Tax implications of Covid-19 in Singapore

• Main Author: OOI, Vincent
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
• Subjects: Tax Law; Taxation; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Singapore Tax; Asian Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3197; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5155/viewcontent/2020_Tax_Implications_of_Covid_19_in_Singapore_sv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

As taxpayers in Singapore deal with a radically changed business environment due to COVID-19, there is a need to make non-routine decisions quickly. These decisions can have significant tax implications, which will likely manifest themselves later as the economy recovers. It is critical for taxpayers to understand the tax consequences of their decisions, even as they focus on issues of immediate survival. While the majority of the relevant tax principles are not new, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the need to apply these existing principles to new situations and increased the frequency of certain activities that may have been uncommon prior to the pandemic. Business decisions undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the whole range of taxes, including income tax, goods and services tax, stamp duties and property tax. The importance of understanding the tax consequences of these non-routine decisions and of maintaining contemporaneous documentation cannot be overstated.