Singapore legislation

Clause 34

of Income Tax (Amendment) Bill

Clause 34

New sections 43ZG and 43ZH

The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 43ZF, the following sections:“Concessionary rate of tax for income derived from managing approved venture company43ZG.—

(1)

Despite section 43, tax at the rate of 5% is to be levied and paid for each year of assessment upon the management fees and performance bonus derived by an approved fund management company on or after 1 April 2015 from managing approved investments of an approved venture company under section 13H.(2) The Minister or such person as the Minister may appoint may approve a fund management company for the purposes of subsection (1) at any time between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2020 (both dates inclusive).(3) The Minister or appointed person may, when granting the approval, impose such conditions on the fund management company as the Minister or appointed person considers appropriate.(4) The approval under subsection (2) is for a period specified by the Minister or appointed person which must not exceed 10 years, except that the Minister or appointed person may extend the period for further periods not exceeding 5 years at any one time.(5) The total period of approval of a fund management company, including —

(a)

every extension under subsection (4); and

(b)

if the fund management company had been a pioneer service company in respect of the activity of managing investments for an approved venture company under section 13H, its tax relief period for that qualifying activity,must not in total exceed 15 years.(6) In determining the amount of income subject to the concessionary rate of tax under subsection (1) —

(a)

the allowances under section 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 must be taken into account even if no claim for such allowances has been made; and

(b)

the Comptroller must determine the manner and extent to which —

(i)

allowances under section 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 and any expenses and donations allowable under this Act are to be deducted; and

(ii)

any loss may be deducted under section 37.(7) In this section —“fund management company” means a company incorporated in Singapore that is a fund manager;“investments” has the same meaning as in section 13H(18);“pioneer service company” has the same meaning as in section 16 of the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act (Cap. 86);“tax relief period” means the tax relief period referred to in section 18 of the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act.Concessionary rate of tax for international growth company43ZH.—

(1)

Despite section 43, the Minister may by regulations provide that tax at the rate of 10% is to be levied and paid upon the income derived by an approved international growth company from carrying on all of its qualifying activities within a basis period, or a part of a basis period, that falls within its approval period, which in total exceeds the base amount referred to in subsection (6).(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to income from any of the activities mentioned in that subsection that is carried on on a date that falls outside of that activity’s concessionary period.(3) The Minister or such person as the Minister may appoint may, at any time between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2020 (both dates inclusive), approve a company as an international growth company for a period not exceeding 5 years; and the approval may be given subject to such conditions as the Minister or appointed person may impose.(4) When granting the approval, the Minister or appointed person must specify for the international growth company —

(a)

the date of its approval and its approval period;

(b)

one or more qualifying activities; and

(c)

a concessionary period for each of those activities.(5) The Minister or appointed person may at any time during the period the international growth company remains approved specify for it —

(a)

one or more additional qualifying activities; and

(b)

a concessionary period for each of those activities.(6) The base amount referred to in subsection (1) is ascertained in accordance with the following provisions:

(a)

where the approved international growth company had, at any time during the period of 3 years immediately before the date of its approval, carried on one or more of the qualifying activities specified for it under subsection (4), the base amount is ascertained by the formula:where Ais the total net profit before tax as shown in its audited accounts (or such other accounts as the Minister or appointed person may approve for the company) that is derived from carrying on the qualifying activity or activities during that period; andBis the actual number of months (a period of less than a month being reckoned as one month) during that period in which the qualifying activity or activities was or were carried out; (b)where the approved international growth company had not carried on any of those qualifying activities during the period of 3 years immediately before the date of its approval, the base amount is zero;

(c)

the Minister or appointed person may specify an amount in substitution for the amount referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).(7) The base amount determined in accordance with subsection (6) applies for the entire duration of the company’s approval period, unless the Minister or appointed person decides otherwise.(8) In determining the income of an approved international growth company from carrying on its qualifying activities —

(a)

the allowances under section 16, 17, 18, 18B, 18C, 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 must be taken into account even though no claim for such allowances has been made; and

(b)

the Comptroller must determine the manner and extent to which —

(i)

allowances under section 16, 17, 18, 18B, 18C, 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 or 23 and any expenses and donations allowable under this Act are to be deducted; and

(ii)

any loss may be deducted under section 37.(9) In this section —“approval period”, in relation to an approved international growth company, means the period of its approval as such a company under subsection (3);“concessionary period”, in relation to a qualifying activity of an approved international growth company, means the concessionary period specified for that activity under subsection (4) or (5);“international growth company” means a company incorporated and resident in Singapore which carries on, or which intends to carry on, a trade or business which involves —

(a)

the export of goods to a country outside Singapore;

(b)

the performance of services in a country outside Singapore; or

(c)

the performance of services for a person or permanent establishment outside Singapore,whether or not it also carries on or intends to carry on any other trade or business;“qualifying activity”, in relation to an approved international growth company, means an activity specified for the company under subsection (4) or (5), being one of the activities prescribed for the purposes of this section in regulations made under this section.”.