IR8A and AIS: year-end payroll filing due 1 March 2027

Employers must prepare a Form IR8A for each employee’s 2026 pay by Monday 1 March 2027. A company in the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) sends the figures to IRAS electronically by that date and does not need to issue paper IR8As. A company outside AIS gives each employee a paper form by the same date and need not send it to IRAS. AIS is compulsory for employers with 5 or more employees in 2026, employers that received an IRAS notice, and employers registered for AIS on 1 March 2027.

IRAS says late submission may lead to a fine of up to S$5,000 (submission page, last updated 14 September 2026).

This is general information from IRAS pages read on 3 October 2026 and rechecked on 17 October 2026, not tax advice. The forms and explanatory notes IRAS links from its IR8A page are for 2025 income (Year of Assessment, or YA, 2026), and this guide says so wherever it quotes them.

Does your company have to file through AIS?

Work down these questions, using IRAS’s AIS overview and registration page (last updated 20 August and 10 August 2026) and the gazette notice they link to (31 July 2026).

1. Did anyone work for you as an employee in Singapore in 2026? Sole proprietors and partners who share in the profit are not employees: IRAS excludes their drawings from AIS. A partner on an employment contract is an employee and goes on the list.
2. Did IRAS send a “Notice to File Employment Income of Employees Electronically”, or is the company registered? Then you are in AIS. IRAS says participation continues even if headcount later falls below 5, and an AIS employer cannot submit hardcopy IR8As instead.
3. Count everyone employed from 1 January to 31 December 2026, including people who left. The count covers part-time staff, directors, board members paid fees, pensioners and leavers who received income as well as full-time employees. Five or more makes AIS compulsory. When you submit, you leave out employees for whom tax clearance (Form IR21) was sought.
4. None of the above? You are outside AIS. Prepare an IR8A, with appendices where they apply, for each employee and hand it over by 1 March 2027. IRAS says employers need not submit these forms to it, and its 2025 explanatory notes say not to send them unless IRAS asks. IRAS encourages smaller employers to join, but only once they have hired at least one employee (see our first-employee checklist).

No letter does not mean no duty: IRAS says employers that fall within its gazette notice under section 68(2) of the Income Tax Act but received no notification for YA 2027 should register and submit by 1 March 2027. IRAS’s own pages disagree on one date: the overview says “on or before 1 Mar 2026”, the registration page 1 Mar 2027. The gazette notice both pages link to (No. 4410, 31 July 2026) says employers registered on or before 1 March 2027 that remain registered on that date must file electronically, so the overview’s wording looks like a leftover from the previous round (our inference). If you are registered, treat yourself as in AIS and confirm with IRAS if unsure.

Who goes on the list, and who does not?

IRAS’s list of employees to include (last updated 7 August 2026) covers, whatever the amount and however short the service:

• Full-time and part-time resident employees, even if pay is under the S$22,000 taxable threshold.
• Non-resident employees who worked in Singapore, including foreigners (use the FIN, not the work permit number).
• Directors, including non-resident directors, and board members paid fees.
• Pensioners, and leavers who received income in the year, such as stock option gains.
• Interns under an employment contract, unless the placement is compulsory for their studies and they get only subsistence allowances.
• Salaried partners; someone rehired in the same year is one consolidated record.

Leave out sole proprietors’ and partners’ drawings and payments to non-employees; foreign leavers already assessed through tax clearance; and a non-resident director paid only director’s fees. The 2025 explanatory notes also exclude foreigners contracted to be based overseas who worked wholly outside Singapore all year. These pages do not set out a general test for who counts as an employee, so ask IRAS or a tax agent before leaving anyone out (our suggestion).

What does each form cover, and which year does a figure fall in?

IR8A reports pay. Appendix 8A reports benefits-in-kind such as accommodation, home leave passages, insurance premiums, education costs and car benefits, and the total goes on the IR8A. Appendix 8B reports share-option and share-plan gains. The notes say Form IR8S was discontinued from YA 2026.

Three rules from the 2025 notes decide the year, so check the 2026 version in January:

• Salary is reported when due for the year, whether or not it was paid that year.
• A bonus is assessed in the year the employee becomes entitled to it.
• Director’s fees approved in arrears are generally income in the year the AGM or EGM approves them.

What is the timeline from now to 1 March 2027?

“IRAS” marks a date from an IRAS page; “ours” marks our suggestion.

1. October to December 2026 (IRAS): IRAS says its list of payroll software vendors that support AIS for the coming YA is updated periodically from October to December each year; being listed is not an IRAS endorsement. Ask your vendor, or confirm a Corppass “Approver” if you will use myTax Portal.
2. Thursday 31 December 2026: the income year closes. List everyone who worked in 2026, including leavers and part-timers (ours).
3. Thursday 14 January 2027 (IRAS rule, our date): IRAS’s data link-up service pre-fills local employees’ figures from CPF Board data. The page, which still describes the previous round (14 January 2026), says contributions not e-submitted and paid by 14 January (next working day if a weekend or holiday) are not pre-filled, so December’s must be added by hand. We apply that date to December 2026 wages. Pre-fill needs enrolment: new AIS registrants are enrolled automatically unless they opt out, and the page gives no 2027 sign-up date for employers already registered.
4. January 2027 (ours): reconcile payroll to CPF and compile the benefits-in-kind list, as in the example below. Recheck IRAS for the forms and notes for 2026 income.
5. 22 to 26 February 2027 (ours): aim to submit, leaving a few days to amend before the deadline.
6. Monday 1 March 2027 (IRAS): deadline. Employees can then check their figures on myTax Portal.
7. After submission: IRAS’s guidance on informing employees (last updated 9 September 2026) says those who already filed can re-file once by 18 April (it gives no year; by our calendar check 18 April 2027 is a Sunday, so confirm the date IRAS announces), and those with a tax bill can amend within 30 days of its date.

For the other dates in this window, see our SME compliance calendar and Form C-S guide.

How do you submit the records?

IRAS’s submission page gives two routes.

• Payroll software with the AIS interface (API). IRAS strongly encourages it. Records go straight to IRAS, and myTax Portal shows only the submission date and time.
• “Submit Employment Income Records” on myTax Portal, under the Employers tab. It suits employers without payroll software, those making amendments and those on the data link-up service. It takes up to 200 records per submission, with an IR8A import template. Only a Corppass “Approver” can submit, and IRAS’s data link-up FAQ says an authorised third party cannot view or edit pre-filled data.

Where a portal field takes no decimals, round income down to the dollar and deductions up.

What does a reconciliation look like for a six-person company?

Tie the payroll register, what you sent CPF Board and the IR8A totals together before submitting. This company is fictional and illustrative. Assume everyone except the foreign employee is a Singapore Citizen or a Singapore PR from the third year of PR status, aged 55 or below, on wages under CPF’s ceilings, so the employee rate is a flat 20% (CPF’s rate page, last updated 7 October 2026, gives 20% for employees aged 55 and below on monthly wages above S$750 from 1 January 2026). All bonuses were paid in December 2026.

• Director on payroll: salary S$72,000 (12 × S$6,000), director’s fee S$12,000 approved at an AGM in 2026 for the prior year (we assume no CPF is paid on the fee), employee CPF S$14,400.
• Operations manager: salary S$60,000, bonus S$5,000, employee CPF S$13,000.
• Designer: salary S$48,000, bonus S$2,000, employee CPF S$10,000.
• Part-time administrator: salary S$18,000, employee CPF S$3,600.
• Sales executive, left 30 June: salary S$21,000 (6 × S$3,500), employee CPF S$4,200.
• Foreign employee, joined 1 March: salary S$36,000 (10 × S$3,600), no CPF, plus a rented room at S$1,200 a month that the employee does not pay for: S$12,000 of benefits-in-kind, assuming no administrative concession applies (IRAS’s treatment pages decide that).

Is AIS compulsory? Counting full-time, non-director staff on 31 December gives three (operations manager, designer, foreign employee), which suggests “fewer than 5”. IRAS’s count also includes the director on payroll, the part-timer and the leaver: six. AIS is compulsory.

Step 1, payroll register. Salaries S$255,000 + bonuses S$7,000 + director’s fee S$12,000 + benefits-in-kind S$12,000 = S$286,000.

Step 2, CPF Board. Wages sent to CPF: S$255,000 less the foreign employee’s S$36,000 is S$219,000, plus S$7,000 of bonuses = S$226,000.

Step 3, explain the gap. S$286,000 less S$226,000 is S$60,000: S$36,000 foreign salary, S$12,000 director’s fee and S$12,000 accommodation. IRAS’s data link-up FAQ says to add these by hand: foreign employees’ records (MOM data supplies only personal details) and taxable items outside CPF submissions, such as director’s fees and benefits-in-kind. Any other gap needs an explanation before you submit (our suggestion).

Step 4, employee CPF. The five contributors add to S$45,200 (20% of S$226,000). It should match what you paid CPF Board (our inference) and is the employee CPF deduction on the IR8A.

If December’s CPF submission is late. Suppose it goes in on 18 January 2027, after the 14th. December salaries of those on CPF (S$6,000 + S$5,000 + S$4,000 + S$1,500 = S$16,500) and the S$7,000 of bonuses would not be pre-filled. Pre-filled wages would read S$202,500 not S$226,000, and employee CPF S$40,500 not S$45,200, so you would add S$23,500 and S$4,700 by hand. Step 2 is where you would notice.

What if a record is wrong?

IRAS’s amendment page (last updated 30 July 2026) says to amend immediately for errors in employee IDs, income, deductions or indicators that affect taxability, and to submit an omitted employee on its own. For other errors it provides an Amendment Checker. The recommended “revision” method resends the full correct figures and overwrites the earlier record; the “amendment” method sends only the difference, with a minus sign for over-declared amounts.

What to check before you submit

• Headcount for 2026 includes part-timers, directors on payroll, board members paid fees and leavers, and your AIS status is confirmed (IRAS has a “Search AIS Organisation” check).
• Payroll register, CPF records and IR8A totals agree, and every gap is explained. Our CPF contribution rates guide covers the rates, and the month-end close checklist can host the December tie-out.
• Director’s fees, bonuses and benefits-in-kind sit in the right year.
• Foreign employees carry a FIN, tax-clearance cases are excluded, and in-year joiners and leavers have commencement and cessation dates (IRAS’s FAQ: commencement date if they started in the year or before 1 January 1969, cessation date if they left in the year).
• A Corppass “Approver” is in place, or your vendor’s AIS interface is working.

More guides on running the office are in our Productivity topic.

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