Is Corporate Singapore ready for a new tax world?

WITH the 2019 Singapore Budget around the corner, the government faces complex and interconnected choices on how best to deploy fiscal tools to encourage job and wealth creation to enhance its economic competitiveness, while ensuring sufficient tax revenues to fund public spending. Policymakers are pressed to better fund healthcare and education, provide support for young parents, invest in infrastructure and keep the country secure.

This conundrum is similarly faced by governments around the world. However, tax systems sit within a broader dynamic of societal, economic and political change, and governments have limited scope to increase taxes. Thus, they are seeking alternative avenues to raise revenues, including reducing tax leakages due to non-compliance. Tax authorities around the world are also encouraging taxpayers to strengthen their tax compliance by including tax within their corporate governance frameworks.

International tax landscape