Payroll, compliance updates in Asia

Payroll teams across Asia are retooling for 2026 as tax filing, payroll software, and data-protection rules tighten at the same time. (iras.gov.sg) In Singapore, employers in the Auto-Inclusion Scheme submit employee income data to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore between February 1 and March 1, and the tax agency says all application-programming-interface filings have had to use AIS-API 2.0 since August 18, 2025. (iras.gov.sg 1) (iras.gov.sg 2) The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore also published a Year of Assessment 2026 list of payroll software vendors and told employers to check directly whether their systems support the required format for filing income records by application programming interface. (iras.gov.sg 1) (iras.gov.sg 2) That puts payroll providers in the middle of a basic but high-stakes job: calculate wages, taxes, and benefits correctly, then move the data to tax agencies in the exact digital format each country requires. Singapore’s tax authority says employers using the scheme can stop issuing hard-copy income forms because the data is sent electronically. (iras.gov.sg) The compliance burden is not only about tax. Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act requires organizations to protect personal data, appoint a data protection officer, and maintain policies and practices that show accountability. (pdpc.gov.sg 1) (pdpc.gov.sg 2) Enforcement has stayed active in 2026. The Personal Data Protection Commission posted new decisions on January 8, February 26, and April 9, including cases involving protection failures and financial penalties. (pdpc.gov.sg) At the same time, large human-resources software vendors are pitching a bigger redesign of the function. Workday says its platform is built with artificial intelligence at the core, and its 2026 workforce-planning material says human-resources teams are using skills mapping, predictive analytics, and scenario modeling to shift from administration to planning. (workday.com) (workday.com) Oracle makes a similar case, saying generative artificial intelligence can draft job descriptions, candidate messages, and performance-review material inside human-capital-management systems. (oracle.com) The near-term result is less glamorous than the sales pitch: payroll and human-resources teams have to update filing connections, verify vendor support, and lock down employee data before they can automate more of the work. In 2026, the first test is still the old one — paying people correctly and reporting it on time. (iras.gov.sg) (pdpc.gov.sg)