Every year, employers in IRAS’ Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) send their employees’ income for the previous calendar year straight to IRAS. IRAS pre-fills that figure into each employee’s personal tax return. So if the number you submit is wrong, your employee sees it first, usually while filing their own return.
We compile the figures from your payroll records, check them, submit them, and deal with any amendments afterwards.
Last reviewed: 17 October 2026.
At a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Deadline | 1 March each year, for the previous calendar year’s income. For 2026 income, that is 1 March 2027. |
| Submission window | IRAS states employers may submit between 1 February and 1 March. |
| Who is required | All existing AIS employers, whatever their headcount. In IRAS’ 2026 reminder, new employers that had five or more employees in 2025 were also required to file. |
| What is submitted | Each employee’s employment income for the year (IRAS’ filing pages list IR8A, Appendix 8A, Appendix 8B and IR8S). |
| If you file late | A fine of up to S$5,000 under section 94(1) of the Income Tax Act 1947, as reported from IRAS’ February 2026 announcement. |
| If the data is wrong | Penalties of up to double the tax undercharged. |
| Where | IRAS digital services (the AIS portal). |
Who has to file
The headcount rule is easy to misread, so here is how IRAS put it in its February 2026 reminder:
- Existing AIS employers must file, including those with fewer than five employees.
- New employers that had five or more employees during 2025 were also brought in, and IRAS wrote to more than 11,000 of them in January 2026.
IRAS said about 123,000 employers were under the scheme at that point. If you are not sure whether you are one of them, check your IRAS correspondence or ask us. We can look at your headcount and your IRAS notices together.
What goes into the submission
The headline salary is the easy part. The lines that go wrong are the ones outside the normal monthly payroll run:
- Bonuses and commissions paid at different times of the year
- Allowances
- Benefits-in-kind, in cash or otherwise, such as housing or a company car
- Income or benefits paid outside payroll
- Gains from shares or options
IRAS names taxable benefits-in-kind, payments made outside payroll, accommodation benefits and share or option gains as commonly missed items.
How we handle it
- Collect. We pull the year’s payroll records, plus a list from you of anything paid outside payroll.
- Reconcile. We compare each employee’s totals with payroll and CPF records, and ask you about anything that does not tie up.
- Submit. We file through IRAS’ digital services before 1 March.
- Amend. If an employee or IRAS queries a figure, we correct it and resubmit.
Example (illustration only)
ABC Pte Ltd has six employees. Payroll shows monthly salary and a December bonus. Two things sit outside it: a staff member’s rent paid directly by the company, and a sales commission paid by bank transfer in October. In our reconciliation, neither appears in the payroll report, so both go onto a list for the director to confirm. Once confirmed, they are included in the submission. Without that step, the employees’ pre-filled returns would have shown less income than they received.
Late or wrong submissions
IRAS’ February 2026 announcement reported that more than 12,000 AIS employers filed late in 2025, and that 1,207 repeat offenders were prosecuted, with penalties above S$1 million. Most of the prosecuted employers were in food and beverage, wholesale trade and construction.
If you have already filed and later find an error, IRAS’ Voluntary Disclosure Programme lets you correct it, and IRAS encourages employers to use it. See our corporate tax services page for how we handle related corrections.
How it links to payroll
AIS is a year-end summary of what payroll recorded. If bonuses, allowances and benefits are logged in the month they happen, the submission is a compilation job. If they are not, someone has to rebuild the year from bank statements. Our payroll processing service records these as they occur, and the AIS submission draws on that record.
Questions people ask
Does AIS replace my employee’s own tax return? No. Employees still file their own returns and should correct any figure that is wrong.
Is my company required to join if it has fewer than five employees? Existing AIS employers file whatever their size. For a company not yet in the scheme, check your IRAS notices; we can help you read them.
What is the deadline? 1 March each year, for the income of the previous calendar year.
What happens if we miss it? Failing to file by the deadline is an offence under the Income Tax Act, with fines of up to S$5,000 reported for employers.
Can you fix an earlier mistake? Yes. We can prepare the amendment and, if appropriate, the voluntary disclosure.
Sources
- IRAS: Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) for Employment Income (submission window 1 February to 1 March)
- IRAS: Join the AIS (registration open until 1 March 2027 for YA 2027)
- IRAS newsroom: 123,000 AIS employers to submit employees’ employment income data by 1 Mar 2026
- IRAS newsroom: Over 900 employers prosecuted for YA 2023
This page is general information, not advice for your specific situation.
Need AIS handled?
Tell us how many employees you have and what was paid outside payroll, and we will tell you what the submission involves. Send us a message.