MOF Invites Comments on Changes to the Property Tax Act

The Ministry of Finance will be conducting a public consultation on the draft Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2010. This exercise will run from 11 June 2010 to 25 June 2010.

Proposed Amendments

2. The draft Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2010 provides for legislative effect for 12 changes. These proposed changes, which arise from periodic review of the property tax system, aim to improve tax administration or provide clarity to taxpayers. They include the following:

• Streamline reporting requirements for property owners. The requirement for property owners to inform IRAS upon certain events (such as when a building is completed, rebuilt, enlarged, altered or improved) will be removed.

• Align the time-bar for the Comptroller of Property Tax to recover outstanding property tax and refund excess property tax paid by taxpayers from six years to five years. This time bar also applies to income tax as well as goods and services tax;

• Clarify that the interest payable on the refund of excess property tax pursuant to a Court Order is to be computed from the date of the Order. The Property Tax Act is currently silent on how interest should be computed for tax refunds after the tax appeal has been heard by the Valuation Review Board or higher Courts. The amendment seeks to specify that the computation of interest for property tax appeal cases will be from the date of Court Order, similar to income tax matters.

Consultation Details

3. The public can access the consultation documents together with the explanations for the draft Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2010 on the Ministry of Finance's website and the REACH consultation portal. Respondents may send their comments to the Ministry of Finance directly via the website, email, fax or post.