Tax
Insight and innovation to guide you through today’s evolving global tax landscape
Singapore tax incentives for foreign businesses
Singapore is known to have one of the most attractive corporate and personal tax systems not only in Asia but in the world. We have also established ourselves as a wealth management hub backed by economic stability and strong financial infrastructure for foreign investments.
Advantages of Singapore as a holding company location and regional hub for Asia
- Business friendly corporate income tax rate at 17%;
- Tax incentives reducing the corporate rate are available for certain qualifying activities such as regional headquarters, intellectual property development, mergers and acquisitions, global traders of commodities, etc.;
- 100% foreign ownership is allowed;
- Extensive network of double taxation agreements;
- No capital or exchange controls restriction;
- No capital gains tax;
- Low personal taxes (max of 24% for income above S$1m (US$753k);
- High ease of living – availability of international schools, cosmopolitan, English and Mandarin as common languages (spoken and written), etc.
Singapore tax regime for fund management
For wealthy individuals with asset under management as low as S$10m (US$7.5m), looking to work, live and relocate to Singapore, there are various avenues to explore such as setting up a family office in Singapore. There are various tax incentives and exemptions for funds available to investors and family offices that will allow income from approved investments to be exempt from Singapore tax.
Singapore Global Investor Programme (“GIP”)
If you are looking to apply for Singapore permanent residency and have sufficient funds to invest, you can consider using your funds to invest in one of the following options under the GIP scheme:
Option A: Invest at least S$10 million in a new business entity or expanding an existing business in Singapore; or
Option B: Invest S$25 million in a GIP-select fund that also invests in Singapore-based companies; or
Option C: Establish a Singapore-based Single-Family office with onshore or offshore Assets-Under-Management (AUM) of at least S$200 million, where minimally S$50 million must be deployed in any of the 4 investment categories prescribed by the Economic Development Board (“EDB”).
How we can help
Looking to relocate, invest and/or set up a family office or business in Singapore? Mazars can assist you and your business from end to end, from setting up a tax efficient structure, establishing the companies, funds, applying for the applicable tax incentives, employment passes, assistance with opening bank accounts, doing the legal paperwork and handling all the annual compliance requirements. As a one stop shop, you do not need to jump through all the hoops and hurdles yourselves or deal with multiple service providers.
Get in touch with our experts Elaine Chow, Richelle Tay or Gene Kwee for a complimentary initial discussion so that we can assist you on this journey.
Tax
You will find insights on various topics by our Forvis Mazars tax professionals. For more information, please contact Gene Kwee, our Head of Tax and Elaine Chow, Partner in Tax.
Tax Implications of Funds managed by SG Fund
Offshore or onshore funds managed by a Singapore fund manager will cause the gains/income of the funds to be taxable in Singapore even for offshore funds. However, specified income derived by these funds from designated investments [1] can be exempt from Singapore tax provided certain conditions are met under the tax incentive schemes below.
Our experts
Elaine Chow Partner, Tax
