Which form and how to submit
This form covers YA 2019 onwards, using base deduction section 14C and enhanced section 14D. Submit with Form C; Form C-S filers retain the completed form for IRAS requests. Each project needs its own Parts 5 and 6. Record company name, tax reference, trade description, YA, functional currency and project-by-project totals, reconciled to Form C IRIN 301 in Singapore dollars.
Eligibility and seven exclusions
The project must be scientific or technological, aim for new knowledge/products/processes or improvement, involve novelty first of its kind in Singapore or technical uncertainty not readily resolvable by a competent professional at inception, and use systematic investigative experimental (SIE) study of something unknown or not readily deducible. Exclusions are quality control/routine testing, social-science/humanities research, routine data collection, efficiency surveys/management studies, market research/sales promotion, routine product/process/production-method changes, and cosmetic/stylistic changes. The company must not merely be an R&D service provider for customers.
Ownership, benefits and declaration
Benefits accrue to the company. Outsourced or CSA results must be legally or beneficially owned and commercialised or intended for commercialisation by it. Beneficial ownership means rights to economic benefits; commercialisation includes goods/services sales using the results. Overseas outsourced expenditure must relate to existing trade. The authorised person signs with name, designation and date, declaring truth and completeness; incorrect returns or false declarations can attract penalties.
Project details and grants
Enter name, start/end or expected completion, first or continuation claim, in-house/outsourced/CSA mode, trade relationship, wholly local/foreign/mixed location and grant name, agency, amount/currency. For foreign or mixed work unrelated to trade do not proceed, except the source’s CSA exception from YA 2018. TECS/Startup SG Tech grants from former SPRING/Enterprise Singapore or EDB RISC require application, progress reports and approval letter with the claim.
Technical narrative and all example groups
Describe starting knowledge, objectives and challenges; explain why a competent professional could not readily resolve them. Examples include new materials for functionality/new products, smaller/lighter products retaining function, non-cosmetic physical change and integration with real technical uncertainty. Established-pattern technology integration, routine fine-tuning and predictable customisation are not technical risk. Novelty examples include new production processes, cross-industry adaptation, non-off-the-shelf use of existing technology for new goods/services, and first use of a material in a new application. SIE involves iteration, modelling/simulation, structured trial-and-error and documented failures with improvements; merely confirming known facts or random unstructured trials do not suffice. State researcher qualifications, structured steps, successful/failed results and conclusions, including why an aborted project failed; continuation claims describe this YA’s work.
Evidence and technical contact
Retain experiment designs, laboratory/project notes, plans, progress reports/minutes, prototypes/samples, outsourced contracts, initial-knowledge documents, challenge records, professional advice, test/follow-up records, patents/literature/feasibility studies and publicity/website evidence of novelty, plus other relevant material. These supporting records need not all accompany filing but must be supplied on request. Record the technical contact’s full name, designation and phone.
In-house expenditure calculation
Direct staff costs exclude directors’ fees. Consumables are consumed/transformed materials, not utilities, rent or overheads. Other direct costs exclude capital plant/land/buildings/acquired rights and section 15 prohibitions. Subtract grants from staff+consumables+other costs for section 14C. Enhanced section 14D uses staff+consumables less relevant grant, multiplied by 150%. Grant-specific versus general fee subsidy treatment must follow the guide’s Annex D paragraph 2.4 rather than indiscriminately deducting the same subsidy twice.
Outsourced and CSA calculations
Outsourced base section 14C is fees less grants. Enhanced spend is deemed 60% of fees, or actual eligible staff/consumables if higher, less relevant grant, with a 150% enhanced deduction. CSA base is company-borne R&D payment less grant, excluding buy-in rights. CSA enhanced eligible costs combine in-house staff/consumables and the outsourced 60% or higher-actual amount less grant, capped at CSA base deduction; apply 150%. Submit the CSA and amendments if not already provided. Enhanced work must be in Singapore; mixed projects exclude overseas-work costs. Sum in-house, outsourced and CSA claims and reconcile to Part 3.
EIS, dates and separate enhanced totals
The footnotes specify ordinary enhanced 150% for qualifying Singapore R&D in YAs 2019–2028. EIS adds another 150% on the first S$400,000 qualifying spend in YAs 2024–2028, capped at S$600,000 enhanced deduction across projects. Eligible businesses may elect a 20% cash payout on up to S$100,000 combined spend across all five EIS activities per YA; converted expenditure cannot also earn deduction. Part 6E base sums 6B(e)+6C(c)+6D(c); ordinary enhancement 6B(f)+6C(f)+6D(g); EIS enhancement 6B(g)+6C(g)+6D(h). These two 150% columns are additional amounts, not a claim that total relief is only 150%. The source notes former numbering: current 14C was 14D; current 14D was 14DA.
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 ↗