PAYROLL & CPF GUIDE · UPDATED AUGUST 2026
IR8A and the Auto-Inclusion Scheme: what employers must report by 1 March
Every March, employers report what they paid their people — and for most companies with five or more staff, that means electronic submission under the Auto-Inclusion Scheme, whether they signed up or not. The mechanics are simple; the mistakes live in what counts as income, whose income counts, and which year it belongs to. Over 12,000 employers missed the last deadline. This is how not to be one of them.
WHO MUST JOIN
Four ways AIS becomes compulsory.
5 or more employees in the calendar year
The count includes everyone paid during the year — part-timers, directors, board members receiving fees, pensioners, and staff who resigned partway through. Five across the year means AIS, even if only two remain in December.
A notice from IRAS
Employers gazetted under section 68(2) of the Income Tax Act receive a Notice to File Employment Income of Employees Electronically. Receiving one makes participation compulsory regardless of headcount — and employers who meet the criteria but got no letter are expected to come forward anyway.
You registered — even voluntarily
An employer registered for AIS on or before 1 March of a Year of Assessment submits electronically for that year. Registration is now open year-round on myTax Portal; the old advice to register by 31 December no longer applies.
Once in, always in
Participation continues even if headcount later falls below five. An AIS employer submits electronically for all employees every year — handing out hardcopy IR8A forms is no longer permitted once in the scheme.
Employers with fewer than five staff and no notice stay outside the scheme — they give each employee a hardcopy IR8A by 1 March instead, and the forms do not go to IRAS. Joining voluntarily is encouraged, but it is a one-way door.
THE FORMS
One form, two appendices — and one that retired.
Form IR8A
The core return of remuneration — completed for every employee: full-time, part-time, non-resident staff, directors (resident or not), board members on fees, pensioners, and leavers who received income in the year.
Appendix 8A
For employees who received benefits-in-kind — housing, car benefits, home-leave passages and the rest of the taxable-benefit catalogue.
Appendix 8B
For employees with gains from employee share options or share ownership plans (ESOP/ESOW) — the gain computation travels with the IR8A.
Form IR8S — retired
IR8S (excess CPF contributions) applies only prior to YA 2026. It has been dropped from IRAS's current forms — guides still telling you to prepare one are out of date.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Three routes to a filed submission.
Payroll software with the AIS API
Software on IRAS's supported list submits records directly from payroll — no export files, no re-keying. This is the route IRAS actively encourages, and the vendor list now lives in the #SFFS Solution Partners listing.
The Submit Employment Income Records service
Employers without supporting software file through myTax Portal's digital service, with an Excel import template for larger headcounts. The same service handles amendments.
A payroll provider files for you
An outsourced payroll or tax agent prepares and submits under its own portal access. The judgment calls — what is taxable, which appendix applies, when directors' fees are reportable — are the value, not the upload.
WATCH POINTS
Where employment income reporting goes wrong.
Benefits-in-kind that never reach payroll
School fees paid directly to the school, premiums on an employee's personal insurance paid to the insurer, car benefits and season parking — all taxable employment income that IRAS repeatedly finds missing from IR8A because it never passed through the payroll system.
The S$200 award line
A service-excellence award of S$200 or less is exempt by concession — at S$201 the full value is taxable, not the excess. Cash long-service awards and work-performance awards are taxable in full.
Directors' fees in the wrong year
Fees approved in arrears are reportable by the date of the AGM that approved them — not the year the work was done or the year they were paid. Fees for FY2025 approved at the June 2026 AGM belong in the 2026 reporting year.
Leavers and clearance cases mixed up
Ex-employees who received income in the year go into the AIS submission; a foreign or PR employee leaving Singapore needs Form IR21 tax clearance instead — filed at least a month before departure, with monies withheld — and is then excluded from AIS.
What your employees see on the other side.
Your submission pre-fills each employee’s return in the March-to-18 April filing window. Many are on the No-Filing Service or receive their tax bill directly with nothing to do at all — which is exactly why an employer error is no longer a quiet one. The figure you file is the figure your employee gets taxed on, and the questions come to you first.
Common questions.
What is the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS)?
AIS is IRAS's scheme for employers to submit employees' employment income electronically by 1 March each year. The data pre-fills employees' tax returns — for many, it feeds the No-Filing Service or a direct tax bill with no return to file at all.
Is AIS compulsory for my company?
It is compulsory if you had 5 or more employees in the calendar year (counting part-timers, directors and staff who left), if you received IRAS's notice to file electronically, or if you were registered for AIS on or before 1 March of that Year of Assessment. Once in the scheme, you stay in even if headcount falls.
When is the IR8A deadline?
AIS employers must submit all employment income records electronically by 1 March each year, covering income for the previous calendar year. Employers outside AIS must give each employee a hardcopy IR8A by the same 1 March date — those forms do not go to IRAS.
What happens if we miss the 1 March deadline?
Late or non-submission is an offence carrying a fine of up to S$5,000, and key personnel such as directors can face fines up to S$10,000 and/or up to 12 months' imprisonment for failing to respond to IRAS's notices. IRAS prosecuted over 1,200 repeat offenders in 2025 — enforcement is not theoretical.
Do we still need Form IR8S?
No — IR8S applies only prior to YA 2026 and has been retired from IRAS's current forms. Current submissions consist of the IR8A plus Appendix 8A for benefits-in-kind and Appendix 8B for share plan gains, where applicable.
How do we correct a submitted record?
Through the same channels, using IRAS's revision or amendment modes. The newer revision submission overwrites the record with the full correct amounts — the safer route; the older amendment mode files only the differences, with negative signs for over-declarations. Submitting inaccurate information can attract a penalty of up to double the tax undercharged, so disclose errors early.
Official sources
Thresholds, deadlines and penalty amounts are as published by IRAS, checked on 23 August 2026.
This guide provides general information, not tax or payroll advice. Reporting obligations depend on your workforce, benefit arrangements and IRAS’s current gazette and guidance, which change from year to year.
WRITTEN BY
Jacqueline May
Principal Accountant · Chartered Accountant (Singapore), ISCA member
Jacqueline is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore) and ISCA member, and the Principal Accountant at Synergy Accounting, a Singapore practice established in 2013. She works on corporate tax, GST and ACRA compliance for small and medium businesses — the filings, deadlines and judgement calls most owners would rather hand over. These guides are written from what she sees in practice.