About 15,000 taxpayers received incorrect NSman tax relief amounts after an error in the Ministry of Defence’s system generated inaccurate National Service activity records.
The affected taxpayers include operationally ready national servicemen, or NSmen, as well as eligible parents and spouses.
MINDEF and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore said on Thursday, 3 September, that the errors affected the Years of Assessment 2025 and 2026.
About 7,000 taxpayers will see their tax bills increase after the corrections, while around 8,000 will see their bills decrease.
Most Adjustments Will Be Below S$200
In total, IRAS will recover about S$930,000 in additional tax and refund about S$995,000.
For most affected taxpayers, the difference will be relatively small. MINDEF and IRAS said the vast majority will have their tax bills adjusted upwards or downwards by less than S$200.
However, depending on a person’s tax relief entitlement and income tax bracket, the actual difference can range from under S$10 to about S$900.
The authorities said the problem originated from a MINDEF system error that produced incorrect records of NS activities. Those records were subsequently used when calculating the NSman tax relief amounts.
MINDEF discovered the inaccuracies in May 2026 while looking into queries from NSmen and checking their records.
It then reviewed all NS tax relief records for the Years of Assessment 2025 and 2026 and worked with IRAS to correct the affected tax assessments.
For context, a Year of Assessment refers to the year in which income is assessed for tax. For example, YA 2026 generally covers income earned during the 2025 calendar year.
Affected Taxpayers Do Not Need to Do Anything Yet
MINDEF said the errors have been rectified and all affected NSmen have been notified directly.
IRAS is revising the affected Notices of Assessment, which are essentially taxpayers’ tax bills. The revised notices are expected to be issued by September 2026 and will show any additional tax payable or refund.
There is no need for affected taxpayers to take action before receiving the revised notice.
Those paying their taxes through GIRO will also not need to manually change their payment arrangements if they owe additional tax. Their instalment plans will be adjusted automatically.
Affected taxpayers who are not on GIRO should pay any additional amount by the deadline stated in their revised tax bill.
Those who are due a refund will receive it automatically.
How NSman Tax Relief Works
Eligible NSmen are automatically given NSman Self Relief based partly on whether they performed NS activities during the preceding work year and whether they hold certain key command and staff appointments.
For general NSmen, the current relief is S$1,500 if they did not perform NS activities in the relevant work year and S$3,000 if they did. For eligible key command and staff appointment holders, the respective amounts are S$3,500 and S$5,000.
Eligible wives and parents of NSmen can also receive S$750 in NSman Wife Relief or NSman Parent Relief respectively.
These reliefs are generally granted automatically, which is why incorrect NS activity records in the system could ultimately affect taxpayers’ assessments.
