As 2025 draws to a close, HR and payroll teams in Singapore enter one of the busiest periods for the year. This is when organisations begin preparing year-end payroll, validating employee income and ensuring accurate reporting to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board.
The work is often intensive; long hours spent verifying records, cleaning up employee data and checking that every income item is captured correctly before submission.
Having a clear, structured checklist can make the process more manageable, significantly reduce stress and help your team manage this annual process with more confidence and accuracy.
This guide outlines the key statutory forms, deadlines, common challenges and best practices to help your HR and payroll teams prepare effectively.
How this checklist supports your HR & Payroll team
A year-end checklist helps your team:
- Identify the forms required for filing (IR8A, Appendix 8A/8B and other relevant forms, where applicable) and the corresponding filing deadlines.
- Understand which types of income and benefits must be reported to IRAS, including salaries, bonuses, allowances, benefits-in-kind and share gains.
1. What you first need to know: Year-end timeline
You can use this simplified timeline to stay on track:
- November – January: Data clean-up and payroll audits, benefits consolidation, and expatriate review.
- February: Final verification of income and benefits, correction submissions, and confirmation that all forms are ready for filing.
- By 1 March: Submit electronic employment income records for employees.
For employees under the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS), employers are required to submit employment income electronically via the myTax Portal. For those not under AIS, employers are not required to submit employment income. These employees will need to declare their income manually between 1 March and 18 April.
- April onwards: Employees begin receiving their Tax Bills (Notice of Assessment).
- May-June: Employees must pay tax within one month from the date of their Tax Bill. If any income or relief information is incorrect, employees can file amendments via myTax Portal within 30 days.
1.1 Review employees you need to file for
If an employee’s annual income exceeds SGD 22,000 before deductions, employers must report employment income for:
2. Key responsibilities for employers
2.1 Establish overall year-end responsibilities
Before diving into the details, ensure your team is aligned on the key outcomes:
- Prepare for year-end IRAS filing, deadline of 1 March 2026 (for YA 2026).
- Validate that all employee income for YA 2026 (income year 2025) has been correctly captured, including:
- Salaries, bonuses, overtime
- Allowances (transport, meal, mobile, etc.)
- Commissions and director fees
- Benefits-in-kind
- Excess CPF contributions
- Identify and confirm all required IRAS forms (IR8A, Appendix 8A, Appendix 8B,IR21).
- Reconcile payroll data across all systems (HRMS, accounting, claims/reimbursement platforms, etc.).
2.2 Review the mandatory forms
Ensure your team knows the purpose of each form:
- IR8A: For all employees (unless exempted). (How to File IR8A)
- Appendix 8A: For employees who received benefits-in-kind. (How to File Appendix 8A)
- Appendix 8B: For employees who derived gains from Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP) or other forms of Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOW) Plans. (How to File Appendix 8B)
- IR21: For work pass holders who cease employment, are posted overseas, or plan to leave Singapore for over 3 months. (How to File IR21)
2.3 Clean up payroll & employee data
Year-end is the best time to run a thorough payroll audit:
Payroll records
- Identify duplicate entries, missing months or incorrect proration
- Ensure that bonuses and Annual Wage Supplement (AWS) are captured under the correct pay codes
Employee data
- Confirm that employee addresses and personal particulars are updated
Tax obligations
- Review all non-taxable vs taxable benefits to ensure they are treated correctly
- Check withholding tax obligations for overseas and non-resident employees
2.4 Ensure benefits-in-kind are reflected accurately
Benefits-in-kind are frequently overlooked because the information sits across HR, finance and external vendors.
Key areas to review:
- Car benefits and transport-related reimbursements
- Insurance premiums paid by the employer
- Gifts, vouchers, and awards
- Company-issued mobile phones and subscription plans
- Overseas allowances, daily allowance (per diem), and relocation payments
Maintain clear documentation on:
- Who received each benefit
- How each benefit is valued
- Whether it is properly reflected in Appendix 8A and total value in form IR8A. For complex benefits (e.g. housing, cars), refer to IRAS guidelines for the correct valuation method.
2.5 Manage tax clearance for expatriates & non-residents
Employees who work overseas, travel frequently, or are not tax-resident in Singapore often have more complex tax requirements that need careful handling. If these requirements are not managed properly, delays in tax clearance may occur.
As part of your year-end review, it is helpful to:
Check who needs tax clearance (Form IR21):
Identify all foreign and non-resident employees who are leaving the company or departing Singapore for an extended period. Ensure that Form IR21 is filed on time. For employees that requires tax clearance, it is important to withhold all monies from the time they notify you of cessation or departure. Monies may only be released after receiving IRAS clearance.
Review overseas assignment arrangements:
Revisit allowances, daily allowances (per diem), housing support and other assignment-related benefits to ensure they are treated correctly for tax purposes.
Clarify remote and cross-border work arrangements:
If an employee is based overseas but working for your Singapore company, check how their income and benefits should be reported, and whether you must file tax clearance when their employment ends.
When these areas are addressed upfront, tax clearance becomes more straightforward for your expatriate and non-resident employees, and your business is less likely to face delays or additional queries from IRAS.
2.6 Review stock options & share plans carefully
If your company offers share options or share plans, avoid treating them as a last-minute task. IRAS requires gains to be reported accurately, yet the relevant information is often distributed across HR, finance, headquarters, and external brokers.
To maintain control and ensure accurate reporting at year-end, consider the following steps:
- Tracking vesting and exercise dates carefully for each employee
- Consolidating ESOP/ESPP information from brokers or HQ (especially for multinationals)
- Reporting gains accurately in Appendix 8B
It is equally important to establish internal ownership (HR, finance or both) and set a clear cut-off date for collecting all share-related information. This helps secure a complete dataset early and reduces last-minute follow-ups.
2.7 Best practices for a streamlined filing process
To make year-end easier, consider embedding these practices into your workflow:
- Utilise a centralised payroll system as the “single source of truth”
- Lock and standardise pay codes early (e.g. new allowances and benefits)
- Automate benefits tracking where possible
- Align finance, HR, and operations on year-end responsibilities and timelines (e.g. simple timeline and responsibility matrix)
- Conduct internal spot checks before submission (e.g. benefits-in-kind, foreign staff, director fees)
- Prepare a simple internal IRAS FAQ for employees so HR does not need to answer repeated questions (e.g. about NOAs, AIS and income reporting)
3. What you can share with employees
Employees also play a part in ensuring a smoother tax season. A simple self-check can cut down repeated queries and provide them with greater confidence in the numbers submitted on their behalf.
You can share the following self-check with your employees:
- When the tax bill is ready, check if the income shown in MyTax Portal matches payslips and annual statements
- Review allowances, benefits and reimbursements received during the year before making payment
- Keep receipts and documentation for deductible expenses they plan to claim
4. Common mistakes to watch out for
As you progress through your checklist, be mindful of these common pitfalls:
- Omitting benefits-in-kind (e.g. gifts for special occasions are taxable if their value exceeds $200, staff discounts are taxable if the value of goods or services exceeds $500) *Conditions and criteria apply
- Forgetting employee benefits paid through third-party vendors (e.g. insurance paid on behalf of employees by employers)
- Incorrect reporting of director fees
- Missing overseas allowances and reimbursements
- Failing to report overseas pension or share schemes from overseas parent company for expatriate employees
- Incomplete tax clearance for expatriate employees
If you recognise any of these issues in your current processes, it may be time to tighten your controls, adjust your workflow, or consider getting additional support for higher-risk areas.
5. What are the consequences if you get year-end IRAS wrong?
When year-end IRAS reporting is inaccurate, incomplete or late, employers may face:
- Penalties, fines or imprisonment from incorrect filings
- Time-consuming amendments and correspondence with IRAS
- Teams rushing year-end checks due to issues surfacing late in the filing cycle
6. If you would like support with Payroll and year-end filing
Year-end payroll and reporting can place significant demands on HR and finance teams. A year-end checklist can help highlight the areas that typically require the most time or carry the highest risk such as AIS validation, withholding processes, or cross-year income declarations. With these insights, you can consider ways to address them.
6.1 Retain payroll in-house with HRMS support
If you are exploring a new HRMS, upgrading your current system, or looking to digitalise payroll processes, PayDay! HRMS can help you with:
- Automating salary and statutory contribution calculations in line with the latest CPF, IRAS and MOM regulations
- Supporting payroll calculations and tax filing
- Preparing bank transfer files for salary disbursement and securely issuing payslips
This is ideal for companies that wish to keep payroll in-house while reducing manual workload and compliance risk.
6.2 Delegate payroll operations to a specialist team
If your team is running at full capacity, or if you prefer an extra layer of assurance over payroll accuracy, our Managed Payroll service can support you with:
- Processing monthly salaries and calculating statutory contributions in line with CPF, IRAS, and MOM requirements
- Handling monthly CPF submissions and annual AIS filing
- Preparing payment files and securely distributing payslips and tax documents
This option is suitable for organisations seeking end-to-end support or need additional help during peak periods such as year-end.
Steps you can take
If you are unsure which approach suits your organisation best, we are here to help.
Speak with us and we will review your current setup and recommend the level of support that fits your payroll needs and year-end goals.
