Monday, March 08, 2010

Difficulty in submitting Income Tax statements

I just submitted my income tax statement to IRAS through e-filing. Like in previous years, I had a difficult time. The technology used is good for IRAS  but is troublesome for the tax payer.

Here are my difficulties:

a) I received consultancy income from two sources and I do not know if the client is auto-filing my income. To find out, I had to search through a long PDF document. Rather than search this document, I prefer to enter the amount myself. But the form does not allow me to state the name of the client. If they enter the amount separately through auto-filing, I would have to pay tax twice on the same source.

b) There are a few places where I missed a entire section because IRAS hide the details under a button, e.g. rental income and relief. I was reminded by the IRAS prompt, but why hide them in the first place?

c) After entering the details of my tax returns, I click on one button my mistake (as it was not clear) and found, to my horror, that all my entries were deleted. I had to painfully enter all the fields again.

d) I managed to get to the submission form on my second attempt. I found, to my surprise, that the claim for life insurance premium was not shown. I was quite sure that I had entered the figures. I search the form twice and managed to find a button called "Amend".  After several clicks and doing my best to avoid any mistake, I managed to get to the life insurance form. I found that my earlier entry was recorded - but why did IRAS mislead me with a blank amount in the final submission form?

IRAS should realise the stress and trouble their technology is giving to the tax payer. As we submit the form only once a year, we should not be expected to learn the technical features of e-filing.  IRAS seems to forget that the taxpayer has other responsibilities, such as keeping records of all items of income and payments, and it is unfair for IRAS to add the hassle of e-filing on the tax payer.

Tan Kin Lian

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is a stressful yearly exercise! Certainly there are plenty rooms for improvement.

Tan Kin Lian said...

I prefer a simple straight forward online form where I have to fill in the details from top to bottom, without the buttons to hide and expose different sections of the form, or to check if the employer is on auto-submit.

It will be helpful if last year's forms are made available for me to check and copy the details that have not changed.

Technology should be used to make life easier, rather than more complicated for the people.

It is long overdue for the government to streamline the children relief. They are so complicated and the amounts involved or so little.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Tan
A heartfelt thanks for voicing out what many of us feel about the e-filing by IRAS.

As best as I can see, it makes life "productive" for IRAS and nightmarishly non-productive for the tax payers.

In order to "spur" IRAS to improve, I plan to vote against ANY incumbent political party until I see improvements in the IRAS e-filing system.

It's petty on my part, but I'm dealing with a petty and inconsiderate government department.

There has to be accountability somewhere for this pathetic excuse of a website. The change starts with me.

Anonymous said...

I'm facing similar problem in my e-filing of income tax. I mistakenly filed (confusing steps) my document before realising my employer has failed to submit my details through auto filing system. I was told by IRAS the system cannot be re-set so I have only one more chance to amend my submission even my employer fails to auto file my details in 14 days. Very unpleasant experience using this e-filing.

Ex-Con said...

My dad cannot stand the online e-filing, so he always insist on filling up the paper form.

Unfortunately, you now can't even download a PDF of the form from IRAS website. Have to call their hotline 1800-356-8300. Good luck to those trying now.

My dad will usually start calling and pushing the IRAS officers back in early Feb so that easier to get through and they can remember to mail the form to him.

Anonymous said...

IRAS informed me that I do not have to e-file this year as I am being selected for their auto e-filing experiment. Am I considered being lucky here?

Anonymous said...

My company submitted mine for me last year. However, for self-employed, I heard it can be quite messy.

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