Historical transition
Presented at the IRAS Budget Seminar on 14 March 2003, the eight-slide deck describes S45 changes for transactions with Date of Payment from 1 April 2003. Earlier payment dates remained under the then-existing rulings. This is a historical reform explanation, not a current withholding-tax deadline guide.
Earliest-event payment date
The date is the earliest of contractual due-and-payable date (invoice date if there is no contract/agreement), credit to the non-resident’s account or another account on their behalf, including reinvestment, and actual payment. Directors’ fees use the date voted and approved at the AGM. A later cash transfer does not override an earlier defined event.
Deadline and two examples
S45(1)/(4) filing/payment changed from within ten days after payment to the 15th of the following month. Payment on 1 April 2003 moved from 11 April to 15 May; payment on 19 April moved from 29 April to the same 15 May. The source’s Current/Revised labels mean before/after the 2003 reform.
Penalty rules and shifted timeline
The deck states a 5% late-payment penalty and a further 1% per completed month while tax remains unpaid, additional penalty capped at 15% of outstanding tax. For the 1 April example, the 5% timeline’s due point shifts from 11 April to 15 May. The 1% illustration marks the old 30-day span 2 April–1 May, with additional penalty from 2 May; revised marks 16 May–14 June, with additional penalty from 15 June. These are the diagram’s dated historical markers, not present-day computation instructions.
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 ↗