The filing of annual returns for businesses in Singapore will be streamlined this year, said Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Law and Finance.
The move aims to provide companies with "greater convenience" and help them meet regulatory obligations.
Some of the information in the forms will be "pre-filled", and the 24-step process will be cut down to six. Ms Indranee added that 150,000 companies are expected to benefit from this adjustment.
The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) will also provide the simplified filing service on its “Acra on the Go” mobile application. SMS alerts will be sent out to alert companies when it is time for them to file their annual returns.
This is a part of the Smart Nation push, in which the government tries to harness technology to enhance digital services.
There were also efforts being made to improve the experience in responding to citizens and making payouts to them, said Ms Indranee. An example is the GST Voucher scheme introduced in 2012 to help lower-income citizens with their expenses – the scheme makes use of SMS notifications.
Around 790,000 recipients have benefited from “timely and accessible updates”, she added. “We have cut down physical letters, saving S$300,000 and 160 trees annually."
