We refer to the letter, 'Make tax e-filing less painful for employees' (June 25) by Ms Huang Meifang.

The e-filing system was running smoothly at the time when Ms Huang tried to e-file. She successfully logged in to the system, but could not complete the e-filing process as she had exceeded the 30-minute time-out period.

The time-out period is a normal feature in IT systems to deactivate a user when no activity is detected by the system within the prescribed time. It enhances security and allows for optimal usage of computer resources.

Ms Huang then tried logging in to e-file again. As she exceeded the six attempts allowed to key in the correct Personal Identification Number (PIN), she was automatically locked out by the system.

When she wrote to inquire if her e-filing was successful, we overlooked the fact that her PIN had been revoked. We should have advised her to obtain a new PIN straightaway.

Ms Huang was issued with a new Iras PIN. Our system is designed such that a replacement PIN issued for e-filing is valid only for one log-in attempt. Unfortunately, she failed to log in successfully on her first attempt.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore is committed to making tax filing easy for taxpayers, and we will look into enhancing the PIN system to allow more attempts to be made with the replacement PIN.

We thank Ms Huang for her feedback and apologise for the inconvenience and unhappy experience.

We hope she will have an easier and happier experience e-filing next year.

Deanna Choo (Ms)
Director
Corporate Communications Branch
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 3 July 2008.