SINGAPORE, Sept 23 — Some S$1.8 billion (RM5.49 billion) more in tax revenue was collected in Financial Year (FY) 2014/15 as compared to the previous FY, thanks to higher individual earnings, improved corporate profits and moderate growth in private consumption expenditure.

The S$43.4 billion collected in total represents 71.3 per cent of the Government Operating Revenue, according to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)’s latest annual report released today.

Tax arrears remained low at 0.81 per cent of total net tax assessed, the IRAS said.

Of the S$43.4 billion, S$23.4 billion, or 54 per cent, was income tax revenue which includes corporate income tax, individual income tax and withholding tax.

Contributing to the increase in overall tax revenues were improved corporate profits, which raised Corporate Income Tax collection by 5.4 per cent from the previous FY, as well as a 16 per cent increase in individual income tax collection due to higher individual earnings.

Moderate growth in private consumption expenditure drove a 7.4 per cent increase in GST collection, from S$9.5 billion in the last FY to S$10.2 billion in FY2014/15.

Stamp duty collection decreased to S$2.8 billion in FY2015/14, as compared to the S$3.9 billion collected last FY. The IRAS attributed the drop to a lower volume of property transactions in the wake of property market cooling measures.

Betting tax revenue increased by 8.9 per cent to S$2.6 billion. The IRAS said this is because of higher collections from the upward revision of the Betting Duty from July 1 last year.

An average of 90 per cent of taxpayers filed and submitted their taxes on time.

IRAS attributed the high level of voluntary tax payment to the introduction of a feature that gives taxpayers an instant estimate of their tax liabilities at the point of filing their returns.

As such, more than 1.3 million taxpayers, or three in five taxpayers, on the No-Filing Service in 2015 were able to preview their tax bills and request for an early assessment using the “Preview of Notice of Assessment” feature.

For companies, the online submission of income tax returns helped in corporate tax reporting. The “e-Filing” feature was extended to all companies in June this year.

The cost of tax collection was kept low under one cent, at S$0.0082 for every dollar of tax collected. This is 5 per cent lower as compared to last year’s S$0.0086.

By tapping on business analytics, the IRAS said it had “more effectively” audited and investigated close to 13,000 tax evasion and fraud cases, and recovered more than S$450 million in taxes and penalties.

“Our auditors and investigators are able to more accurately match and analyse data, and identify taxpayers with higher risk profiles,” IRAS said.

Tan Tee How, Commissioner of Inland Revenue and CEO of IRAS, said: “Taxpayers are supporting nation-building by filing and paying on time. We will continue to simplify the tax rules and filing and payment processes, thereby enhancing voluntary compliance.” — Today