Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) Filing

What is ECI?

ECI, or Estimated Chargeable Income, is an estimate of your company's taxable profits after deducting allowable expenses for a given Year of Assessment (YA). Filing ECI is a crucial step for every business in Singapore, ensuring compliance with tax regulations. A person carrying on a trade, business, profession or vocation is required to submit an estimate of his/her chargeable income within 3 months from the end of the accounting year. For example, if the company’s accounting year ended on 31 October 2024, it is required to furnish an estimate of its chargeable income for YA 2025 to the Comptroller by 31 January 2025.

With effect from YA 2020, e-filing of ECI is compulsory for all companies. However, as an administrative concession, a company does not need to file its estimated chargeable income if it meets the following 2 conditions:

1. it has annual revenue of $5 million and below (excluding separate source income) for the financial year, and

2. it estimates its chargeable income to be nil.

ECI is the amount before deducting the exempt amount under the start-up tax exemption scheme or the partial tax exemption scheme.

*Revenue refers to a company's main source of income and excludes separate source income, such as interest, dividend and rental, which does not arise from its principal activity. In the case of an investment holding company, the revenue is its investment income (e.g. dividend income and interest income).

For New Company

Welcome to the world of business! As a new company, you’ll receive your first ECI filing notification from IRAS before the end of your financial year, starting from the year after incorporation. Most companies don’t close their first set of accounts in the year they incorporate, so you won’t get a notification in the first year.

For example, if your company is incorporated in 2021 and has a December financial year end, expect your first ECI filing notification for the Year of Assessment (YA) 2023 in December 2022.

However, if you do close your first set of accounts in the year of incorporation, you must file the ECI within three months from your first financial year end, even without a notification. Unless, of course, you qualify for the ECI filing waiver. Using the same example, if you close your accounts on 31 December 2021 and don't qualify for the waiver, you must file the ECI for YA 2022 by 31 March 2022.

Stay ahead of the game by self-assessing if your company qualifies for the ECI filing waiver. Even if your ECI filing status at mytax.iras.gov.sg shows 'Ready to File', you’re off the hook if you qualify for the waiver. No need to seek confirmation or inform IRAS.