The 11 Mistakes that People Make in PIC Claims

The reason people make mistake is that they are unaware of the mistake.  But if you tell them and they still make the same mistake, that 2nd mistake is no longer a mistake but a belief.  Mistakes are not the same as Fraud in that they are all made unintentionally and are all 'honest mistakes'.

When you make mistakes in PIC (Productivity and Innovation Credit) claims, you won't get fined but the IRAS will just simply delay the claim process.  So the more mistakes you make, the longer it takes for you to get your money.  The top 11 mistakes make in PIC claims are (in order of frequency) are:

1. Wrong Y/A (Year of Assessment).  YA is always one year faster than this year, so for this year 2014 claims, it should be YA 2015
2. Include GST when the business is GST registered.  You have to take out the GST portion as you're already getting back the input GST in your monthly GST returns
3. Include non-qualifying amounts, like warranty, consumables, finance charges and stationery
4. Omit essential details like vendor's name, vendor's invoice, training course title, training date, trainees names, equipment model number and equipment serial number
5. Claim 400% tax deduction when it should be 300% tax deduction.  This is because 100% is already deducted in your usual tax filing
6. Claim 60% cash and also claim 300% tax deduction. This is called double claims and is an offence
7. Go for Tax Deduction when Cash Payout will give you more cash flow and profits
8. Only Claim External Training and Miss out totally $10,000 for Internal Training
9. Over claim, either deliberate or accidentally. You can only an item once and can only claim what you have incurred as evidenced by the invoice from your vendor
10. Under Claim by accidentally omitting certain items, like Anti-virus software yearly subscription, Facebook advertising, mobile phones (include non smart phones) and mobile apps
11. Late in claiming, thereby giving unnecessary complications in the claim forms.

By far the biggest mistake people make in PIC claims is not giving this enough thought.  Many people dis-believe the government, while some think that the PIC scheme is too good to be true.  Some think that the government will, after paying you PIC cash, take back from you subsequently.  There are even those who think that making PIC claims will make IRAS check on you more.  Whether such fears are founded or not is not important, what is important is that you do your PIC claims accurately and don't commit offences like cheating. In reality over $3 billions have been disbursed since 2010, the year that PIC started.  Do you want to sit on the fence and miss out this huge money?

Related articles on PIC written by AndyTheCoach at Asia Trainers:

1. Tightening of PIC and Expiry of PIC Bonus
2. The 7 Changes to PIC that You Must Know
3. Is PIC a Gimmick that does not benefit employees at all?
4. Budget 2014 and PIC: what they mean to You
5. How to Get $36,000 Cash Effortlessly under PIC's Internal Training
6. How Tharman Kill with a Borrowed Knife with PIC