Singapore Tax Compliance For HR: IRAS & AIS Guide

HR teams in Singapore are no longer handling only hiring and performance reviews. They are also under increasing pressure to manage tax reporting under the IRAS Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS). What used to be a once-a-year task has evolved into a year-round responsibility that requires accurate payroll records, CPF tracking, and seamless employee data management.

As IRAS continues to digitise tax processes and tighten compliance enforcement, many businesses find that the traditional spreadsheets and manual systems they have used for many years simply can’t keep up. That’s why successful companies are migrating to HRMS in Singapore (human resource management system — a software suite for coordinating and executing key HR functions, from recruitment to payroll). By centralising payroll and automating statutory filings, these comprehensive solutions keep your HR operations aligned with AIS requirements.

Understanding HRMS in Singapore and IRAS

In Singapore, tax compliance falls heavily on HR — and your HRMS directly affects how well you meet IRAS requirements. If you’re still managing your payroll manually or if your employee data and pay records are spread across disconnected and outdated tools, you are effectively increasing your risk of reporting errors, late submissions, and non-compliance. Here’s how poor payroll processes can put your business at risk:

Compliance area	What can go wrong	Regulatory consequences	How HRMS in Singapore can help
Taxable and non-taxable income	Misclassifying allowances, benefits-in-kind, or compensation components	Leads to inaccurate tax reporting, which may trigger audits or penalties from IRAS	Standardises pay element categorisation and applies consistent tax treatment across employee records
CPF contributions	Errors in calculating Mandatory or Voluntary CPF contributions	Affects taxable income declarations and may result in discrepancies between CPF and IRAS filings	Automates CPF calculations based on employee age, citizenship, and wage components using the latest statutory rules
Tax clearance (Form IR21)	Incomplete or outdated payroll data submitted in the IR21 form	Can delay the final payout for foreign employees and breach IRAS tax clearance requirements	Pulls real-time data into IR21 forms to ensure accurate final tax computations before employment termination

In short, an effective IRAS-compliant HRMS in Singapore is a risk mitigation strategy. It supports tax reporting by:

·       Generating employee income data in the correct formats for submission

·       Maintaining a clear audit trail for allowances, bonuses, and benefits-in-kind

·       Ensuring that all benefits are properly classified and reported

This level of integration ultimately simplifies your year-end reporting while also helping your HR team stay compliant throughout the year.

⚠ Quick recap

 

Who needs to comply with AIS?

 

·     Mandatory for: Employers with 5+ employees or those who’ve received a Notice to File from IRAS

·     What you must report: Salaries, bonuses, commissions, directors’ fees, and benefits-in-kind

Under the AIS, employers must submit employee income information electronically through IRAS' myTax Portal. To do this, you’ll need to generate IR8A forms (and Appendix 8A/8B or IR8S if applicable), validate them using IRAS’ validation tool, and upload them by the March 1st deadline.

 

An IRAS-compliant HRMS in Singapore can simplify all of the above, turning your payroll data into AIS-ready formats without you having to manually map income components or calculate statutory deductions.

HRMS vs. manual workflow

Manual processes may get the job done, but at what cost? Let’s compare.

 

Process	Manual workflow	With HRMS in Singapore
Data collection	Multiple spreadsheets and manual updates	Centralised, real-time data tracking
CPF and benefits tracking	Prone to errors, must be updated manually	Auto-updated with current rules
IR8A / IR21 preparation	Manual compilation and formatting	Auto-generated and IRAS-compliant
Submission validation	Requires external IRAS validation tools	Built-in format checks and field requirements
Audit trail	Scattered or incomplete	Automatically recorded and accessible

 

Try Adaptive Pay’s HRMS in Singapore

Do you need help integrating payroll, HR, and submission workflows so you stay IRAS and AIS-compliant? Schedule a demo today with Adaptive Pay. Call them at +65-6708-9398.