Jean See on Income Tax (Amendment) Bill

A Bill proposing measures that will impact self-employed workers provides certainty on the “what” but may require more clarity on the “how”, said NMP Jean See in Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 3). She highlighted two areas. First, allowing fixed expense deductions on income tax for self-employed delivery workers frees them from having to derive the correct expense figure for their tax filings, but they worry that a predetermined ratio could become outdated and over-simplified. Ms See asked if the data used reflects the reality of rising operating costs and the multi-fold impact of GST on drivers’ and riders’ incomes. Second, with intermediaries potentially being required to collect and retain the information of self-employed workers, how will such information be used and safeguarded? Ms See also called on the Government to take “pro-company approaches” to encouraging innovation. Could it, she asked, explore supportive arrangements that are less taxing on cash flow for smaller companies, such as giving subsidies upfront for innovation-related spending? She also urged the Government to consider greater training support for the self-employed and freelancers who want to upskill so that they can seek opportunities with innovating firms.