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I was reading the Saturday Straits Times when I stumbled across this article on “The Fine Art of Taxation, a la S’pore and HK”.

It was about the cultural differences which affected the taxation policies that could be implemented on the people.



It also shows how Singapore woo foreign firms to setup their offices by giving rebates and exemptions.

From the looks of it, I think the personal tax rates looks more fair than HK.

But HK doesn’t have GST, Singapore has it but I feel it is decently fair because it taxes those who have heavier consumption (better for savers like me).

On that note, the financial year is closing soon and the filing of taxes is coming~

For those of you folks paying taxes, do remember to at least give this page a read:

https://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page01.aspx?id=86

Especially on the sections of “Know what is taxable, what is not” and “Deductions to save tax (reliefs, expenses, donations, tax rebates…)”.

No need to pay more tax when you can get the required deductibles =)

Here is a general list of deductions/relief (there’s more for the needy/having a family/etc):
  • Employment expenses (employees, self employed/SP/Partnerships have a bigger set too!)
  • Rental expenses
  • Angel Investors Tax Deduction Scheme (AITD)
  • Donations
  • Course fees relief
  • CPF cash top-up relief
  • CPF / provident fund relief
  • Earned income relief
  • Handicapped brother/sister relief
  • Life insurance relief
  • NSman (self/parent) relief
  • Parent/handicapped parent relief (for maintenance of parents, grandparents & great-grandparents including in-laws)
  • Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) relief
It is good to know that contributing to CPF or SRS (for those of a higher income group) can help to reduce our taxes yet provide a way to invest for more gains!

And for SRS, if you can limit your withdrawals annually <20k a year, you need not pay tax too (else you’ll need to pay a fraction of your tax due). But this could be supplemented by annuities and like. =)

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