Tax Residency in Singapore for PRs & Foreigners

Last updated: 8 September 2026

If you have just become a Singapore Permanent Resident, or you are a foreigner working here for the first time, one of the first questions to sort out is whether you count as a tax resident in Singapore. It matters more than most people expect. Your tax residency status decides which rates you pay, whether you can claim reliefs, and how much of your income Singapore can tax at all.

A Singapore tax resident is a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident who normally lives here (aside from temporary absences), or a foreigner who stayed or worked in Singapore for at least 183 days in the year before the Year of Assessment. Residents are taxed at progressive rates and can claim personal reliefs. Non-residents pay a flat rate on employment income and get no reliefs.

That single distinction can be the difference between a modest tax bill and a much heavier one. Here is how tax residency works, who qualifies, and the traps new PRs tend to fall into.

Note on figures: rates and rules below reflect IRAS guidance current as of 8 September 2026. Tax rules change, so confirm the latest position on the IRAS website before you file.

How is tax residency determined in Singapore?

Singapore does not decide your residency by nationality alone. It looks at your status and how long you are physically here. There are three routes to being treated as a tax resident.

1. You are a citizen or Permanent Resident who lives here. If you are a Singapore Citizen or a Singapore PR who normally resides in Singapore (temporary trips abroad aside), you are a tax resident. There is no day-counting exercise for you. This is the point most new PRs miss: once you take up PR and settle here, you are a tax resident by default. The flip side matters too: holding PR does not automatically make you a tax resident if you have genuinely relocated abroad and no longer reside here, since IRAS still applies the "resides except for temporary absences" test. You can read more about the wider picture in our guide to Singapore PR benefits.

2. You are a foreigner who meets the 183-day rule. A foreigner is a tax resident for a Year of Assessment if they stayed or worked in Singapore for 183 days or more in the calendar year before that Year of Assessment. So for the Year of Assessment 2026 (which taxes income earned in 2025), IRAS looks at how many days you were present or employed here during 2025.

The 183 days do not need to be continuous. Weekends, public holidays, and short absences such as leave or business trips still count toward the total. Both your day of arrival and your day of departure count as days of presence. You do not have to be at your desk every one of those days.

Worked example: say you moved to Singapore on 1 July 2025 and stayed through the end of the year. That is roughly 184 days of presence in 2025, so for the Year of Assessment 2026 you would meet the 183-day rule and be taxed as a resident. Arrive on 5 July and you would fall just short, which is why the arrival date can swing your whole tax bill.

One more point for work-pass holders: IRAS will generally treat you as a tax resident up front if your pass is valid for at least a year, but your status is reviewed against the day-count rule when you eventually seek tax clearance.

3. You are covered by an administrative concession. Two concessions help people whose stay straddles calendar years:

• Two-year concession: if your employment runs across two calendar years and you are in Singapore for at least 183 days in total across that period, IRAS treats you as a tax resident for both years.
• Three-year concession: if you stay or work in Singapore for three consecutive years, you are treated as a tax resident for all three years, even if you were present fewer than 183 days in the first and third years.

Resident vs non-resident: how you are taxed

Once your status is settled, the tax treatment splits sharply. Residents get progressive rates and reliefs. Non-residents get a flat rate and no reliefs.

The resident rates are progressive: the first $20,000 of chargeable income is taxed at 0%, and the rate climbs in bands to a top marginal rate of 24% on chargeable income above $1,000,000. That top rate rose from 22% to 24% with effect from the Year of Assessment 2024.

For non-residents, employment income is taxed at a flat 15%, or at the resident rates if those produce a higher figure. Reliefs are off the table. Other income, including director's fees and certain professional fees, is taxed or withheld at 24%.

This is why the 183-day threshold matters so much. Cross it, and you move from a flat 15% with no reliefs to a progressive scale that starts at 0% and only reaches 24% at very high income. For a detailed walk-through of the bands, see our Singapore income tax guide for PRs.

What income is taxable, and what about your overseas income?

Good news for new PRs: Singapore does not tax your worldwide income the way some countries do.

Income earned in or derived from Singapore is taxable. Singapore taxes on a broadly territorial basis, and there is no capital gains tax on individuals.

Employment income covers more than base salary. Bonuses, commissions, cash allowances, and most benefits-in-kind such as employer-provided housing, home-leave passages, and children's school fees are taxable, while genuine relocation reimbursements when you first arrive are generally not. If your package is heavy on allowances and benefits rather than cash, your taxable income may be higher than your headline salary suggests.

Foreign-sourced income received in Singapore by an individual is exempt from tax. If you are a PR and you receive, say, rental income or dividends from your home country in your Singapore bank account, that foreign-sourced income is generally not taxed here. The one exception to watch: foreign income received through a partnership in Singapore is not covered by the exemption.

New PRs often assume Singapore will tax the salary, rent, or investments they still hold abroad. For income you receive as an individual, that is usually not the case. If your affairs are complex, or you run a business through a Singapore partnership, it is worth getting proper advice rather than guessing.

Tax reliefs available to residents

One of the real advantages of being a tax resident is access to personal reliefs, which reduce your chargeable income before tax is applied. Common reliefs include:

• Earned Income Relief for individuals with employment or trade income
• CPF relief on your mandatory contributions (PRs contribute to CPF, so this often applies)
• Spouse Relief, Qualifying Child Relief, and Working Mother's Child Relief for families
• Parent Relief if you support your parents
• NSman relief for those with National Service obligations
• SRS relief for contributions to the Supplementary Retirement Scheme

Total personal reliefs are capped at $80,000 per Year of Assessment, so there is a ceiling on how much you can shave off. As a PR you will start making CPF contributions, which feeds into both your retirement savings and your CPF relief. Our CPF guide for Permanent Residents explains how the contribution rates ramp up over your first years as a PR.

What happened to the NOR scheme?

If you have read older expat tax guides, you may have come across the Not Ordinarily Resident (NOR) scheme. It let qualifying individuals apportion their employment income based on time spent working outside Singapore, among other concessions. It is worth knowing that this scheme has closed.

No new NOR status has been granted since the Year of Assessment 2020, and the last cohort of existing NOR holders saw their status run through to the Year of Assessment 2024. The change was announced back in Budget 2019. In short, the NOR planning that some senior expats relied on is no longer available.

What is left for residents who want to manage their tax position is the ordinary set of reliefs plus the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), which gives a relief for contributions while helping you save for retirement. It is not a like-for-like replacement for NOR, but for most PRs the standard reliefs and SRS are the practical tools to work with today.

Leaving Singapore: tax clearance and Form IR21

Tax residency also affects how you exit. If you are a foreigner or a PR and you stop working, change jobs, get posted overseas, or plan to leave Singapore for more than three months, your employer has to seek tax clearance on your behalf by filing Form IR21.

In practice, the process runs like this:

• Your employer must file Form IR21 at least one month before your last day of employment or your departure.
• The employer is required to withhold any monies due to you (final salary, and other amounts) until tax clearance is done.
• IRAS then issues either a Directive to Pay Tax (telling the employer how much to remit to settle your tax) or a Notification to Release Monies.
• Where there is a Directive, the tax is generally due within 10 days.

For most Singapore Citizens this step does not apply, but PRs and foreign employees should expect it. It catches people out when they switch jobs and wonder why their final pay is being held. That withholding is the IR21 process doing its job. Planning your exit or a job change is one of the obligations to keep in mind once your PR is approved.

Common tax pitfalls for new PRs

A few mistakes come up again and again with people who have just taken up PR. Watch for these:

• Assuming Singapore taxes your worldwide income. As covered above, foreign-sourced income received by an individual is generally exempt. Do not over-declare out of caution, but do check your specific situation.
• Confusing CPF with income tax. CPF contributions are not income tax. They are savings for retirement, housing, and healthcare. Both come out of your pay, but they are separate systems.
• Forgetting about part-year residency. In the year you arrive or become a PR, your day count and status can be less obvious. Check which route to residency applies to you before you file.
• Being surprised by withheld final pay. When you change jobs or leave, the IR21 process can hold your last payment until clearance. Budget for the timing.
• Not filing at all. If you receive a filing notification from IRAS, you must file, even if your employer is on the Auto-Inclusion Scheme. Filing season opens on 1 March, with an 18 April deadline for the preceding year's income (both e-filing and paper returns are now due on 18 April).

Getting these right early saves stress later. Tax sits alongside things like property costs when you weigh up the full picture of settling here. If you are also looking at buying a home, our guide to property tax for foreigners and PRs covers that side of the ledger.

Frequently asked questions

Am I a tax resident in Singapore?

You are a tax resident in Singapore if you are a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident who normally lives here, or a foreigner who stayed or worked in Singapore for at least 183 days in the calendar year before the Year of Assessment. You may also qualify under the two-year or three-year administrative concession if your stay straddles calendar years. Tax residents are taxed at progressive rates and can claim personal reliefs.

What is the 183-day rule in Singapore?

The 183-day rule says a foreigner is treated as a Singapore tax resident if they were present or working in Singapore for 183 days or more in the calendar year before the Year of Assessment. The days do not have to be continuous, and weekends, public holidays, and short absences such as leave still count toward the total. Meeting the rule moves you from non-resident tax treatment to resident rates and reliefs.

Are Singapore PRs tax residents?

Yes. A Singapore Permanent Resident who normally resides in Singapore, aside from temporary absences, is a tax resident by default. There is no need to count 183 days the way a foreigner without PR would. As a tax resident, a PR is taxed at the progressive resident rates and can claim personal reliefs, subject to the $80,000 relief cap per Year of Assessment.

Do PRs pay tax on overseas income?

Generally no. Foreign-sourced income received in Singapore by an individual is exempt from tax, so income such as overseas rent or dividends that you receive personally is usually not taxed here. The main exception is foreign income received through a partnership in Singapore. If your situation is complex, get professional advice before you file.

Do I need tax clearance before I leave Singapore?

If you are a foreigner or a PR who is ceasing employment, being posted overseas, or leaving Singapore for more than three months, your employer must seek tax clearance by filing Form IR21, usually at least one month before your last day. Your employer will withhold monies due to you until IRAS issues clearance. Singapore Citizens generally do not need this step.

Sorting out PR and your Singapore tax position

Tax residency is one of several things that shift once you become a PR, alongside CPF, property rules, and your longer-term plans. If you are still working toward Permanent Residence, or weighing up whether it is the right move for your family, our team can help you plan the application and understand what changes afterwards.

Learn more about our Singapore PR application service and speak to us about your situation.

This article is general information, not tax or immigration advice. Tax rules and rates change. Always confirm your position with IRAS or a qualified tax adviser before making decisions.