Appointment of New Commissioner of Inland Revenue

1.    Mr Ng Wai Choong will succeed Mr Tan Tee How as the new Commissioner of Inland Revenue and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) with effect from 1 February 2018. Mr Ng, who has been a member of the IRAS Board since 1 September 2016, will continue on the Board in his new ex-officio capacity as the Commissioner. Mr Ng is currently the Chief Executive at the Energy Market Authority.

2.    Mr Tan Tee How, current Commissioner of Inland Revenue, will retire from the Administrative Service on 1 February 2018. He will relinquish the Commissioner appointment and IRAS board appointment on the same day. Mr Tan has been the Commissioner and CEO of IRAS since 1 December 2014. 

Contributions of Mr Tan Tee How

3.    Under Mr Tan’s stewardship, IRAS has continued to play a key role in fostering an internationally competitive tax environment in Singapore.  He led and participated actively in various international tax forums for Singapore to keep abreast of global tax issues, and to develop sound policies and measures to ensure Singapore’s competitiveness.  Under his watch, Singapore assumed the Chair of the Global Forum’s Peer Review Group and was also appointed Chair of the Study Group of Asian Tax Administration and Research Taskforce.

4.    During Mr Tan’s tenure, one of his key focus was to ensure that IRAS is well positioned in the environment of disruptive innovation. He spearheaded a transformation movement in IRAS to ensure that it harnesses technology so to continue delivering excellent services, along with a high level of voluntary compliance and low cost of tax administration. This transformation movement leverages on analytics, design and digitalisation to redefine the user experiences for taxpayers, tax intermediaries and staff. 

5.    Under Mr Tan’s leadership, IRAS adopted an outside-in approach to understand taxpayers’ needs and designs systems to meet their needs. It works with the communities to co-create solutions and uses new technology to deliver taxpayer-centered experiences and lower compliance costs.  At the same time, IRAS continues to take firm actions against non-compliance.  Mr Tan has also accelerated the building of staff capabilities by deepening their skills and adaptability so as to better respond to the changing work environment.   

6.    A brief write-up on the new and outgoing Commissioners is attached at Annex A (110 KB).

7.    The Ministry of Finance and IRAS would like to place on record our deep appreciation to Mr Tan for his dedication and invaluable contributions to IRAS, and welcome Mr Ng to IRAS.

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Issued by Ministry of Finance
Singapore
11 December 2017