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Singapore
Corporate - Taxes on corporate income
Last reviewed - 06 February 2020Companies (resident and non-resident) that carry on a business in Singapore are taxed on their Singapore-sourced income when it arises and on foreign-sourced income when it is remitted or deemed remitted to Singapore. Non-residents are subject to withholding tax (WHT) on certain types of income (e.g. interest, royalties, technical service fees, rental of movable property) where these are deemed to arise in Singapore (for details, see the Withholding taxes section).
Tax on corporate income is imposed at a flat rate of 17%.
A partial tax exemption and a three-year start-up tax exemption for qualifying start-up companies are available.
Partial tax exemption (income taxable at normal rate):
| Year of assessment 2019 | Year of assessment 2020 onwards | ||||
| Chargeable income (SGD*) | Exempt from tax | Exempt income (SGD) | Chargeable income (SGD) | Exempt from tax | Exempt income (SGD) |
| First 10,000 | 75% | 7,500 | First 10,000 | 75% | 7,500 |
| Next 290,000 | 50% | 145,000 | Next 190,000 | 50% | 95,000 |
| Total | 152,000 | Total | 102,500 | ||
* Singapore dollars
Start-up tax exemption (income taxable at normal rate):
| Year of assessment 2019 | Year of assessment 2020 onwards | ||||
| Chargeable income (SGD) | Exempt from tax | Exempt income (SGD) | Chargeable income (SGD) | Exempt from tax | Exempt income (SGD) |
| First 100,000 | 100% | 100,000 | First 100,000 | 75% | 75,000 |
| Next 200,000 | 50% | 100,000 | Next 100,000 | 50% | 50,000 |
| Total | 200,000 | Total | 125,000 | ||
The start-up exemption is not available to property development and investment holding companies.
In addition, for the year of assessment 2019, there is a 20% corporate tax rebate. This rebate is capped at SGD 10,000.
Singapore adopts a one-tier taxation system, under which all dividends paid by Singapore-resident companies are tax-exempt in the shareholder’s hands.
