insurance surplus;
(b)	the income of the shareholders’ fund established in Singapore less any expenses (including management expenses) incurred in the production of such income; and
(c)	the offshore life insurance surplus less such income of that surplus that is subject to tax at the concessionary rate of tax prescribed by regulations made under section 43C.

(3A) Notwithstanding subsection (3), in the case of a life insurance company which has income subject to tax at the concessionary rate of tax prescribed by regulations made under section 43C, in ascertaining the income for the purposes of those regulations —

(a)

only such part of the following income as may be specified in those regulations shall be included:

(i)	the offshore life insurance surplus; and
(ii)	the income of the shareholders’ fund established in Singapore as is attributable to the offshore life business; and

(b)

the income referred to in paragraph (a) and any item of expenditure not directly incurred in the production of such income shall be apportioned in such manner as may be prescribed by those regulations.

(3B) In ascertaining the gains or profits of a life insurance company whether mutual or proprietary —

(a)

the Comptroller shall determine the manner and extent to which —

(i)	any allowances under section 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 and expenses and donations allowable under this Act are to be deducted;
(ii)	any losses incurred by the company may be deducted under section 37;
(iii)	any allowances and losses referred to in sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii) may be deducted where full effect cannot be given to such allowances or losses in the year of assessment 1992 by reason of an insufficiency of gains or profits chargeable to tax for that year of assessment, including the apportionment of such allowances or losses between policyholders and shareholders of the company in the same ratio as the life insurance surplus is apportioned under the articles of association of the company or, where no such ratio is provided in those articles, the ratio prescribed under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142), as at the end of the basis period for the year of assessment 1992;

(b)

the allowances under section 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 or the losses under section 37 in respect of such part of the income of the company as is apportioned to the policyholders of the company in accordance with regulations made under section 43(3) or 43C in any year of assessment —

(i)	shall only be available for deduction against such part of the income as is so apportioned in accordance with regulations made under section 43(3) or 43C for that year of assessment, as the case may be; and
(ii)	the balance of such allowances or losses shall be added to, and be deemed to form part of, the corresponding allowances or losses, if any, for the next succeeding year of assessment and any subsequent year of assessment in accordance with section 23 or 37, as the case may be;

(c)

the allowances under section 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 or the losses under section 37 in respect of such part of the income of the company as is subject to tax at the rate of tax under section 43(1)(a) in any year of assessment —

(i)

shall only be available for deduction firstly against such part of the income as is subject to tax at the rate of tax under section 43(1)(a) for that year of assessment; and secondly against such part of the income as is apportioned to the shareholders of the company in accordance with regulations made under section 43C for that year of assessment and the amount to be so deducted shall be increased in such proportion as the rate of tax for the company under section 43(1)(a) bears to the concessionary rate of tax under section 43C; and

(ii)

the balance of such allowances or losses shall be added to, and be deemed to form part of, the corresponding allowances or losses, if any, for the next succeeding year of assessment and any subsequent year of assessment in accordance with section 23 or 37, as the case may be;

(d)

the allowances under section 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 or the losses under section 37 in respect of such part of the income of the life insurance company as is apportioned to the shareholders of the company in accordance with regulations made under section 43C in any year of assessment —

(i)

shall only be available for deduction firstly against such part of the income of the company as is so apportioned to the shareholders of the company in accordance with those regulations for that year of assessment; and secondly against such part of the income as is subject to tax at the rate of tax under section 43(1)(a) for that year of assessment and the amount to be so deducted shall be reduced in such proportion as the concessionary rate of tax for the company under section 43C bears to the rate of tax under section 43(1)(a); and

(ii)

(e)

where any income of the life insurance company which had been charged to tax at the rate of tax under section 43(3) is subsequently paid to the shareholders of the company, the Comptroller may make such adjustment to the tax liability of the company as he thinks fit.”;

(c)

by deleting the words “subsection (3)” in the sixth line of subsection (4) and substituting the words “subsections (3), (3A) and (3B)”; and

(d)

by deleting subsection (5) and substituting the following subsection:

“(5) For the purposes of this section and section 43C —

“income of the shareholders’ fund” means —

(a)	gains or profits on the sale of investments of the shareholders’ fund, whether derived from Singapore or elsewhere; and
(b)	investment income and other income of the shareholders’ fund derived from Singapore or received in Singapore from outside Singapore;

“life insurance surplus” means the amount ascertained —

(a)

by taking the aggregate of —

(i)	the gross premiums (including consideration paid or payable for the purchase of annuities) from Singapore life policies of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142) (less any premiums returned to the insured and premiums paid or payable on reinsurance);
(ii)	the net decrease between the beginning and ending balances in the actuarial reserves of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act relating to Singapore life policies of the period for which the gains or profits are ascertained, both balances being determined at the lower figure derived from the minimum basis under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142) or such other basis approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore thereunder; and
(iii)	the investment income and gains or profits derived from the sale of investments and other income, whether derived from Singapore or elsewhere, of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act relating to Singapore life policies; and

(b)

by deducting from that aggregate —

(i)	agency expenses (including agents’ commissions) and management expenses incurred in the production of the income referred to in paragraph (a); and, in respect of a branch in Singapore, a fair proportion of the expenses of the head office of the company;
(ii)	policy moneys paid or payable in respect of Singapore life policies (less any amount recovered or recoverable in respect thereof under reinsurance);
(iii)	moneys paid or payable on the surrender of Singapore life policies; and
(iv)	the net increase between the beginning and ending balances in the actuarial reserves of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142) relating to Singapore life policies of the period for which the gains or profits are ascertained, both balances being determined at the lower figure derived from the minimum basis under the Insurance Act or such basis as approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore thereunder;

“life policy” has the same meaning as in the Insurance Act;

“offshore life business” means the business of insuring or reinsuring the liability under any of the following life policies of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142):

(a)

in relation to direct life insurance, any life policy other than a Singapore life policy;

(b)

in relation to facultative life reinsurance, a policy issued to reinsure liability under any life policy referred to in paragraph (a); and

(c)

in relation to treaty life reinsurance, a reinsurance policy where —

(i)	the ceding party is a company incorporated outside Singapore and not resident in Singapore, or is not a permanent establishment in Singapore; or
(ii)	the liability in respect of any life policy referred to in paragraph (a) is ceded by a party which is a company incorporated and resident in Singapore or a permanent establishment in Singapore;

“offshore life insurance surplus” means the amount ascertained —

(a)

by taking the aggregate of —

(i)	the gross premiums (including consideration paid or payable for the purchase of annuities) from offshore life policies of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142) (less any premiums returned to the insured and premiums paid or payable on reinsurance);
(ii)	the net decrease between the beginning and ending balances in the actuarial reserves of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act relating to offshore life policies of the period for which the gains or profits are ascertained, both balances being determined at the lower figure derived from the minimum basis under the Insurance Act or such other basis as approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore thereunder; and
(iii)	the investment income and gains or profits derived from the sale of investments and other income, whether derived from Singapore or elsewhere, of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142) relating to offshore life policies; and

(b)

by deducting from that aggregate —

(i)	agency expenses (including agents’ commissions) and management expenses incurred in the production of the income referred to in paragraph (a); and, in respect of a branch in Singapore, a fair proportion of the expenses of the head office of the company;
(ii)	policy moneys paid or payable in respect of offshore life policies (less any amount recovered or recoverable in respect thereof under reinsurance);
(iii)	moneys paid or payable on the surrender of offshore life policies; and
(iv)	the net increase between the beginning and ending balances in the actuarial reserves of any life insurance fund established under the Insurance Act (Cap. 142) relating to offshore life policies of the period for which the gains or profits are ascertained, both balances being determined at the lower figure derived from the minimum basis under the Insurance Act or such other basis as approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore thereunder;

“offshore life policy” means a policy issued in respect of offshore life insurance business;

“offshore risk” means any risk outside Singapore and —

(a)	in relation to direct general insurance or facultative general reinsurance, the insured is not a person resident in Singapore or a permanent establishment in Singapore; and
(b)	in relation to treaty general reinsurance, not less than 75% of the total risk in terms of gross premiums is outside Singapore,

and where any such risk is in transit in Singapore, it shall be deemed to be outside Singapore;

“policy moneys” has the same meaning as in the Insurance Act;

“Singapore life policy” means a life policy as described in the definition of “Singapore policy” in the Insurance Act.”.

Amendment of section 35

10. Section 35(2A) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (c) and substituting a semicolon, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(d)	derived during the period from 1st January 1991 to 31st December 1991 shall be treated as his statutory income for the year of assessment 1992 and be charged to tax at the rate applicable to him for that year of assessment.”.

Amendment of section 39

11. Section 39 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the word “account,” in the third line of paragraph (ea) of subsection (2), the words “or has derived income from a trade, business, profession or vocation and has made contributions in respect of such income to the Fund which were obligatory under the Central Provident Fund Act (Cap. 36),”;

(b)

by deleting “16¹/₂%” in the sixth line of paragraph (ea) of subsection (2) and substituting “17¹/₂%”;

(c)

by deleting “$11,880” wherever it appears in paragraph (ea) of subsection (2) and substituting in each case “$12,600”;

(d)

by inserting, immediately after sub-paragraph (iii) of the proviso to paragraph (ea) of subsection (2), the following sub-paragraph:

“(iv)

where the total deductions allowable under this paragraph in respect of contributions which are obligatory under the Central Provident Fund Act (Cap. 36) and under paragraph (e) in respect of contributions to any approved pension or provident fund or society exceed $12,600, sub-paragraphs (ii) and (iii) shall not apply to such amount of contributions in excess of $12,600 which are allowable under this paragraph;”.

(e)

by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (h) of subsection (2) and substituting a semicolon, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(i)

had completed national service under the Enlistment Act (Cap. 93) or been deemed to have completed such service by the proper authority and —

(i)	had performed reserve service and held a valid certificate issued by the proper authority certifying that he is entitled to the deduction under this sub-paragraph, there shall be allowed a deduction of $1,000; or
(ii)	had not performed reserve service but held a valid certificate issued by the proper authority certifying that he is entitled to the deduction under this sub-paragraph, there shall be allowed a deduction of $500.”; and

(f)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (3), the following subsection:

“(3A) For the purposes of subsection (2)(i), “proper authority” means such person as the Minister may appoint.”.

Amendment of section 42

12. Section 42 (5) of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting “31%” wherever it appears and substituting in each case “30%”;

(b)

by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (a) of the proviso; and

(c)

by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (b) of the proviso and substituting a semicolon, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(c)	for the years of assessment 1991 and 1992, be read as a reference to 31%.”.

Amendment of section 43

13. Section 43 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting “31%” in subsection (1)(a) and (b) and substituting in each case “30%”;

(b)

by deleting “31%” in the first line of subsection (2) and substituting “30%”;

(c)

by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (2);

(d)

by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (b) of subsection (2) and substituting a semicolon, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(c)	for the years of assessment 1991 and 1992, be read as a reference to 31%.”; and

(e)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (2), the following subsection:

“(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1)(a), the tax to be levied and paid upon such income of a life insurance company apportioned to the policyholders of the company as the Minister may by regulations specify shall be at the rate of 10% or such other prescribed rate.”.

Amendment of section 43D

14. Section 43D(1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the word “has” in paragraph (a)(iii).

New section 43K

15. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 43J, the following section:

“Concessionary rate of tax for members of a commodity futures exchange

43K.—(1) Notwithstanding section 43, the Minister may by regulations provide that tax at the rate of 10% or such other concessionary rate shall be levied and paid for each year of assessment upon such income as the Minister may specify of a member of a prescribed Commodity Futures Exchange derived from transactions in specified commodity futures on any specified exchange or in any specified market with —

(a)	an Asian Currency Unit of a financial institution;
(b)	another member of the prescribed Commodity Futures Exchange;
(c)	a person who is neither a resident of nor a permanent establishment in Singapore; or
(d)	a branch office outside Singapore of a company resident in Singapore,

and those regulations may provide for the deduction of losses otherwise than in accordance with section 37(2).

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) —

“commodity” has the same meaning as in the Commodity Futures Act 1992 (Act 17 of 1992);

“Commodity Futures Exchange” means a body corporate approved as a Commodity Futures Exchange under section 5 of the Commodity Futures Act 1992.”.

Amendment of section 44

16. Section 44 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting “31%” in subsection (1) and substituting “30%”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (8), the following subsection:

“(8A) Where any company has been convicted of an offence for failing to comply with subsection (8), the Comptroller may, by notice in writing, require the company to render to him, within such reasonable time as may be specified in the notice, the statement referred to in subsection (8).”;

(c)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (11A), the following subsection:

“(11B) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, where tax on any dividend paid in 1992 has been deducted at the rate of 31% —

(a)	the amount of such dividend received by a shareholder shall be deemed to have been paid without deduction of tax and to be a dividend of such a gross amount as after deduction of tax at the rate of 30% would be equal to the net amount paid; and a sum equal to the difference between such gross amount and the net amount paid shall be deemed to have been deducted from the dividend as tax; and
(b)	the difference between the amount of the tax deducted at 31% from such dividend and the amount deemed to have been so deducted under paragraph (a) shall be added to the balance on the 1st day of the year of assessment 1993 and deemed to be a part thereof.”; and

(d)

by deleting paragraph (f) of subsection (12) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(f)

tax assessed excludes —

(i)	tax assessed at the rate of 10% or such other rate as may be prescribed under section 43(3);
(ii)	tax assessed at the rate of 10% or such other concessionary rate as may be prescribed under section 43A, 43C, 43D, 43E, 43F, 43G, 43H, 43I, 43J or 43K, or section 19B of the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act (Cap. 86); and
(iii)	tax in respect of any year of assessment prior to the year of assessment 1987;”.

Amendment of section 45

17. Section 45 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting “31%” wherever it appears in subsection (1) and substituting in each case “30%”; and

(b)

by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (c) of subsection (7) and substituting a semicolon, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(d)	at the rate of 31% on every payment made on or after 1st January 1992 which would be assessable on the person receiving the payment for the year of assessment 1991 or 1992.”.

Amendment of section 46

18. Section 46 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (2A), the following subsection:

“(2B) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where tax on any dividend paid in 1992 has been deducted at the rate of 31%, the tax to be set off under subsection (1) shall be the sum deemed to be the tax deducted from such dividend under section 44(11B).”.

Amendment of section 94

19. Section 94 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsection (2A) and substituting the following subsections:

“(2A) Where any person has been convicted of an offence —

(a)	for failing to comply with section 44(8A) and such conviction is subsequent to a conviction for an offence for failing to comply with section 44(8);
(b)	for failing to comply with section 63(3) and such conviction is subsequent to a conviction for an offence for failing to comply with section 63(1);
(c)	under section 63(7) or for failing to comply with section 71 and such conviction is a second or subsequent conviction; or
(d)	for failing to comply with section 71 and such conviction is subsequent to a conviction for an offence under section 63(7),

in respect of the same year of assessment, he shall be liable to a further penalty of $50 for every day during which the offence is continued after such conviction.

(2B) Where any person has been convicted of an offence under section 65C and such conviction is a second or subsequent conviction in respect of the same information required for the same period, he shall be liable to a further penalty of $50 for every day during which the offence is continued after such conviction.”.

Remission of tax

20. There shall be remitted 5% of the tax payable for the year of assessment 1992 by an individual or Hindu joint family resident in Singapore and the amount of such remission shall be determined by the Comptroller.

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