Tutorial: How to submit your own PIC claim

For businesses in Singapore, the government has introduced the Productivity and Innovation Claim (PIC) to help SMEs achieve higher levels of productivity and innovation (what else?) through purchase and investment in devices, gadgets and research. You can read more about it here.

Anyway, this post is to help fellow business owners to do their own PIC claim through the IRAS website. Let's do it:

1. Go to this link: https://mytax.iras.gov.sg/ESVWeb/default.aspx?target=PICCashPayout and you will see the following page. 

This is an online assisted form that helps you to fill it up correctly, print and send to IRAS.

As you scroll down, you will be presented with a form and I shall try my best to explain what you should input into the fields to suit your needs:

Business Information

Name of business - the name of your business as registered with ACRA. Don't have to put in 'Pte Ltd' or 'S/P' here. (eg. Studious Media)

Tax reference number of business - From the dropdown menu, choose the type that belongs to your business according to the table below. Then, fill up your business registration number in ACRA in the field next to it. (eg. 5322XXXXC)

Type of Business	Tax Reference Number
Singapore company	UEN-LOCAL
Company incorporated overseas	UEN-OTHERS; or ASGD; or ITR
Sole-proprietorship	UEN-BUSINESS
Partnership except LLP / LP	UEN-BUSINESS
LLP / LP / Professional firms	UEN-OTHERS

Are you a sole-proprietor? - simply check the appropriate box. If you are a sole proprietor, you will need to fill up an additional 2 questions.

Sole-Proprietor's Information (only for Sole Proprietors)

Full name of sole-proprietor (individual/company) - The name of the business owner - can be an individual or another company, so there should be only one in this scenario.

Tax reference number of sole-proprietor (individual/company) - Select the ID type of the owner and input the ID (for person) or registration number (for company).

Declaration

Full name of authorised person - Can be another person authorised by the business owner to submit the claim on his/her behalf. A fellow employee, consultant or the business owner.

Designation - The relation of the above authorised person to the company (eg. manager)

Date - Auto filled up, so you can only do it during the right quarter to claim

Full name of contact person - Same as the Authorised Person field, this person will be the contact person if IRAS needs further information.

Designation/Relationship of contact person - The relation of the contact person to the company / business owner (eg. manager)

Singapore contact number - A local contact number

Email - Email address for the contact person. So far, this is usually how IRAS contact business owners regarding claims.

Below the first section is a declaration of company status and eligibility. Make sure you do meet the requirements before choosing Yes. IRAS do take a very firm stand against those who make a false declaration and this is the part to penalise you.

Click Next to proceed.

Details of Cash Payout Claim

Accounting year-end - Choose the ending month of your accounting year. Most businesses end their accounting year in either December or March.

Year of Assessment (YA) of claim - This is Year of Assessment. YA 2014 refers to purchases made in the accounting year 2013. So for purchases in 2014, choose YA 2015.

Relevant financial period in which expenses were incurred (DD/MM/YYYY) - The PIC claims are processed in quarters of the year. January, April, July, October. Example: A computer bought on 26 April 2014, the period you are claiming for is from 01 April 2014 to 30 June 2014.

Revenue for relevant financial period (to the nearest S$) - This is your sales figure in the above period, before deducting your costs and salaries. Can be the nearest estimate if the figures are not ready yet.

Click Next to proceed.

Qualifying cost to be converted into cash payout

Choose the category that you are claiming for and click Add Details to input the relevant information of your purchase.

In this example, we are going to process one for PIC information technology (IT) and automation equipment.

Date Incurred - This will be the date on the receipt or invoice.

PIC Activity - There will be 3 choices - Cash Purchase, Hire Purchase or Lease. Please choose the right payment method you have acquired as claiming a Hire Purchase as Cash Purchase just so you can get the money right away is against the rules.

Description of Equipment (Including model and serial number) - Input all the information of your purchase. For gadgets and devices, you can follow this guide:

• Name of the equipment
• Brand of the equipment
• Model number of the equipment
• Serial number of the category for equipment that falls within category 5 to 36 of the PIC Automation Equipment List

For other purchases like website or applications, try to give an accurate description of what you have paid for and the link to where the officers might be able to access them publicly.

Qualifying cost incurred - Price of the purchase as recorded in the invoice. Round to the nearest dollar.

Declare that you have made the full payment of your purchases and you are submitting this invoice for other government claims and you are DONE!

Completion!

If you are not claiming for Research and Development, just click on 'Proceed to Summary' and you will be able to print the form out to sign here:

Then mail it out to:

 IRAS

 55 Newton Road

 Revenue House

 Singapore 307987

The claim will be processed within 3 months of receipt and in my experience, purchase of gadgets and devices takes only two.

Supporting documents such as invoices, agency approval letters and CPF Records of Payment do not need to be submitted with the application form. You should retain them for at least 5 years and submit upon request.

Hope we have helped you out and saved you some money. If you like our tutorials, share it with your friends and family.