Make it easier to submit income tax returns

Sent to Straits Times Forum Page on 24 March 2012

I want to thank the Inland Revenue Authority for making it easy

for taxpayers to submit their income tax returns.

I hope that the Authority can continue to simplify the submission in the

following areas:

a) Make it possible for the taxpayer to view the details of the 

remuneration that have been submitted by their employer or other

paying party. Where the details have not been submitted, show 

a remark "not yet received". This allows the taxpayer to know that 

the remuneration will be provided directly by these parties.

b) Allow individual taxpayers the option to claim for repairs, maintenance, insurance, 

commission and property tax at a certain percentage, say 20% of the 

rental income. This saves the hassle of keeping the detailed expenses and

is probably a fair estimate of the outgo, except for mortgage interest 

which can continue to be reported separately. 

I hope that, in the future, the Minister for Finance can consider waiving 

rental income from the computation of income tax, as the Government is 

already collecting property tax at quite a high rate.

Tan Kin Lian