Scope and edition
The thirteenth edition dated 30 January 2026 covers income tax, GST, withholding tax and stamp duty. Income-tax references also cover cash payouts administered under the Income Tax Act: excess payout obtained is treated as undercharged tax for these rules. VDP encourages timely correction followed by compliant behaviour; it is not automatic immunity for every disclosure.
All qualifying conditions
Disclosure must be timely, accurate, complete and self-initiated. Cooperate fully, pay or arrange payment of additional tax/excess payout and penalties, and honour arrangements until settled. Normally disclose before an IRAS query or audit/investigation notice. If one is already underway, disclosed errors must not directly relate to its scope. The application is complete only when all required information arrives. Mass-mailer compliance programmes can qualify if their stated timing and all conditions are met. Implement robust controls against recurrence.
Ordinary grace periods and reduced rates
The one-year grace runs from the statutory deadline, not any extension: individual tax 15 April, corporate tax 30 November, GST one month after the period, and withholding tax the 15th of the second month after non-resident payment. Qualifying non-wilful disclosure within grace has no penalty. After grace, individual/corporate tax is 5% of undercharge or excess payout for each year late after grace; GST is a flat 5% of undercharge and withholding a flat 5% of outstanding tax. Repeated qualifying disclosures are not automatically excluded. Stamp duty has no grace: late stamping/underpayment is 5% per annum, calculated daily on additional duty payable.
GST registration, ASK and compliance initiatives
IRAS may waive penalties for businesses voluntarily registering late or disclosing unauthorised GST collection while not registered. ASK Annual Review grants one year from the statutory deadline of the last return in the reviewed financial year or selected twelve-month period. TGF, ACAP and CTRM have separate benefits and still require the ordinary qualifying conditions.
TGF eligibility and benefit window
Disclose within two years of IRAS approval to use TGF once. Corporate and withholding errors receive a two-year grace; GST companies with ACAP status receive three years, otherwise two. These are extended error-age grace periods, distinct from the two-year window to claim the benefit. Submit Form to utilise benefits granted under TGF with the disclosure. GST may be disclosed through renewal, PAR or the company’s own review.
First ACAP and preparatory disclosures
For errors in the ACAP twelve-month period and subsequent returns, disclose by the IRAS report deadline for no penalty. Pre-period errors normally incur flat 5%; first-time ACAP can waive them if the report is on time, errors non-fraudulent, status first awarded and additional tax paid. Preparatory disclosures may receive these benefits if IRAS is notified of participation within six months of engaging the external reviewer or starting internal review. The ACAP period can be the latest twelve months of filed returns or the past financial year. The example accepted 2 March 2022, selected calendar 2021 and report due 1 June 2023 gives that deadline for errors from 1 January 2021–31 March 2023.
Renewal and PAR are different
ACAP renewal review-year errors have one year from the last return’s statutory deadline; later disclosure follows ordinary reduced penalties. Errors outside the review year use ordinary grace/reduction. PAR disclosures in GST F28 also use ordinary rules. Adopting ASK methodology for PAR does not grant ASK’s review-period grace: each return retains its ordinary one-year deadline.
CTRM once-only waiver
CTRM status grants a one-time waiver for prior corporate/withholding errors satisfying all conditions. Errors disclosed during the process and in the reviewer’s Report on Findings are deemed disclosed on award. Use the benefit within three years; if unused, successful renewal may extend it a further three, total capped six. Post-award claims need Form for Voluntary Disclosure of Errors under the CTRM.
Wilful evasion is treated separately
For income tax, withholding and GST, wilful offenders and helpers may face prosecution, up to seven years’ imprisonment and/or S$50,000 fine, and up to 400% of undercharged tax. Qualifying voluntary disclosure of past deliberate acts may instead be compounded at 200% in lieu of prosecution; failing VDP can lead to court charges. Annex A requires both an act and knowledge of reduced tax/excess refunds: examples include deliberately omitted cash sales, knowingly low estimates despite accounts, false input tax, omitted GST sales, false expense classification, fabricated supplier bills, two sets of books and fictitious purchase invoices. These examples are not exhaustive.
Application information and authorised sign-off
Provide applicant name, NRIC/passport/FIN, address, phone/email, business name/ID/address where relevant, tax type and periods, error description and evidence, discovery circumstances, prevention controls and implementation date. Confirm no direct relation to an ongoing scope, completeness/accuracy, cooperation, payment and controls. Business applicants should be MD, CEO, precedent partner, sole proprietor or duly authorised officer with authority letter. Sign and date. All information/support must accompany submission; request extra time with reasons if necessary, not more than three months from application. Failure to meet an agreed deadline invalidates it.
How to submit for each tax
Self-employed persons/partnerships and agents use the linked disclosure form. Other individuals use myTax Mail → Compose Mail → Individuals/relevant profile → Voluntary Disclosure of Errors; agents/employers have a linked form for clients/employees. Corporate Revise/Object to Assessment is recommended for instant acknowledgement and potentially earlier revised NOA; the guide also lists ctmail@iras.gov.sg. Request and e-file GST F7 within fourteen days of request; late registrants register online. Unauthorised GST or missing-trader-fraud input claims use gst@iras.gov.sg. File/pay relevant withholding records before the S45 VDP form. Stamp through e-Stamping; deliberate past acts may be emailed to ifd@iras.gov.sg. Written submissions may go to IRAS, 55 Newton Road, Revenue House, Singapore 307987.
Five qualifying cases and four failures
Qualifying examples are: complete media-prompted negligent-income disclosure; output errors while an unrelated input audit runs; previously missed errors after an audit has ended; company X disclosing while its minority shareholder’s sole business Y is audited; and royalty withholding disclosed during a GST input audit. Each also cooperates and pays. Failure examples are incomplete evidence by agreed deadline, omitted partnership income directly linked to a partner investigation, ignored IRAS queries despite payment, and dishonoured payment arrangements despite complete/cooperative disclosure.
ASK dated examples
Calendar-2023 review of quarterly returns ends 31 December 2023, last filing due 31 January 2024, so grace ends 31 January 2025. For FY 1 December 2022–30 November 2023 but an elected review 1 October 2022–30 September 2023, the four quarter ends are December 2022 and March/June/September 2023. Last filing is 31 October 2023, so grace ends 31 October 2024.
TGF GST tables and source wording
Approval on 1 April 2022 allows use through 31 March 2024. For a 31 December 2022 disclosure without ACAP, March/June/September 2020 errors have two-year endpoints 30 April/31 July/31 October 2022 and incur 5%; December 2020 and March/June/September 2021 endpoints are 31 January/30 April/31 July/31 October 2023 and are waived. For ACAP renewal submitted 31 December 2023 with Premium 1 October 2018–30 September 2023, review calendar 2022 and TGF approval 1 September 2023, three-year endpoints for December 2020, March/June/September/December 2021, review year 2022 and March 2023 are 31 January/30 April/31 July/31 October 2024, 31 January 2025, 31 January/30 April 2026; all are waived. PAR on 31 December 2023, ACAP award 1 July 2022 and same TGF approval likewise waives each quarter December 2020–March 2023, with March/June/September 2022 endpoints 30 April/31 July/31 October 2025. Annex wording mentions declaration submission, while section 6 specifies TGF approval; do not replace approval with an assumed different trigger.
TGF corporate tax and withholding tables
Approval on 1 September 2023 gives benefit use 1 September 2023–31 August 2025. For corporate errors, each YA’s two-year grace is followed by 5%, 10%, 15% per late year. The table shows YA 2019 becoming time-barred 31 December 2023 and YA 2020 on 31 December 2024. An October 2023 disclosure gives YA 2019 10%, YA 2021/2022 zero. For payments 1 January/1 June 2021 and 1 January/1 June 2022, filing/payment dates are 15 March/15 August 2021 and 15 March/15 August 2022. At 30 June 2023 before approval, only the June-2022 payment is within ordinary grace; the other three incur flat 5%. At 1 October 2023, both 2022 payments qualify under two-year grace, both 2021 payments incur 5%. At 1 September 2025, benefit window has ended and all four incur 5%.
CTRM dated tables
Award on 1 September 2023 gives a once-only waiver for disclosure through 31 August 2026 regardless of error YA, provided all conditions are met. Before award, the CIT table shows ordinary one-year grace then 5% per year; YA 2019 reaches 15% in the pre-award 2022–August-2023 interval. The withholding table uses the same four payments as the TGF example: on 30 June 2023, only June 2022 is within one-year grace; on 1 October 2023 all four qualify for the once-only waiver. Its WHT paragraph mistakenly says CIT errors; section 8 and the table concern WHT as well.
Comparison, terminology and changes
Annex H excludes deliberate evasion. Non-qualifying income/GST disclosures can attract up to 200% undercharge/excess payout, withholding up to 20% outstanding tax, and stamp duty up to four times additional duty, compared with the qualifying rates above. ACAP means Assisted Compliance Assurance Programme; ASK Assisted Self-help Kit; CTRM corporate tax risk/control framework; TGF Tax Governance Framework. Revisions added cash-payout clarity in 2015, PAR terminology, renewal in 2016, revised first-ACAP timing and non-FY ASK in 2018, updated channels in 2020/2022, TGF/CTRM and report-deadline conditions in 2024, form links in June 2025 and removed obsolete bonus references in January 2026. Annex H’s ACAP cross-reference says section 6, although the detailed ACAP section is 7.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
Read the official PDF ↗