The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore introduced new guidance on the mutual agreement procedure (MAP) on 12 January 2017. The guidance has provided detail procedures for the MAP.
According to new guidance, the MAP will be available to those taxpayers who are resident in Singapore or non- resident of Singapore but with a branch in Singapore. But, the application of the MAP will have to be provided by the taxpayer to the jurisdiction in which the taxpayer is resident and with which Singapore has a double taxation agreement.
Subject to the time limit provided in the provision of the DTA, the taxpayer will be able to seek resolution on certain double taxation issues that occur over multiple tax years. The taxpayer will be able to initiate the MAP only when the double taxation has occurred or is almost certain and the MAP will have to be initiated within the time limit specified in the MAP article of the relevant DTA. Otherwise, the competent authorities (CAs) may reject the MAP request.
The guidance also provides further information on TP documentation. According to the guidance, TP documentation at group level is to include information of the group’s existing unilateral advance pricing arrangements (APAs) and other tax rulings relating to the allocation of income among countries while the documentation at entity level is to include a copy of the existing unilateral and bilateral/multilateral APAs.
