The Income Tax (Amendment) Bill

The Income Tax (Amendment) Bill

The  Income Tax (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Parliament recently on 18 October 2005.

There are 2 parts to the Bill:

a) Income tax changes announced in this year's Budget Statement by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance; and

b) Amendments to the Income Tax Act arising from regular reviews to improve our income tax system.


The key changes to tax policies pertaining to (a) are:

(i) Reduction of Personal Income Tax rates

(ii) Introduction of carry-back of capital allowances and trade losses

(iii) Extension of tax concessions for qualifying debt securities and tax exemption for individuals in respect of locally sourced investment income, to payments from Islamic debt securities

(iv) Tax exemption on specific income derived from funds held in any foreign account of a philanthropic purpose trust

(v) Concessionary tax rate for specified income derived from organizing or staging approved tourism event.

Major amendments to enhance tax administration and policies under (b) are:

(i) Advanced ruling system

(ii) Income tax treatment of a trust registered under the Business Trust Act

(iii) 100% capital allowances for items of plant or machinery costing no more than $1,000 each, more.