The 2019 Budget was announced on 18 February 2019.
Corporate tax changes include the following:
- Extension of writing down allowance for capital expenditure incurred on acquiring qualifying intellectual property (IP) rights to year of assessment 2025 (income year 2024).
- Extension of the 100% investment allowance under the Automation Support Package to 31 March 2021.
- Extension of the concessions for Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts (S-REITs) and REIT-exchange traded funds (REIT-ETFs) to 31 December 2025, and removal of the sunset clause for the tax exemption on distributions received by individuals.
- Extension, along with refinements, of the tax incentive schemes for qualifying funds (under sections 13CA, 13R, and 13X of the Income Tax Act) managed by Singapore-based fund managers to 31 December 2024.
- Approved Unit Trust and Designated Unit Trust schemes have been allowed to lapse (with certain transitional measures).
Other Budget changes include the following:
- Reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) import relief for value of goods bought overseas from 19 February 2019.
- Extension of the concession for partial recovery of input GST for qualifying funds to 31 December 2024.
- Extension of the GST remission for S-REITs and Singapore-listed registered business trusts in the infrastructure business, ship leasing, and aircraft leasing sectors to 31 December 2025.
For details of the 2019 Budget proposals, refer to our 2019 Budget Commentary at https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/publications/budget-commentary.html
Other changes include the following:
- Entry into force of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI) for Singapore on 1 April 2019.