{"id":3592,"date":"2026-07-10T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/?p=3592"},"modified":"2026-07-13T20:59:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:59:39","slug":"iras-updates-explanatory-notes-for-the-foreign-income-tracking-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/2026\/07\/10\/iras-updates-explanatory-notes-for-the-foreign-income-tracking-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"IRAS Updates Explanatory Notes for the Foreign Income Tracking Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"83\" data-end=\"482\">The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has updated the explanatory notes for its Foreign Income Tracking Schedule to clarify the supporting-document retention obligations for companies. Records relating to foreign income must generally be kept for five years from the relevant Year of Assessment (YA) and produced when requested by IRAS.<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"1n3nnzn\" data-start=\"484\" data-end=\"525\">Impact on tax reporting and compliance<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"527\" data-end=\"837\">Companies deriving foreign income are required, from YA 2024, to include prescribed tracking information in their tax computations. IRAS provides a standard schedule for this purpose, although businesses may use their own format where all required information is captured.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"839\" data-end=\"1068\">The updated guidance reinforces that the underlying records are as important as the schedule itself. The five-year retention period is determined by reference to the YA relating to the basis period in which the foreign income is:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1070\" data-end=\"1131\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1rs5i8k\" data-start=\"1070\" data-end=\"1080\">accrued;<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"tr45lo\" data-start=\"1081\" data-end=\"1108\">received in Singapore; or<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1mon61w\" data-start=\"1109\" data-end=\"1131\">used by the company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1133\" data-end=\"1401\">This distinction may result in different retention periods for documents relating to the same pool of foreign income. For example, records supporting the original accrual may have a different starting point from bank records evidencing a later remittance to Singapore.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1403\" data-end=\"1633\">The schedule should also continue to track unremitted foreign income by year until the income is fully remitted or used in a manner that makes it permanently unavailable for future remittance.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1635\" data-end=\"1887\">Failure to maintain or produce adequate records may have significant tax consequences. IRAS may estimate the amount of foreign income using its best judgment, reject related expense deductions and impose penalties.<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"1kdicg0\" data-start=\"1889\" data-end=\"1935\">Practical issues<\/h3>\n<ul data-start=\"1937\" data-end=\"3621\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1jplswu\" data-start=\"1937\" data-end=\"2180\"><strong data-start=\"1939\" data-end=\"1968\">Multiple retention dates:<\/strong> Businesses will need to identify separately when foreign income accrued, when it was remitted, and when it was otherwise used. A single document-retention date for the entire income stream may not be sufficient.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"tfdse0\" data-start=\"2182\" data-end=\"2474\"><strong data-start=\"2184\" data-end=\"2208\">Evidence of accrual:<\/strong> Supporting documents may include invoices, receipts, contracts and audited financial statements. The explanatory notes indicate that these records should be retained for five years from the YA connected with the accrual period.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"8pw6q2\" data-start=\"2476\" data-end=\"2731\"><strong data-start=\"2478\" data-end=\"2515\">Evidence of receipt in Singapore:<\/strong> Bank statements and remittance records should support when foreign income was brought into Singapore. The requirement applies even where the income may qualify for an exemption.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1g2eerj\" data-start=\"2733\" data-end=\"3100\"><strong data-start=\"2735\" data-end=\"2764\">Evidence of offshore use:<\/strong> Where foreign income is used overseas in a way claimed not to constitute receipt in Singapore, companies should document both the transaction and the technical basis for that treatment. The tax computation should explain how the funds were used and why they are no longer available for remittance.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"7oef82\" data-start=\"3102\" data-end=\"3367\"><strong data-start=\"3104\" data-end=\"3135\">Tracking reinvested income:<\/strong> Income reinvested offshore may remain within the closing unremitted balance. Systems should preserve the link between the original income, the reinvestment and any later disposal or remittance.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"qygxti\" data-start=\"3369\" data-end=\"3621\"><strong data-start=\"3371\" data-end=\"3395\">Expense attribution:<\/strong> Companies should retain a defensible basis for allocating Singapore-incurred expenses between foreign income received in Singapore, income used offshore and balances remaining unremitted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"1yoyjht\" data-start=\"3623\" data-end=\"3651\">Action points<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"3653\" data-end=\"3808\">Companies with foreign income should review their tax reporting and document-management processes before the next filing cycle. In particular, they should:<\/p>\n<ol data-start=\"3810\" data-end=\"4265\">\n<li data-section-id=\"kethu9\" data-start=\"3810\" data-end=\"3890\">map each category of foreign income to its accrual, use and remittance dates;<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1y03iby\" data-start=\"3891\" data-end=\"3994\">ensure the tracking schedule reconciles to accounting records, bank statements and tax computations;<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"ixf75e\" data-start=\"3995\" data-end=\"4059\">retain supporting documents for the correct five-year period;<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"xw66xu\" data-start=\"4060\" data-end=\"4162\">document judgmental positions, especially where income is treated as not received in Singapore; and<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1bp3mub\" data-start=\"4163\" data-end=\"4265\">test whether historical records from YA 2024 onward can be retrieved promptly if requested by IRAS.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p data-start=\"4267\" data-end=\"4577\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">The revised guidance increases the importance of maintaining a complete audit trail. Companies that rely on decentralised overseas finance teams or legacy spreadsheets may need stronger controls to ensure that foreign-income movements and supporting records remain identifiable throughout the retention period.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4267\" data-end=\"4577\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><strong>Source:<\/strong><em> IRAS website, 8 July 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has updated the explanatory notes for its Foreign Income Tracking Schedule to clarify the supporting-document retention obligations for companies. Records relating to foreign income must generally be kept for five years from the relevant Year of Assessment (YA) and produced when requested by IRAS. Impact on tax reporting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accounting","category-incometax","category-techupdates"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-13-2026-08_50_35-PM-e1783947548627.png?fit=1000%2C563","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3595,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592\/revisions\/3595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}