Singapore income tax 2026: rates up to 24%, and what happens at 60 and 183 days

Singapore's individual income tax has a feature that catches newcomers early: the year you are taxed for is not the year you earned in. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) works in Years of Assessment, and for a foreigner, residence for a given Year of Assessment depends on being in Singapore for at least 183 days in the previous calendar year. Weekends, public holidays, temporary absences such as leave, and business trips count. Two administrative concessions and a work pass rule can make someone resident with fewer days, and the 60-day exemption can leave a short visit untaxed. Nearly everything then follows from which of three bands your days land in, as the table further down shows. Overseas income received in Singapore is, as a general rule, not taxable, with listed exceptions. So the question at stake here is less about worldwide income than about the rate applied to work done in Singapore, and that rate can move sharply at 61 days and again at 183.

Resident rates from Year of Assessment 2024

Residents, on chargeable income. Scale read on the IRAS page Individual Income Tax Rates, updated 27 April 2026: cited without a link. The Ministry of Finance confirms the 23% and 24%.

The Ministry of Finance's speech on the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2022 confirms where the top comes from: income from S$500,000 to S$1 million moved to 23% and income above S$1 million to 24%, both from 22%, from Year of Assessment 2024. Budget 2022 described this as affecting the top 1.2% of those who pay personal income tax. On the IRAS table, gross tax comes to SGD 3,350 on the first SGD 80,000, SGD 44,550 on the first SGD 320,000 and SGD 199,150 on the first SGD 1,000,000.

The three bands your days fall into

The jump is not smooth. A non-resident cannot claim personal reliefs, though they can claim expenses and donations. At modest pay, 15% is far above what the resident table would give, and so going from 182 days to 183 can cut the bill. At very high pay the resident rates overtake 15%, and the same days make less difference. Director's fees, consultant's fees and other income are generally at 24% for a non-resident, so the 15% branch is for employment income only.

Sixty days: who cannot use the exemption

A non-resident who works in Singapore for 60 days or fewer in a year is exempt on that short-term employment income. IRAS draws two lines around this. It does not apply to payments to a board director, a public entertainer or a professional. It also does not hold when the absence from Singapore is incidental to Singapore employment, in which case total income is taxable, including for services outside Singapore. And per its page on foreign employers, the exemption falls away if your stay covers three continuous years or more. For business travellers on that page, the count runs across the whole visit, from arrival to departure.

Reaching residence without 183 days in one year

The three-year concession treats you as resident for all three years if you stayed or worked in Singapore continuously for three consecutive years, even if the first and third fall below 183 days. The two-year concession is for foreign employees who have entered Singapore, where employment straddles two calendar years and that employment, with presence immediately before and after, covers a continuous 183 days or more; it does not cover company directors, public entertainers or professionals. A work pass valid for at least one year also leads IRAS to treat you as resident, but that gets a second look: residency is reviewed at tax clearance when the job ends, and a stay under 183 days results in non-resident status.

That last rule is the one to plan around. Someone who is treated as resident on the strength of a one-year pass, then leaves early, can find the earlier treatment corrected at the exit.

Clearance when you stop work or leave

For a foreign employee, the employer completes form IR21 at least one month before employment ends or you leave, and IRAS says all taxes must be paid before you go. The page on foreign employers gives 1 March for the employer's IR8A and 18 April for your return, payment within one month of the Notice of Assessment, and notes that GIRO and instalments are not available to foreign employees. Non-citizens generally have to provide a Letter of Guarantee or eGuarantee each year, unless it is waived.

What overseas income is still taxed

IRAS lists five situations in which overseas income is taxable: received through a partnership based in Singapore; overseas work that is incidental to a Singapore job, such as required travel; an overseas business incidental to a Singapore trade; work in Singapore for a foreign employer; and employment overseas on behalf of the Singapore Government. If the same income is taxed abroad, you may apply for double taxation relief. Leaving another country for Singapore settles none of its rules: France, the UK and the US each apply their own test, and a dual residency goes to the treaty if one exists. The country table sets Singapore beside the others.

Why trips rather than a total? Because the 183 days belong to a calendar year, the two-year concession depends on continuous dates, and IRAS asks at clearance what your stay actually was. A list of dates answers all three. The Taxlag app keeps it for you; the counter above stays free.