No Need to File Income Tax

The Tax man sent me an early letter this year. It read: “We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to benefit from our No Filing service.” (emphasis mine) My first reaction was that, wow, no need to pay tax this year! Like I had just struck lucky toto or something. Maybe the government was being kind after having accumulated too much surpluses, and meanwhile I’m not earning enough to keep up with inflation.

Well of course it was just wishful thinking. Tax still has to be paid. I just do not need to file a tax return. Now that isn’t necessarily a good thing eh? If you don’t file a tax return, they’ll just assume your claims for relief are no different from previous filing. But they will get updated income information from your employer.

Perhaps this has benefit only if you will have less relief to claim. Otherwise, it is to your advantage to file for the claims.