How to file your personal income tax in 2022

If you’re working in Singapore, chances are, you probably need to pay tax.

Here in Singapore, we follow a progressive personal income tax rate that starts at 0 per cent and maxes out at 22 per cent for employment and self-employment incomes above $320,000.

Thankfully, there is no capital gain or inheritance tax.

Think that this is all too cheem (Hokkien: complex)?

Fret not!

This really simple and essential guide should help you figure out your personal income tax in no time!

This guide is written for Year of Assessment (YA) 2022, the current tax year in which income tax is calculated and charged. The assessment is for income you have earned in the preceding calendar year.

For YA 2022, the assessment for income is on income earned from Jan 1, 2021 to Dec 31, 2021.

Also, you have from Tuesday, March 1, 2022 to Monday, April 18, 2022 to file your taxes.

Here’s all you need to know!

TL;DR: How to file your personal income tax in 2022

Paying your taxes is mandatory as it helps to fund Government spending on common resources (eg. infrastructure like roads, and security like the Singapore Armed Forces and the Singapore Police Force ).

It’s pretty straightforward as you can do it online via myTax Portal or by paper filing.

To pay lesser tax, you can do so through various (legal) ways like charity contributions, NSman deductions, Central Provident Fund (CPF) top-ups etc.

If you want to know exactly how much income you have to pay…

You can use the IRAS Personal Tax Calculator to find out!

Do I need to file my income tax?

Before you get started on filing your income tax, it’s important to understand whether you need to file your income tax or not.

First, let’s clarify tax residency in Singapore.

How do I know if I’m a tax resident?

You will be treated as a tax resident for a particular YA if you are a:

• Singapore Citizen who normally resides in Singapore except for temporary absences
• Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) who has established a permanent home in Singapore
• A foreigner who has stayed or worked in Singapore (excluding the director of a company) for 183 days or more in the previous year, i.e. the year before the YA.

Singapore tax residents categories

If you are a Singapore tax resident you would receive either a letter or SMS from IRAS about your income tax.

IRAS groups tax residents into three categories:

1) You receive a letter, form or SMS from IRAS telling you that you NEED to file your income tax

Pretty straightforward.

This means that you’ll need to file your income tax return via myTax Portal between March 1  to April 18, 2022.

If your employer applied for the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) for Employment Income, any information about your salary will be pre-filled.

If you’re a commission agent or taxi or private-hire car driver and you and your organisation are participating in the Pre-filling of Income for Self-Employed Persons Scheme, your income information from the organisation will also be pre-filled.

But, you’ll still need to complete the other field in your tax return form before submitting it.

You can also check if your employer is participating in the AIS here.

2) You receive a letter or SMS from IRAS telling you that you DO NOT need to file your income tax — No-Filing Service (NFS)

If you receive a letter or an SMS telling you that you do not need to file your income tax for the year.

Self-employed persons income tax Singapore

If you are a Self-Employed Person (SEP) you will have to file under Form B and might receive a different SMS with the following contents depending on your registration for the No-Filing Service (NFS):

FYI: the SMS is sent around mid-February of each year.

If you have been selected for No-Filing Service (NFS), you are not required to file a tax return.

But, you will need to CHECK and verify the information in your tax return is correct.

Also, if you wish to make any adjustments (e.g. verify your income details or relief claims) you can log in to myTax Portal to file it.

The next thing you’ll need to look out for would be your Notice of Assessment (NOA) or tax bill which will be sent to you around end-April.

This will tell you how much income tax is payable.

Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that your tax bill is accurate. If you have any other income that is not shown in the tax bill, or if your relief claims in the tax bill are incorrect, you need to inform IRAS through the “Object to Assessment” e-Service in myTax Portal within 30 days from the date of your tax bill.

3) You DO NOT receive any notification from IRAS

This DOES NOT mean that you don’t have to file your income tax.

You will still need to file a tax return if your:

• Annual net business income exceeded $6,000, OR
• Annual income (inclusive of rental income) was more than $22,000 last year

Just be a good citizen and head over to myTax Portal to file your tax return.

Starting from this year, about 120,000 selected taxpayers on the No-Filing Service will receive a Direct Notice of Assessment (D-NOA).

This means that they will not receive a notification from IRAS during tax filing season but will receive their tax bill directly from May onwards.

The D-NOA initiative will be extended to more taxpayers progressively over the next few years.

IRAS income tax filing checker

Alternatively, you can use this income tax filing checker from IRAS:

How to file your income tax in 2022

It’s really simple.

There are three components to filing your personal income tax.

1) Singapore Taxable Income

You will need to pay income tax on income earned in or derived from Singapore. Generally, overseas income received in Singapore is not taxable, except in some circumstances.

When it comes to income, there is taxable income and non-taxable income.

Taxable Income Singapore

Here are some examples of taxable income in Singapore:

Source: IRAS

Non-taxable income Singapore

Source: IRAS

Non-taxable income includes:

• Capital gains from stocks and property investments
• Central Provident Fund (CPF) Life Payouts
• National Service Housing, Medical and Education Award
• Winnings from 4D, TOTO, horse betting and soccer betting.

You can also refer to this IRAS table for a full list of what’s taxable and what’s not.

2) Singapore tax deductions

Deductions refer to any allowable expenses you incurred or approved donations you made during the year.

Some examples of deductions include:

• Deductions on rental expenses
  • Can claim tax deductions on certain expenses related to rental income derived in Singapore (15 per cent of the gross rent + mortgage interest on the loan taken to purchase the tenanted property)
• Deductions on donations
  • Tax deductions of 2.5 times the qualifying donation amount
• Deductions for self-employed, partnership, trade, business, profession or vocation
  • Can claim deductions for this category provided you satisfy the qualifying conditions
• Deductions for employees
  • Can claim work from home (WFH) and other allowable employment expenses not reimbursed by your employer.

3) Singapore tax reliefs and rebates

Usually given if you support certain government initiatives with “to promote specific social and economic objectives”.

Some common ones that most of you might qualify for include:

General Reliefs Available to ALL Taxpayers	Amount of Tax Relief Each Year	Additional Reliefs Available to Married/ Divorced/ Widowed Taxpayers
Note: Eligibility is dependent on individual meeting the qualifying criteria		Available to Male and Female Taxpayers	Available to Female Taxpayers
Course Fees Relief	Up to $5,500	Qualifying/ Handicapped Child Relief Spouse/ Handicapped Spouse Relief	Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Relief Grandparent Caregiver Relief Working Mother's Child Relief
CPF Cash Top Up (You and your family member)	Up to $14,000 ($7,000 for self, $7,000 for family members for YA 2022)
CPF Relief for Self-Employed	Tax relief for your Medisave and voluntary CPF contributions will be capped at the lower of: -37 per cent of your net trade income assessed -CPF relief cap of $37,740 -Actual amount contributed by you
CPF Relief (Compulsory & Voluntary Medisave Contributions)	The amount of tax relief given to the lowest of the following: -Voluntary cash contribution directed specifically to Medisave Account or -Annual CPF contribution cap for the year, less Mandatory Contribution (MC)* or -Prevailing Basic Healthcare Sum(BHS)^, less the balance in Medisave Account before the voluntary cash contribution
Earned Income Relief	Below 55: $1,000 55 to 59: $6,000 60 and above: $8,000
Earn Income Relief (for handicapped person)	Below 55: $4,000 55 to 59: $10,000 60 and above: $12,000
Handicapped Brother/Sister Relief	$5,500 for each handicapped sibling or sibling-in-law
Life Insurance Relief (Your total contributions for the following in 2021 was less than $5,000: a. compulsory employee CPF contribution b. self-employed Medisave/voluntary CPF contribution c. voluntary cash contribution to your Medisave account)	The lower of the: Difference between $5,000 and your CPF contribution OR Up to 7 per cent of the insured value of your own/your wife's life or the amount of insurance premiums paid
NSman Relief	Self: $1,500 - $5,000 Wife: $750 Parent With NSman child: $750
Parent Relief	Taxpayer stays with dependant: $9,000 per dependant Taxpayer does not stay with dependant: $5,500 per dependant
Handicapped Parent Relief	Taxpayer stays with dependant: $14,000 per dependant Taxpayer does not stay with dependant: $10,000 per dependant
Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) Relief	Singapore Citizens/Permanent Residents: $15,300 Foreigners: $35,700

Source: IRAS

Married couples and families will also enjoy tax reliefs and rebates like the Parenthood Tax Rebate (PTR) which can be shared based on an apportionment agreed by both of you.

You can also refer to this IRAS table for a full list of qualifying reliefs, expenses, donations to make sure you don’t miss out on any!

Singapore income tax relief ceiling 2022

Source: IRAS

Do note that there is a limit to the amount of tax relief that you can receive.

The income tax relief ceiling for YA 2022 is currently $80,000.

Personal income tax rates for residents 2022

Once you’ve filed your income tax.

You’ll want to see how much you’re getting taxed.

As mentioned earlier, tax residents are taxed at progressive tax rates.

Here’re the personal income tax rates for residents from YA 2017 to YA 2023.

Singapore resident tax rates from YA 2017 – YA 2023

Chargeable Income	Income Tax Rate (per cent)	Gross Tax Payable ($)	Total Income Tax in this income bracket ($)
First $20,000 Next $10,000	0 2	0 200	200
First $30,000 Next $10,000	- 3.50	200 350	550
First $40,000 Next $40,000	- 7	550 2,800	3,350
First $80,000 Next $40,000	- 11.50	3,350 4,600	7,950
First $120,000 Next $40,000	- 15	7,950 6,000	13,950
First $160,000 Next $40,000	- 18	13,950 7,200	21,150
First $200,000 Next $40,000	- 19	21,150 7,600	28,750
First $240,000 Next $40,000	- 19.50	28,750 7,800	36,550
First $280,000 Next $40,000	- 20	36,550 8,000	44,550
First $320,000 In excess of $320,000	- 22	44,550	-

As you can see, the more you earn, the more you’re taxed.

Singapore resident tax rates from YA 2024 onwards

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Here is what it looks like:

Chargeable Income	Income Tax Rate (per cent)	Gross Tax Payable ($)
First $20,000 Next $10,000	0 2	0 200
First $30,000 Next $10,000	-3.5	200 350
First $40,000 Next $40,000	-7	550 2,800
First $80,000 Next $40,000	-11.5	3,350 4,600
First $120,000 Next $40,000	-15	7,950 6,000
First $160,000 Next $40,000	-18	13,950 7,200
First $200,000 Next $40,000	-19	21,150 7,600
First $240,000 Next $40,000	-19.5	28,750 7,800
First $280,000 Next $40,000	-20	36,550 8,000
First $320,000 Next $180,000	-22	44,550 39,600
First $500,000 Next $500,000	-23	84,150 115,000
First $1,000,000 In excess of $1,000,000	-24	199,150

Source: IRAS

Source: IRAS

It’s also worth noting that Singapore boasts one of the lowest tiered tax rates in the world for a country with a pretty high standard of living.

Singapore non-resident tax rates 2022

Here are the personal income tax rates for non-residents:

Type of Income	Withholding Tax Rate	Withholding tax rate
From YA 2017 to YA 2023	From YA 2024 onwards
1. Remuneration including director's fees received by non-resident directors	22 per cent See Tax Obligations for Non-Resident Directors	24 per cent
2. Income received by non-resident professionals (e.g. consultants, trainers and coaches) for services performed in Singapore	15 per cent of gross income or 22 per cent of net income See Taxable Income of Non-Resident Professionals	15 per cent of gross income or 24 per cent of net income
3. Income received by non-resident public entertainers for services performed in Singapore	10 per cent concessionary rate up to March 31, 2022; 15 per cent concessionary rate from April 1, 2022 See Tax for Non-Resident Public Entertainers	15 per cent concessionary rate
4. SRS withdrawals received by non-Singapore SRS account holders*	22 per cent See Withholding Tax on SRS	24 per cent
5. Interest, commission, fee or other payment in connection with any loan or indebtedness**	15 per cent reduced final withholding tax rate (subject to conditions) or 22 per cent if reduced withholding tax rate is not applicable	15 per cent reduced final withholding tax rate (subject to conditions) or 24 per cent if reduced withholding tax rate is not applicable
6. Royalty or other lump sum payments for the use of movable properties**	10 per cent reduced final withholding tax rate (subject to conditions) or 22 per cent if reduced withholding tax rate is not applicable	10 per cent reduced final withholding tax rate (subject to conditions) or 24 per cent if reduced withholding tax rate is not applicable

Source: IRAS

Source: IRAS

^The same withholding tax rates also apply to the income derived by a Hindu Joint Family that is registered outside Singapore.
*With effect from July 1, 2014, the concessionary withholding tax rate of 15 per cent will apply if the following conditions are met:
i. Cumulative amount withdrawn by the SRS account holder in the calendar year does not exceed $200,000; and
ii. The SRS account holder does not have any other income besides the SRS withdrawal(s) during the calendar year when the withdrawal(s) are made.
To enjoy this concession, the SRS account holder must declare that he fulfils the two conditions above using Form IR37B(1). The Form IR37B91) is obtainable from the SRS operator.
**The reduced withholding tax rate applies if the income is not derived from any trade, business, profession or vocation carried on or exercised by the non-resident individual in Singapore. If the income is derived from any trade, business, profession or vocation carried on or exercised by the non-resident individual in Singapore, then the withholding tax rate is 22 per cent for YA 2017 to YA 2023 or 24per cent from YA 2024.

Non-residents may also use this Tax Calculator for Non-Resident Individuals sheet to estimate their tax payable.

Income Tax in Singapore FAQs (Frequently asked questions)

If this is your first time paying income tax, you probably have a lot of questions.

Here are some commonly asked ones.

ALSO READ: Budget 2022: 6 things you need to know about tax changes

Who is subjected to income tax?

Generally, income tax applies to people in Singapore who are tax residents and are deriving some form of income from:

Are my investment dividends taxable?

This is a very common question that we always get from members of the Seedly community.

Non-taxable dividends

Generally, the following dividends are not taxable:

1. Dividends paid on or after Jan 1, 2008 by a Singapore resident company under the one-tier corporate tax system except for co-operatives;
2. Foreign dividends received in Singapore on or after Jan 1, 2004 by resident individuals. If an individual resident in Singapore receives foreign-sourced dividends through a partnership in Singapore, these dividends may be exempt from Singapore tax if certain conditions are met. For details, please refer to Tax Exemption for Foreign-Sourced Income ;
3. Income distribution from Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), except distributions derived by individuals through a partnership in Singapore, or from the carrying on of a trade, business or profession in REITs.

Taxable dividends

The following dividends are subject to income tax:

1. Dividends paid by co-operatives;
2. Foreign-sourced dividends are derived by individuals through a partnership in Singapore. Conditions may apply. For more details, please refer to Tax Exemption for Foreign-Sourced Income;
3. Income distribution from Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) derived by individuals through a partnership in Singapore, or from the carrying on of a trade, business or profession in REITs.

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This article was first published in Seedly.