Singapore-based DBS Bank has announced that it has been collaborating with government agencies such as the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore to integrate APIs into the tax authority’s operating framework to digitalise payments.
IRAS offers PayNow QR as a payment option on its myTax portal for all major tax types, including Individual Income Tax, Corporate Income Tax, Property Tax and Goods and Services Tax.
With the implementation of the PayNow QR, taxpayers are said to benefit from a more seamless and convenient experience when making tax payments. Individuals are required to use SingPass/ CorpPass to log into IRAS’ myTax portal, scan the PayNow QR code with any of the digital banking mobile apps from the 9 participating PayNow banks, and complete the payment in real-time. Taxpayers benefit from instant settlement and real-time status updates of their outstanding tax balance.
Raof Latiff, Group Head of Digital, Institutional Banking, DBS Bank encapsulated, “Singapore continues to make steady headway in fulfilling its ambition to become a digital payments society with statutory boards such as IRAS taking the lead to implement secure and instant payment solutions that provide greater convenience to individual and corporate taxpayers. The QR code has become increasingly ubiquitous and we look forward to supporting IRAS in continued efforts to enhance their customer payment journey and drive broader adoption of QR payments locally.”
Ang Sor Tjing, Director of IRAS’ Revenue and Payment Management Branch enunciated, “IRAS firmly believes in leveraging technology to redefine our taxpayers’ experience. By partnering with banks to push out different digital payment methods, IRAS hopes to offer taxpayers a wider variety of payment options so as to cater to each taxpayer’s unique needs, preferences and circumstances, and as such encourage prompt tax payment.”
DBS and IRAS have been working together over the last two years to digitalise payments across the tax authority’s various tax types. With the support of DBS, IRAS first introduced PayNow as an option for businesses to receive the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts in March 2019. For the next phase, both parties are collaborating to introduce PayNow QR for stamp duty payments in 2021.
The bank mentioned that it continues to witness a steady increase in individuals and corporates adopting PayNow as a payment solution, with the bank holding close to 40 percent of the market share by registration to date. DBS’ corporate clients contribute around half of the PayNow Corporate receipts in Singapore. To help corporate customers transition to digital ways of work, the bank has carried out over 50 online webinars to date, engaging close to 1,000 corporate customers.
