Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) Open an IRA

The Best Reason to Open an IRA:If you ever want to retire, there’s only one way to do it: Save some money on your own. With Social Security in danger, company pensions going by the wayside, and tax rates on the rise, it’s more important than ever to boost your savings and to be smart about how you invest.

Opening a tax-favored retirement account like an IRA can be your most valuable tool in accomplishing that goal. Many people are aware of how IRAs can help you cut your taxes. But IRAs can also help you in ways that you may not know.

Later in this article, I’ll reveal what could be the most important reason you should open or add to your IRA today. But first, let’s make sure everyone’s up to speed on the better-known benefits of IRAs.

The big two
If you ask most people why they like IRAs, they’ll give you one of two answers:

* Contribute to a traditional IRA, and you can get a big tax break on your tax return this year.
* IRAs let your money grow tax-deferred from now until when you take it out after you retire. For Roth IRAs, that income is tax-free forever.

Those are simple reasons, but they’re also extremely powerful. Contributing the $5,000 maximum to an IRA before the April 17 filing deadline can save you as much as $1,750 this year.

Yet even more valuable is the tax deferral that IRAs give you. Dividend investors who seek out the highest-yielding stocks they can find know all too well the big chunk of cash that the IRS takes from the income they receive, especially when those dividends don’t qualify for lower tax rates. Mortgage REITs Annaly Capital (NYSE: NLY  ) and Chimera (NYSE: CIM  ) may be enjoying both year-to-date share-price gains and strong dividend yields due to low interest rates, but outside an IRA, you’ll give up as much as 35% of those dividends to taxes — and that doesn’t even include what some states charge for their own taxes.

http://www.fool.com/retirement/iras/2012/03/12/the-best-reason-to-open-an-ira.aspx

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance of the Singapore Government in charge of tax collection.

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) History

The Singapore Income Tax Department was created in 1947 to administer the Income Tax Ordinance enacted during that year.

Actual assessing of tax only began in November 1948. In the first Year of Assessment, about 40,000 individual tax returns and 1,000 corporate returns were received. The total tax collected for the period 1 January 1948 to 31 December 1949 was $33.2 million.

Following self-government in 1959, the Inland Revenue Department was formed in 1960 when various revenues administered and collected by a number of separate agencies were brought together.

When Singapore attained independence on 9 August 1965, substantial changes were made to the Income Tax Act, which came into effect on 1 January 1966.

By 1970, the number of Acts that came under the Department’s purview had increased to twelve. That year also saw the appointment of the first local Commissioner, Mr Hsu Tse-Kwang.

From the 1970s, substantial resources were devoted to staff training. In 1972, microfilming was stepped up to save space and reduce file handling. Property tax billing and collection were also computerised.

IRD’s ever-expanding role, together with the rapid increase in the number of taxpayers, resulted in an acute staff shortage. There was a very large backlog of tax not assessed and tax not collected. In addition, IRD staff were highly sought after by the private sector because of their specialised training and skills. IRD needed a new direction to overcome this problem.

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Incorporation of IRAS

On 1 September 1992, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) was established by legislation as a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance. With this conversion, IRAS was incorporated by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) Act to take over the functions previously performed by the Inland Revenue Department.

The conversion was to give Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) the autonomy and flexibility to manage its personnel and financial resources. In other words, the conversion marked more than a change in name or a change in organisation. It was a change towards achieving excellence in service to the nation and its people in the area of tax administration.

INLAND REVENUE AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) Address : 55 Newton Road Revenue House Singapore 307987

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) Tel :     63568233
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) Fax :     63513636 (Individual Income Tax)
63514358 (Business Income Tax)
63512707 (Tax Clearance)
63513553 (Goods & Services Tax)
63514360 (Corporate Tax)
63513366 (Clubs & Association, Trust, Gaming)
63513694 (Stamp Duty)
63513388 (Estate Duty)
63513638 (Enforcement)

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)  Internet Website :

http://www.iras.gov.sg
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) Email Address :     [email protected]

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) Press Contact:
Dawn Chin
Senior Associate
Burson-Marsteller
8 Temasek Boulevard
#40-02 Suntec Tower 3

Inland