The Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) announced today that Singapore Corporate Access (CorpPaass) will be the only login method for online corporate transactions with the Government from Q3 2018. This is an extension from the previous deadline of December 2017.
CorpPass is a corporate digital identity for businesses and other entities (e.g. non-profit organisations and associations) to transact online with Government agencies. In addition to the existing suite of more than 130 digital services managed by around 50 Government agencies, businesses can transact with IRAS using CorpPass by Q3 2018.
Local entities with a Unique Entity Number (UEN) issued by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) or other UEN-issuance agency and foreign entities will be required to use CorpPass. CorpPass will also be made available to foreign businesses in 2018 and they may use it for selected services. Local Entities without UEN will continue to use SingPass as a login method.
GovTech is advising businesses that have not registered for CorpPass to do so, as existing login methods, such as SingPass and EASY (e-Services Authorisation System), will cease by then.
(SingPass provides online access to a range of Singapore Government e-services and was previously used for personal, as well as corporate transactions. EASY is an online digital service authorisation system currently used by some agencies including the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), JTC Corporation and the Immigration Checkpoints Authority of Singapore.)
GovTech expects more than 250,000 active businesses to use CorpPass. The majority of businesses are now CorpPass-ready. More than 80 per cent of businesses that have regular transactions with the Government have registered for and started using CorpPass.
CorpPass is designed to provide multiple benefits for businesses. CorpPass serves as a single platform to manage authorisation across Government digital services. Restricting the use of Singpass to personal transactions addresses privacy concerns. For instance, employees who go on leave tend to share their personal SingPass IDs and passwords with colleagues to help carry out business transactions like filing corporate tax, or applying for permits and licences. Having separate login IDs for corporate and personal matters will therefore better protect information of both businesses and employees.
With CorpPass, business owners or executives enjoy better internal visibility and control, as they can assign administrators to manage employees’ access to different Government digital services. Moreover, businesses have a simpler process to deactivate accounts when employees leave.
Mr. Chan Cheow Hoe, Government Chief Information Officer, GovTech said, “CorpPass is designed for all businesses, from multi-national companies to SMEs, and allows for greater data security, better control and enhanced convenience for business users when they transact with the Government. We are glad that the majority of businesses have started using CorpPass and strongly urge the rest to do so now.”
Industry partners, such as the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), have also been supportive in promoting CorpPass to their members. Mr. Koh Juan Kiat, Executive Director of SNEF, shared, “We saw the merits of having a digital identity for business transactions. We have been working with GovTech, and will continue to do so, to raise awareness and encourage our members to sign up early, to enjoy the convenience and security of using more than 130 Government digital services.”
For more information on CorpPass, users can email support@corppass.gov.sg or find online resources (Step-by-step user guides/ self-help videos/ FAQs) on www.corppass.gov.sg.
