Recently after a review of these services, NCS Portal City decided to decommission the following commercial e-Services on MyeCitizen Portal by early – mid Apr 2010:-

• Moving House
• Personal Job Finder
• Travel Buddy
• MeSH
• Talking Point and
• MyeCit community

A spokesman from NCS Portal City stated “We decide to focus our efforts on the SMS and Email alerts and reminder services from the government agencies, in view of high take-up rate. These services will remain on the MyeCitizen Portal to continue to serve its members…”

If you have yet to register for these free services, you may do so at http://www.myecitizen.sg. Examples of these services include:-

• Alert on TV Licence (Household) before payment due date
• road tax renewal reminder and
• details of your CPF contribution.

For the full list of alert and reminder services available, register with MyeCitizen and select Update My Alerts.

Related posts:

1. Advisory On Scam And Fraudulent Activities

At the seminar, you’ll get to learn more about Singapore’s new economic strategies, and the measures in Budget 2010 that will put Singapore on a long-term growth path.

The panel discussion will be facilitated by Mr Donald Low, Head, Centre for Public Economics, Civil Service College. With expert commentators comprising Dr Tan Khee Giap, Associate Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS and Mr See Jee Chang, Director of Taxes (Corporate), Deloitte & Touche LLP, the panel will offer insights into the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC)’s recommendations.

Miss Cheong Swee Ying, Tax Consultant to Allen & Gledhill LLP will chair a panel of policy and tax experts from the Ministry of Finance and IRAS to give you insights and implications of the major tax changes announced in Budget 2010.

Fee per person: $139.10 (incl. GST)
Closing Date for Registration: 11 Mar 2010 (Thursday)

For more seminar and registration details, please visit http://www.taxacademy.sg/seminarswork.htm.

Related posts:

1. Singapore Budget Tax Change 2010
2. Role Of IDA In Singapore Infocomm Eco-System

For those not familiar with the GST Assistance Scheme (GSTAS), it was a Singapore government grant set up by Spring Singapore, catering to the needs of Singapore-based businesses which have opted for voluntary GST registration with IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) and wish to set up or improve their accounting system and processes to be GST-compliant. It was a two-year assistance scheme and it had expired since June 30th, 2009.

As for Accounting Software Assistance Scheme (ASAS), it was started since July 1st, 2009 and expected to expire by March 31st, 2012. This scheme is to encourage businesses to implement accounting software and it is done by helping to defray the cost of purchasing and setting up of the accounting software, as well as training on the use of the software.

Although the ASAS seems to be a direct continuation of the GST Assistance Scheme, especially since it started immediately on the next day of the expiry of the later, both the schemes have their differences and we hope we can shed some light to them, especially since we have many businesses asking us about the differences and their similarity and whether they can apply for the Accounting Software Assistance Scheme after their successful application for the GST Assistance Scheme.

Let’s talk about their similarity first;

• both schemes are part of the Singapore government grant with the intention of helping small businesses
• both schemes are valid for sole proprietor, partnership and private limited companies
• both schemes require the businesses to be GST-registered
• both schemes are for helping to defray cost of purchasing accounting software
• both schemes allow businesses to apply either on their own or preferably through a third-party consultant

As for the differences between GSTAS and ASAS, they are;

• GSTAS was set up by Spring Singapore whilst ASAS was setup by the partnership of IRAS and iDA.
• you can only apply for the GSTAS when you are a freshly-registered GST merchant (within 3 months of application to be GST-registered), while for ASAS, as long as you are a GST-registered merchant, you can apply for this assistance scheme.
• The SME MUST be a voluntary GST registrant and is applying for GST registration for the first time if you are applying for GSTAS, but for ASAS, it is available for those voluntary GST registrant or compulsory registrant.
• GSTAS can be used to purchase for new accounting software or upgrade current accounting software while ASAS can ONLY be used for first-time accounting software user or those who used spreadsheet software for their accounting functions. If you are currently using or have used any accounting software for your GST reports to IRAS, no matter how new or old your software is, you are NOT ELIGIBLE to apply for ASAS.
• GSTAS supports up to 100% of the accounting software cost and 50% of the qualifying costs for the following cost items, subject to a maximum grant of $5,000 per company:
  • Professional fees and training costs charged by third party IT consultants;
  • Hardware costs; and
  • Subscription fees and one time activation charges for a new internet connection
• As for the ASAS, it is only for the cost of the accounting software and for the software deployment and training costs, subject to a maximum grant of S$1,500 per business. As the subsidy for ASAS is very minimal and restrictive, you are therefore adviced to approach our independent consultant to apply for the grant in order to reach its maximum cap.
• For GSTAS, you can use the grant to purchase any accounting software you see fit, but for ASAS, you can only purchase those accounting software that are listed in the IRAS Accounting Software Register.

As you can see from the similarity and differences between the GSTAS and ASAS, both schemes actually caters for different groups of businesses and not just a continuation of one scheme to another.

Just a final note, if you have previously applied successfully for the GST Assistance Scheme (GSTAS), you are not allowed to apply for the Accounting Software Assistance Scheme (ASAS) because one of its criteria is you must never use any accounting software before.

Related posts:

1. Subsidy For Accounting Software
2. Additional S$2 Million For The Business For Families Grant
3. Seminars For Newly GST-Registered Businesses