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DBS Teams up With Singapore’s Tax Authority to Eliminate Cheques

In line with Singapore’s Smart Nation agenda, DBS Bank is collaborating with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) to digitalise tax payouts and collections via PayNow to encourage more businesses to go cheque-free.

IRAS first introduced PayNow as an option for businesses to receive Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts in March, resulting in a 20 per cent reduction in cheque volumes to-date.

Before the implementation of PayNow, about half of WCS-eligible businesses, many of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), chose to receive their payouts via cheques.

For the next phase, both parties are working together to leverage DBS’ APIs (to digitalise IRAS’ stamp duty services. Currently, most taxpayers tend to pay for conveyancing stamp duty via cheques and have to wait several days for the cheque to be cleared before a stamp duty certificate is issued.

However, with DBS’ Direct Debit Authorisation (DDA) API, taxpayers can set up a GIRO account online, and make payment for their stamp duty and receive a stamp certificate through IRAS’ e-Stamping Portal instantly.

In addition, with a transfer limit of SGD200,000 per transaction, the DBS DDA solution also enables IRAS to digitalise payments for the majority of conveyancing stamp duty transactions. This new DDA e-payment option for conveyancing stamp duty will be launched in November, and more details can be found on the IRAS website closer to the launch date.

Featured image credit: DBS