What is the ECI?

ECI, also known as Estimated Chargeable Income, is an estimate of a company’s chargeable income for a Year of Assessment (YA) within 3 months from the financial year-end. In other words, it is the gross amount of income/revenue before SUTE (startup tax exemption) deductions and other items such as gain on disposal of fixed assets.

Why and when should companies file the ECI?

ECI data facilitates policy-making on a macro level, as well as the assessment of industrial performance. Furthermore, the filing of the ECI is one of the annual corporate compliance requirements in Singapore. It must be submitted to IRAS, the national tax authority within 3 months after the end of the financial year.

Who needs to file the ECI?

Your company has to furnish its Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) within 3 months after the end of its financial year end.

Administrative concession

Companies that are exempted from filing their ECI would need to fulfill the following conditions:

Company’s Financial Year ends	Criteria for ECI waiver
In or before Jun 2019	annual revenue is not more than $1 million for the financial year; and ECI is NIL for the YA
In or after Jul 2019	annual revenue is not more than $5 million for the financial year; and ECI is NIL for the YA

What to file?

If audited accounts are not available, a company may refer to its management accounts to declare the revenue amount. If the revenue amount based on audited accounts turn out be different from that declared in the ECI Form, and there is no change in your ECI, you are not required to revise the revenue figure.

Financial year-end	Due date for filing ECI	Period covered in the accounts	Year of Assessment (YA)	Due date for filing ECI for that particular YA
31 December	31 March of the following year	1 January 2018 – 31 December 2018	2019	31 March 2019
31 March	30 June of the following year	1 April 2017 – 31 March 2018	2019	30 June 2018

Advantage of filing ECI early

Companies that e-file their ECI statements enjoy more installment plans to pay their taxes compared to companies that file by paper. In addition, the earlier the ECI statement is submitted, the more installments are bestowed to your firm. For example, a company whose financial year ends in December enjoys the following number of payment installments.

e-File by	Installments	Paper file by	Installments
26 January	10	24 January	$1.00
26 February	8	24 February	$2.00
26 March	6	24 March	$3.00
After 26 March	None	After 24 March	None

Failure to comply with filing of ECI

If a company has failed to comply with the ECI requirement, IRAS shall issue a Notice of Assessment (NOA) based on its estimation of its income. The company then has one month from the date of IRAS’ NOA to submit its written objection if it does not agree with IRAS’ estimated assessment. Otherwise, the NOA is recognized as final.