Reminder: Employers under IRAS’ Auto Inclusion Scheme must submit employees’ 2025 income data by 1 March 2026
Summary
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has reminded all employers participating in the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) to submit employees’ 2025 employment income by 1 March 2026. The deadline applies to all existing AIS employers and new employers who had five or more employees in 2025. AIS streamlines employee tax filing with pre-filled returns, the No-Filing Service (NFS) or Direct Notice of Assessment (D‑NOA), benefiting over two million employees.
IRAS has enhanced its AIS digital services this year — employers can submit back up to four prior years, benefit from more pre-filled data, and overwrite previously submitted details to simplify amendments. Non-compliance risks fines, delays to employees’ tax assessments and potential prosecution; IRAS reported significant penalties and prosecutions in 2025.
Key Points
- Deadline: All AIS employers must submit 2025 income data by 1 March 2026, regardless of workforce size.
- Who must file: Existing AIS employers and new employers with five or more employees in 2025 (over 11,000 new AIS employers this year).
- System improvements: Extended back-year filing to four years, more pre-filled data via data link‑ups, and simplified overwrite amendments.
- Penalties: Fines up to S$5,000 for employers; directors or precedent partners may face fines up to S$10,000 and/or up to 12 months’ imprisonment for failure to respond to IRAS notices.
- 2025 non-compliance: Over 12,000 employers missed the deadline, affecting 160,000+ employees; IRAS prosecuted 1,207 repeat offenders with penalties exceeding S$1m.
- Common filing errors: Omitting benefits‑in‑kind, excluding income outside payroll, misreporting accommodation benefits, and under‑reporting gains from stocks/options.
- Correction route: Use IRAS’ Voluntary Disclosure Programme to correct past errors and potentially reduce penalties.
Context and relevance
This reminder is essential for HR, payroll and finance teams in Singapore: timely and accurate AIS submissions protect employees from delayed tax assessments and shield employers from hefty fines or prosecutions. The enhancements to AIS reflect a broader drive to digitalise and simplify compliance, but they don’t remove the need for careful payroll checks and reconciliation — particularly where benefits, equity gains or off‑payroll income are concerned.
Why should I read this?
Quick heads up — if you or your team handle payroll or employee tax, this is one to skim now and action immediately. Miss the 1 March cut‑off and you could be staring at fines, angry staff and time‑consuming remediation. The piece tells you what’s changed in the AIS, the usual slip‑ups to avoid, and where to go to fix mistakes without making things worse.
Author style
Punchy — the takeaways are straight to the point: know the deadline, use the improved AIS tools, sort common reporting gaps, and consider voluntary disclosure if you have past errors. If you’re responsible for compliance, this is not optional reading.