Singapore taxes individuals on a territorial basis: the base captures income earned in Singapore plus a narrow set of receipts from abroad — and for individuals foreign-sourced income is almost always exempt. The top resident rate of 24% took effect from YA2024 and applies unchanged for YA2026. The rules sit in the Income Tax Act 1947 (ITA), administered by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).
Four elements matter for planning: the residence tests, the progressive scale with personal reliefs, the flat non-resident rates, and the wide exclusions — capital gains, one-tier dividends, foreign income. The jurisdiction-wide context sits in the Singapore hub.
Concept
Assessment runs on a preceding year basis: income of calendar year N is assessed in year of assessment (YA) N+1, so YA2026 covers 2025 income. A resident pays on the progressive scale and claims reliefs; a non-resident pays flat rates with no reliefs. Source follows the place of activity: employment physically exercised in Singapore is taxable regardless of where the employer sits or where salary is paid (Income Tax Act 1947, s.10).
Key parameters of the tax:
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Resident scale YA2026 | 0–24% progression under the Second Schedule ITA; 24% starts above S$1,000,000 |
| Non-resident | Employment income: higher of flat 15% or resident-scale tax; other income 24% |
| Residence | 183 days in a calendar year, or the qualitative residence test; two- and three-year concessions |
| Relief cap | Total personal reliefs capped at S$80,000 per YA |
| What's untaxed | Capital gains, one-tier dividends, local interest, individual foreign income (s.13(7A) ITA) |
| Annual cycle | YA return e-filed by 18 April; departing non-citizens require IR21 tax clearance |
Tax Residence: 183 Days and the Qualitative Test
An individual is resident for a YA if, in the preceding calendar year, they stayed or worked in Singapore for 183 days or more, or if they "reside in Singapore" within s.2(1) ITA — the qualitative test of settled abode: home, family, economic ties (IRAS — tax residency). IRAS adds two administrative concessions: a continuous work period straddling two calendar years with at least 183 days in total makes both YAs resident; a work period covering three consecutive years makes all three resident even where the edge years fall short of 183 days.
A non-resident with short employment — 60 days or less in a calendar year — is exempt on that employment income; the exemption does not extend to directors, public entertainers and professionals. The mechanics and common mistakes are covered in the article on the 60-day rule.
YA2026 Rates
A resident's chargeable income — income after deductions and reliefs — is taxed on the Second Schedule scale in force from YA2024; Budget 2026 left the rates untouched (IRAS — individual income tax rates). The full scale:
| Chargeable income (S$) | Rate | Tax at top of band (S$) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 20,000 | 0% | 0 |
| 20,001 – 30,000 | 2% | 200 |
| 30,001 – 40,000 | 3.5% | 550 |
| 40,001 – 80,000 | 7% | 3,350 |
| 80,001 – 120,000 | 11.5% | 7,950 |
| 120,001 – 160,000 | 15% | 13,950 |
| 160,001 – 200,000 | 18% | 21,150 |
| 200,001 – 240,000 | 19% | 28,750 |
| 240,001 – 280,000 | 19.5% | 36,550 |
| 280,001 – 320,000 | 20% | 44,550 |
| 320,001 – 500,000 | 22% | 84,150 |
| 500,001 – 1,000,000 | 23% | 199,150 |
| above 1,000,000 | 24% | — |
Tax on the first S$320,000 comes to S$44,550 — an effective 13.9%; the headline 24% starts only above S$1,000,000 of chargeable income. No rebate applies for YA2026: the rebate list on the IRAS rates page stops at YA2025, which carried a 60% rebate capped at S$200.
A non-resident pays on employment income the higher of two amounts — a flat 15% or tax computed on the resident scale. Director's fees, rental and most other non-resident income is taxed at a flat 24% (s.43(1)(b) ITA, from YA2024).
The Tax Base
The base takes in employment income (salary, bonus, share options, benefits in kind), income from a trade, business or profession, rental from Singapore property, and royalties. For private capital the list of what Singapore leaves untaxed matters more:
- Capital gains. There is no CGT; disposals of shares, crypto or property stay untaxed unless IRAS recharacterises the activity as trading under the badges of trade — the criteria are set out in capital gains vs trading.
- Singapore dividends. The one-tier system: the company pays corporate tax, and dividends are exempt in shareholders' hands.
- Local interest. Interest on deposits with approved banks and licensed finance companies is not taxable for individuals.
- Foreign income. Dividends, interest, rent and other foreign-sourced receipts of an individual are exempt under s.13(7A) ITA — except income received through a Singapore partnership. The provision, the remote-work traps and the partnership carve-out are analysed in foreign income of individuals in Singapore.
- Inheritance and gifts. Estate duty was abolished in 2008; there is no inheritance tax.
Indirect taxation has moved the other way: GST stands at 9% since 2024, so for a resident living on exempt passive income, consumption is where Singapore actually collects.
Reliefs: What Reduces Chargeable Income
A resident deducts personal reliefs: earned income relief (S$1,000 below age 55), spouse relief (S$2,000), qualifying child relief (S$4,000 per child), working mother's child relief — fixed at S$8,000, S$10,000 and S$12,000 for the first, second and further children born or adopted on or after 1 January 2024 — and parent relief (S$5,500–14,000). Compulsory employee CPF contributions are fully deductible; that line concerns citizens and PRs only — Employment Pass holders sit outside CPF.
Voluntary tools: CPF cash top-ups (up to S$8,000 for one's own accounts plus S$8,000 for family members) and the Supplementary Retirement Scheme — SRS contributions are deductible up to the yearly maximum contribution — S$15,300 for citizens and PRs, S$35,700 for foreigners (IRAS, SRS relief). Total reliefs are capped at S$80,000 per YA. Course fees relief is discontinued with effect from YA2026, the final claim year being YA2025 (IRAS); FDW levy relief lapsed from YA2025 on consultants' summaries.
Effective Burden: Three Profiles
The gap between headline and effective rates shows in typical profiles (computed on the YA2026 scale, no rebate):
| Profile | Annual cash income | Tax | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expat on an EP: S$300,000 salary | S$300,000 | ≈S$40,550 | ≈13.5% |
| Founder: S$150,000 salary + S$500,000 one-tier dividends | S$650,000 | ≈S$12,450 | ≈1.9% |
| Family office principal: foreign dividends and gains | any | ≈0 | ≈0% |
The third profile explains why wealth planning in Singapore starts with the principal's residence: a foreign passive portfolio held by a Singapore resident produces zero personal tax — provided the assets are held directly or through structures outside Singapore partnerships.
The Same Three Profiles in Hong Kong, the UAE and Kazakhstan
A Singapore rate means little on its own, because nobody chooses Singapore against nothing. The three profiles below run across the four destinations the same reader is weighing, on income of the same size in each place. Figures are stated as of 20 September 2026.
| Profile | Singapore | Hong Kong | UAE | Kazakhstan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary equivalent to S$300,000, minimal reliefs | ≈13.5% | ≈15%: at this level the two-tiered standard rate of 15% on the first HK$5m of net income is lower than the progressive computation, so it sets the ceiling | 0% | approaching 15%: 10% up to 8,500 MCI of annual income (KZT 36,762,500 in 2026 at an MCI of 4,325) and 15% above, so most of this salary sits in the upper band — unless it is paid by an AIFC financial participant to a foreign employee, which is exempt |
| Founder: salary equivalent to S$150,000 plus S$500,000 of dividends from the local company | ≈1.9% | ≈3.5%: dividends are not taxed at all, so the whole burden sits on the salary leg at 15% | 0% | ≈6–7%: the dividend leg bears 5% up to 230,000 MCI rather than being exempt, and the salary leg 10–15% |
| Family-office principal living on foreign dividends and gains | ≈0% | ≈0%: salaries tax reaches only Hong Kong-source employment income, and an individual pays nothing on dividends or capital gains | 0% | the portfolio enters the base: a resident declares worldwide income, so foreign dividends bear 5% up to 230,000 MCI and 15% above, and gains are taxed as income at 10–15% |
Read down the columns and three of the four look interchangeable while arriving at nearly the same number by different routes. Singapore gets there through territoriality plus the absence of a capital-gains tax and the one-tier dividend system; Hong Kong through territoriality plus a standard rate that caps salary at 15%; the UAE by not levying a personal income tax at all. That difference in mechanism is what decides the edge cases. A salaried executive pays nothing in the UAE and, between the two Asian cities, least in Singapore — because Singapore's progression has not reached its top rate at S$300,000 while Hong Kong's 15% ceiling already binds. A founder paying himself dividends is cheapest in Singapore, because Hong Kong taxes the salary leg at a flat 15% where Singapore taxes it at 8%. Above S$1,000,000 of chargeable income the order flips, and Singapore's 24% becomes the outlier.
Kazakhstan is the column that does not belong to that family, and the third row is why. It is the only one of the four that taxes a resident on worldwide income, so a foreign portfolio moves from outside the base to inside it, at 5% on dividends up to 230,000 MCI and 15% above. Two carve-outs soften the first two rows rather than the third: employment income paid by an AIFC financial participant to a foreign employee is exempt, and AIFC investment residents reach Kazakh tax residence on 90 days of presence instead of 183, under Article 222 of Tax Code No. 214-VIII. Neither reaches a passive portfolio.
For a person moving from Russian tax residence, the table requires two additional checks. The first is exit from Russian tax residence: the status is determined for a calendar year as a whole, so the first year of a move regularly ends with no residence at all or with two at once (exit from Russian tax residence). The second is the treaty: Russia's new treaty with the UAE was signed on 17 February 2025 and ratified in July 2025 (FNS), the treaties with Kazakhstan and Hong Kong are in force, and the distributive articles of the Singapore treaty are suspended by Decree No. 585 (Kremlin; suspension of Russia's tax treaties). None of this changes the personal tax in the table except where income keeps coming from Russian sources; then what decides is not the new country's rate but whether a working treaty exists. (Sources: FNS: tax residence).
The reading for a relocation decision is therefore narrower than the table looks. Where the income is salary, the choice is between Singapore's 13.5% and the Emirati zero, and Hong Kong loses on rate while winning on nothing in this row. Where the income is a foreign portfolio, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE all deliver zero and the decision moves off personal tax entirely — to banking, status and the cost of substance, which are compared for the whole route in the UAE against Singapore and for the two Asian cities in the corporate tax comparison. Where the income is a Kazakh salary or a Kazakh company's dividends, the Kazakh rate is competitive; where it is a foreign portfolio, it is the only one of the four that costs anything at all.
Administration: the Annual Cycle and Departure
- The return for a YA opens on 1 March: e-filing via myTax Portal closes 18 April, paper filing 15 April.
- IRAS issues the Notice of Assessment (NOA), typically from late April to September; disagreement is raised by objection within 30 days of the NOA.
- Tax is payable within one month of the NOA, or by up to 12 interest-free GIRO instalments. There is no PAYE withholding from a resident's salary — the taxpayer sets money aside for the bill.
- When a non-citizen employee resigns or leaves Singapore for more than three months, the employer runs tax clearance: it files Form IR21 at least one month before cessation and withholds all monies due to the employee — salary, bonus, leave pay — until IRAS issues its directive. Exceptions: employment of 60 days or less in the year (directors excluded) and income below S$21,000 subject to conditions.
Residence in Cross-Border Structures
Singapore residence comes cheap for mobile capital: there is no worldwide taxation, foreign passive income is exempt, and access to Singapore's extensive treaty coverage runs through the Certificate of Residence — IRAS confirmation for a specific DTA (the CoR procedure). The special expatriate regimes have ended: the NOR scheme is closed, the last statuses expired with YA2024, and planning relies on the general rules — 183 days, the concessions, DTAs.
Risks
Q/A
What are the Singapore income tax rates and brackets for YA2026?
A resident pays 0% on the first S$20,000 of chargeable income, then 2%, 3.5%, 7%, 11.5%, 15%, 18%, 19%, 19.5%, 20%, 22% and 23% on successive bands, and 24% on everything above S$1,000,000. The scale has applied since YA2024, and IRAS lists no personal income tax rebate for YA2026. A non-resident pays the higher of 15% or the resident scale on employment income and 24% on director's fees, rent and most other income (IRAS rates).
What is my marginal tax rate in Singapore?
It is the rate of the band in which the last dollar of chargeable income falls; the effective rate is total tax divided by that income. At S$100,000 of chargeable income the marginal rate is 11.5%, while the tax is S$5,650 — S$3,350 on the first S$80,000 plus 11.5% of the next S$20,000 — an effective 5.65%. At S$1,200,000 the marginal rate is 24% and the tax S$247,150, about 20.6%.
How is taxable income calculated in Singapore?
The scale applies to chargeable income. Total income less allowable expenses and approved donations gives assessable income; assessable income less personal reliefs gives chargeable income. In IRAS's own example a S$50,000 salary, less S$250 of donations and S$15,000 of reliefs, leaves S$34,750 chargeable and S$366.25 of tax before rebates (IRAS sample calculations). Reliefs stop at S$80,000 a year, and a non-resident gets none.
How many days in Singapore make you a tax resident?
A foreigner is resident for a YA after staying or working in Singapore for at least 183 days in the previous calendar year. Two extensions apply: a continuous stay or employment over three consecutive years makes all three resident even if the first or last year falls short, and an employee whose work straddles two calendar years with at least 183 days in total is resident for both — a concession closed to company directors, public entertainers and professionals. A citizen or PR is resident while residing in Singapore apart from temporary absences (IRAS).