Increase in filing fee for ACRA

Someone sent a complaint to the CEO of ACRA about the increase in filing fee for the annual return to ACRA from $20 to $60. He copied his complaint to me and to many ministers. I followed up with my letter of support of his views.


Dear Mr. Kenneth Yap (CEO of ACRA)

I express my support of the views expressed by Mr. Tun.

I find it quite ridiculous for ACRA to charge an annual filing fee of $60 for a company to file its annual return. After receiving our return, ACRA sells our financial data to other users on a fee.

I recall reading the ACRA annual report some years ago. You showed a big surplus from your operations. Hence, the increase in fees is not justified.

I urge ACRA to reduce the large sums that you spend on I.T development. I am not sure if this is the case, but I suspect it to be so. There is no need for ACRA to develop a costly computer system, just to collect and "sell" company information.

As a SME that is required to submit annual returns to ACRA, I find your input form to be quite time consuming, troublesome and painful to submit. The pain is made more noticeable when we have to pay a fee of $60.

ACRA should not charge any fee for filing of our annual returns. Would it be ridiculous if IRAS also ask tax payers to pay a fee to file their tax returns?

I hope that the ministers who have received this e-mail pay attention to this matter.

Thank you.

Tan Kin Lian