Breaking down the IR8A
The IR8A form is Singapore's official document for reporting employee earnings to IRAS. It captures everything an employee received from their employer during the calendar year, from basic salary to bonuses, allowances, and deductions. While modern payroll software generates this data automatically, understanding the form's structure helps you verify that submissions are accurate and complete.
The Purpose of IR8A
IR8A stands for "Return of Employee's Remuneration." It serves as the employer's declaration of what they paid each employee throughout the year. IRAS uses this information to pre-fill employees' individual tax returns and calculate their tax liability.
Every employer must prepare an IR8A for each employee who worked for them during the calendar year. Under the Auto-Inclusion Scheme, this information is submitted electronically rather than on paper forms.
Who Needs an IR8A
Employers must prepare IR8A forms for:
- Full-time employees who are Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents
- Part-time employees regardless of hours worked
- Non-resident employees who rendered services in Singapore during the year
- Company directors including non-resident directors
- Board members receiving board or committee fees
- Pensioners on the company's payroll
- Former employees who received income during the year (such as stock option gains)
You do not need to prepare IR8A for foreign employees who have already gone through tax clearance upon leaving the company, or for foreigners who worked entirely outside Singapore for the full calendar year.
Form Structure Overview
The IR8A form is organised into several distinct sections. While the electronic submission captures the same information, understanding these sections helps you verify your data is complete.
Employee Information contains basic identification details: the employee's name, identification number, designation, and employment dates. This establishes who the record is for and the period covered.
Personal Particulars captures demographic information required by IRAS, including date of birth, gender, ID type (NRIC, FIN, or passport), residential address, and bank details. Much of this is pre-filled from your employee records.
Income Information is the core of the form. This section records all compensation paid during the year, broken down by category: gross salary, bonuses, director's fees, allowances, commissions, and other income types. Each category has specific fields to ensure accurate reporting.
Deductions & Reliefs captures amounts that reduce taxable income, such as CPF contributions, donations deducted through salary, life insurance premiums, and mosque building fund contributions. These are automatically calculated from your payroll records.
Income Categories Explained
The Income Information section groups earnings into specific categories:
Gross Salary includes basic pay, leave pay, wages, and overtime. This is the employee's regular compensation before bonuses or additional payments.
Bonus covers all bonus payments, whether contractual (like a 13th month bonus) or discretionary (performance bonuses). Bonuses are taxed in the year the employee becomes entitled to them, which may differ from when they are paid.
Director's Fees applies to company directors who receive fees for their board service. The timing of when these are taxable depends on whether fees are approved in arrears or in advance.
Other Income is a catch-all category covering allowances, commissions, gratuity payments, notice pay, retirement benefits, excess CPF contributions, and share option gains. Each type has its own reporting requirements.
Supporting Appendices
Depending on the employee's compensation structure, additional appendices may be required:
Appendix 8A reports benefits-in-kind, which are non-cash benefits provided to employees. This includes items like company cars, accommodation, furniture, utilities paid by the employer, and club memberships. The value of these benefits must be calculated and reported.
Appendix 8B covers gains from employee stock option plans (ESOP) and employee share ownership plans (ESOW). If an employee exercised options or received shares during the year, the gains must be declared here.
How Officaid Helps
Officaid automatically structures your payroll data into the IR8A format. When you generate tax submissions from payslips, the system populates Employee Information, Personal Particulars, Income Information, and Deductions & Reliefs based on your existing employee and payroll records.
Before submitting, you can review and edit each employee's tax submission to verify accuracy and make adjustments. Officaid validates your data against IRAS requirements, catching common errors before submission. For employees with benefits-in-kind or stock option gains that require Appendix 8A or 8B, refer to IRAS guidelines for additional reporting requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
All bonuses are combined in the Bonus field of the IR8A, regardless of whether they were contractual (like AWS) or discretionary (like performance bonuses). The form captures the total bonus amount for the year.
Yes. Income paid in foreign currency must be converted to Singapore Dollars using the exchange rate at the time of payment. The converted SGD amount is what gets reported on the IR8A.
Report only the income earned during their employment period. Fill in the Date of Commencement if they joined during the year, and the Date of Cessation if they left during the year. The income figures should reflect only what you paid them.
IR8A is for annual employment income reporting, submitted by 1 March for all employees. IR21 is a tax clearance form specifically for foreign employees who are leaving the company or Singapore, and must be submitted at least one month before their departure.
What's Next
Now that you understand the IR8A form structure, explore these related topics:
- Original, Amendment, and Revised Submissions - Learn when to use each submission type
- Editing Tax Submission Details - Review the detailed form fields in Officaid
- What is the Auto-Inclusion Scheme - Understand electronic submission requirements