Taxing the self-employed

The self-employed taxpayers are the greatest source of concern to tax authorities around the world as far as voluntary compliance is concerned. This report looks at the problems encountered by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore in taxing the self-employed and the methods employed in ensuring compliance from this particular group of taxpayers. It will also attempt to evaluate the adequacies of our present system of taxation with respect to this group of taxpayers. The major sources- of information for this report were from · the conference proceedings of tax authorities of the various countries as well as from journals and articles by both practitioners and academia. Informal discussions with senior officers of the IRAS and self-employed taxpayers were also carried out during the course of this project. The study showed that our present mode of assessment leaves much to be desired and that a switch to the self-assessment system might prove to be more efficient due to better utilization of resources.ACCOUNTANC