Income Tax Expenses

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

26	INCOME TAX EXPENSES


	2023			2022			2021
	S$’000			S$’000			S$’000
Income tax:
Current year		25,039			37,275			24,862
(Over) Under provision of prior years		(484	)		645			(34	)

		24,555			37,920			24,828
Deferred tax:
Current year (Note 20)		(32	)		(1,644	)		1,514
Under (Over) provision of prior years (Note 20)		307			(1,034	)		(598	)

		275			(2,678	)		916
Foreign withholding tax		1,474			1,807			2,493

		26,304			37,049			28,237

The income tax expense varied from the amount of income tax expense determined by applying the Singapore income tax rate of

% (2022:

%, 2021:

%) to profit before income tax as a result of the following differences:


	2023			2022			2021
	S$’000			S$’000			S$’000
Profit before income tax		146,454			141,987			132,079

Tax at the Singapore income tax rate		24,897			24,138			22,453
Tax effect of expenses that are not deductible in determining taxable profit		6,470			11,110			6,504
Overprovision in prior years		(177	)		(389	)		(632	)
Tax exempt income (Note A)		(8,009	)		(7,298	)		(6,454	)
Effect of different tax rates of subsidiaries operating in other jurisdictions		165			(710	)		15
Deferred tax asset not recognized		1,448			2,001			2,440
Utilization of tax losses previously not recognized as deferred tax assets		(327	)		—			—
Recognition (Utilization) of deferred tax on foreseeable dividends		358			(910	)		1,399
Foreign withholding tax		1,474			1,807			2,493
Others (Note B)		5			7,300			19

Tax expense for the year		26,304			37,049			28,237

Note A:

Tax exempt income represents income of subsidiary located in Philippines that benefit from tax holiday. Refer to below for additional information on the subsidiary tax holidays.

Note B:

In 2022, this mainly consists of the effect of a

one-off

“prosperity tax” enacted by the local government for the Malaysia operations and additional tax incurred by the Philippines operations due to its

non-compliance

of the work-from-home requirement for the period from April to October 2022.

The Group entities have unutilized tax losses carry forward available for offsetting against future taxable income as follows:


	2023		2022		2021
	S$’000		S$’000		S$’000
Tax losses carried forward		21,035		22,538		20,527

Deferred tax asset on above unrecorded		8,252		6,804		4,803

No deferred tax asset has been recognized in respect of the tax losses carried forward from certain subsidiaries due to the uncertainty of future profit streams. The realization of the future income tax benefits from tax losses carried forwards is available for an unlimited future period subject to the compliance with conditions imposed by law and the relevant tax authorities.

The Company is established under the laws of the Cayman Islands and is not subject to income tax in that jurisdiction. The Company is a Singapore tax resident from financial years 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Group’s operations are geographically dispersed and the statutory tax rate applicable to the Group’s subsidiaries ranged from 5% to 34%.

The Group’s subsidiary in the Philippines is granted income tax holiday for the period from 2023 to 2025 (2022: 2015 to 2022), subject to meeting the conditions specified by the Board of Investment (2022: Philippine Economic Zone Authority).

Had the Group not enjoyed income tax holidays for the years ended December 31,

2021

, 2022 and 2023, the increase in income tax expenses and resulting basic and diluted earnings per share amounts would have been as follows:


	2023		2022		2021
	S$’000		S$’000		S$’000
Increase in income tax expenses		7,362		3,237		2,102


	2023		2022		2021
	S$		S$		S$
Basic and diluted earnings per share		0.78		0.70		0.79