IRAS has confirmed that all partnerships must submit Form P electronically from the Year of Assessment (YA) 2027. Partnerships with more than 10 partners will also be required to complete and upload the Partnership Allocation Template when e-Filing.
Tax and compliance impacts
Compulsory electronic filing
Paper filing will no longer satisfy the Form P filing requirement from YA 2027. The precedent partner must submit the return through myTax Portal on behalf of the partnership.
Form P is ordinarily available for e-Filing from 1 February and is due by 18 April. The obligation may apply even where the partnership:
- did not receive a filing notification but carried on business in the preceding year;
- did not conduct business but received a notification to file; or
- incurred a loss during the relevant basis period.
Partnership remains tax-transparent
The filing change does not alter the underlying tax treatment of partnerships. The partnership generally does not pay income tax at entity level. Instead, the precedent partner reports the partnership’s income and its allocation, while each partner is assessed on the partner’s share.
Partners must still file their own income tax returns and report their respective allocations, subject to any information pre-filled by IRAS.
Allocation template for larger partnerships
A partnership with more than 10 partners must complete the Partnership Allocation Template before e-Filing Form P. The template includes validation functions and integrates partner-level allocation data with the electronic filing process.
Accurate completion will be important because errors in identification details, profit-sharing ratios or allocated amounts could affect multiple partners’ individual tax returns.
Potential benefit of early filing
Where Form P is filed by 28 February and processed early, IRAS may pre-fill each partner’s allocated profit or loss in the relevant Form B or Form B1. This can reduce manual reporting and improve consistency between the partnership return and partners’ individual filings.
Financial reporting and record-keeping
Mandatory e-Filing does not change the partnership’s accounting recognition or measurement requirements. Partnerships must nevertheless maintain adequate accounts and tax computations to support the return.
Where annual revenue is S$500,000 or more, a certified profit and loss account and balance sheet must be submitted with Form P. Partnerships below that threshold must still prepare and retain proper records, as IRAS may request them for verification.
Practical issues for partnerships and advisers
- Portal access: The precedent partner should confirm that the appropriate Singpass, Corppass and tax-agent authorisations are active before filing season.
- Data readiness: Accounting records should be finalised early enough to calculate adjusted profit, divisible profit and partner-specific allocations before 18 April.
- Large-partnership data: Partnerships with more than 10 partners should obtain the latest allocation template and test its validation and upload functions in advance.
- Partner master data: Names, tax reference numbers, partner status and identification types should be reviewed for completeness and consistency with IRAS and ACRA records.
- Allocation controls: Profit-sharing ratios, partner remuneration, interest on capital, CPF contributions and expenses paid on behalf of partners should be reconciled to the partnership agreement and accounting records.
- Changes in composition: Admissions, retirements and changes of partner status during the basis period may complicate allocations and require time-based or agreement-specific calculations.
- Multiple accounting periods: Separate allocation-template submissions may be required where a partnership has more than one accounting period within the same YA.
- Review and approval: Partnerships should establish a documented review process before submission, particularly because a single allocation error can flow through to several partners’ assessments.
- Filing timetable: An internal deadline before 28 February may be worthwhile where the partnership wants allocations pre-filled in partners’ individual returns.
- Retention of evidence: The partnership should retain the filed return, allocation template, submission acknowledgement, signed accounts, tax computation and supporting allocation schedules.
Actions Plan
Partnerships should use the period before YA 2027 to move remaining paper-based processes online, confirm portal access and update their tax-compliance calendars. Larger partnerships should assign responsibility for maintaining partner data and preparing the mandatory allocation template.
Accounting firms and tax agents should identify affected clients early, revise engagement timetables and test information-gathering procedures before the YA 2027 filing season.
Further information is available in IRAS’s Basic Guide for Partnerships and Responsibilities of Precedent Partners.
Source: IRAS website, 17 July 2026.