Assisted Compliance Assurance Programme (ACAP) and Assisted Self-Help Kit (ASK)

Assisted Compliance Assurance Programme (ACAP)

In an effort to facilitate and raise voluntary compliance among GST-registered businesses, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) introduced ACAP to encourage companies to proactively self-manage their GST risks as part of their corporate governance framework.

IRAS will accord an ACAP status i.e., ‘ACAP Premium’ for 5 years or ‘ACAP Merit’ for 3 years if the GST registered business demonstrates sufficient preventive and detective GST controls with monitoring mechanisms at the Entity, Transaction and GST Reporting levels. The status grants the following benefits:

1. Step-down of IRAS-GST compliance activities unless significant anomalies are noted in GST return declarations and/or there are increased risks in the wrong GST treatment adopted due to major GST policy changes;
2. Expeditious GST refunds if no anomalies are noted;
3. Dedicated team to handle GST Rulings and resolve GST issues expeditiously; and
4. Auto-renewal of the GST schemes (e.g., Major Exporter Scheme (MES), Import GST Deferment Scheme (IGDS), Approved Contract Manufacturer and Trader Scheme (ACMT)), if applicable.

ACAP is a 4-step prescriptive process required to be conducted by independent ACAP reviewers accredited by the Singapore Chartered Tax Professionals Limited (SCTP) as Accredited Tax Advisors (GST) (ATA (GST)] using a methodology prescribed and recognised by IRAS.

Assisted Self-Help Kit (ASK)

ASK helps especially newly-GST registered businesses to self-assess their GST submissions and to discover past GST errors early. ASK focuses on three key aspects:

1. Putting in place good GST practices comprising people, record-keeping, systems and internal controls and risk management to properly handle the GST reporting of transactions;
2. Self-assessment using the Pre-Filing Checklist to ensure that GST returns are correct before submission; and
3. Performing Annual Reviews of past GST returns to detect errors early and enjoy administrative concessions for common errors disclosed through ASK Annual Reviews.

ASK is compulsory when a GST registered business is applying for the following GST schemes:

1.   IGDS;
2.   Approved Marine Customer Scheme (AMCS);
3.   ACMT Scheme;
4.   Approved Refiner and Consolidator Scheme (ARCS);
5.   MES;  
6.   Approved Import GST Suspension Scheme (AISS);
7.   Approved Third Party Logistics (3PL) Company Scheme; or
8.   Specialised Warehouse Scheme (SWS).

ASK reviews are to be performed by an individual accredited by SCTP as ATA (GST) or Accredited Tax Practitioner (GST) (ATP (GST)).

How Mazars can help

Mazars has the relevant experience in conducting ACAP and ASK reviews in assisting our clients and we have ATA (GST) to conduct these reviews. Please speak to us for a non-obligatory consultation to see how we can assist you.

Do you have any questions for us?