# Singapore Tax Residence

Tax residency rule, Singapore. Page: https://usecountr.com/trackers/tax-sg/

## Summary

A foreigner is a Singapore tax resident for a Year of Assessment if they stayed or worked in Singapore for at least 183 days in the calendar year before it. For example, 183 days in 2025 make you resident for Year of Assessment 2026. Two concessions from the tax authority can also make you resident when one stay runs across two or three calendar years. Residents pay progressive rates from 0% to 24% and can claim reliefs. Non-residents pay flat or higher rates. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) decides.

- Limit: 183 days or more
- Period: The calendar year before the Year of Assessment
- A day counts when: You are in Singapore, including weekends and public holidays
- Two-year concession: One continuous stay of 183 days or more across two calendar years
- Law: Income Tax Act 1947, section 2(1), definition of resident in Singapore
- Run by: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)

## Who it applies to

- Foreign employees who start or end a job in Singapore in the middle of a year.
- People on short assignments of a few months in Singapore.
- Business travellers who visit Singapore often for work.
- Foreigners whose work pass and job run across the end of December.
- Company directors and consultants who are paid from Singapore but live elsewhere.

## The rule

Section 2(1) of the Income Tax Act 1947 defines who is resident in Singapore. For an individual it has two parts. A person who resides in Singapore, apart from temporary absences, is resident. This is the test for Singapore citizens and Singapore permanent residents who normally live there. A person who is physically present in Singapore, or who works there, for 183 days or more in the year before the Year of Assessment is also resident. This is the test most foreigners use. Work as a director of a company does not count for it.

Singapore taxes on a preceding-year basis. The Year of Assessment (YA) is the year in which tax is assessed, and it looks at the calendar year before. So the days from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 decide your status for YA 2026.

IRAS adds two administrative concessions for foreign employees. Under the two-year concession, if your employment runs across two calendar years and your stay, including your physical presence immediately before and after the job, covers a continuous period of at least 183 days, you are treated as resident for both years, even with fewer than 183 days in each. Under the three-year concession, if you stay or work in Singapore continuously for three consecutive years, you are resident for all three, even if the first and the third year have fewer than 183 days. The two-year concession does not apply to directors, public entertainers or professionals.

Status matters because the rates are different. A resident pays progressive rates from 0% to 24% on Singapore income and can claim personal reliefs. A non-resident who works in Singapore for 61 to 182 days in a year pays 15% on employment income, or the resident rates if they give more tax, and pays 24% on director's fees and most other income. A non-resident who works for 60 days or less in a year is exempt on that short-term employment income, except directors, public entertainers and professionals.

Why it exists: Singapore wants people who really live and work in the country to pay at its progressive rates with reliefs, and wants short-term workers to be taxed in a simple way at flat rates. The 183-day line separates the two groups, and the concessions avoid an unfair result for a person whose stay happens to cross the end of a calendar year.

## Counting the days

You count the days you were in Singapore, or employed there, in one calendar year from 1 January to 31 December. Weekends and public holidays are included.

1. Take one calendar year, for example 2025, which decides Year of Assessment 2026.
2. List each period you were in Singapore or employed there, with the first and the last day.
3. Add the days, including weekends and public holidays.
4. If the total is 183 or more, you are a tax resident for that Year of Assessment.
5. If it is lower, check whether one continuous stay across the end of the year reaches 183 days, for the two-year concession.
6. If you stayed for three years in a row, check the three-year concession.

How Countr counts it: Countr counts every day on which you were in Singapore for any part of the day, from 1 January to 31 December. It allows 182 days and warns you 14 days before the limit, so you see the 183rd day coming. The app counts presence only. IRAS also counts some days outside Singapore as part of your employment period, such as overseas leave and business trips during a Singapore job, so the official count can be higher than the app's. The card looks at one calendar year, so check a stay that runs across the new year against the two-year concession yourself.

## Examples

### Seven months in one calendar year

Anna, a German engineer, works in Singapore from 1 March 2025 to 30 September 2025. That is 214 days in the calendar year 2025, more than 183. She is a tax resident for Year of Assessment 2026. Her Singapore employment income is taxed at the progressive resident rates, and she can claim personal reliefs.

### Five months across the new year

Raj works in Singapore from 1 November 2025 to 31 March 2026. He has 61 days in 2025 and 90 days in 2026. Neither year reaches 183 days, and the whole stay is only 151 days, so the two-year concession does not help. He is a non-resident for both Years of Assessment. In each year he worked more than 60 days, so his employment income is taxed at 15%, or at the resident rates if that gives more tax.

### The two-year concession

Sofia is employed in Singapore from 1 October 2025 to 15 May 2026. She has 92 days in 2025 and 135 days in 2026, so each year is under 183. But her stay is one continuous period of 227 days across two calendar years. Under the two-year administrative concession, IRAS treats her as a tax resident for both Year of Assessment 2026 and Year of Assessment 2027. This would not apply if she were a company director or a public entertainer.

## Exceptions

- Singapore citizens and Singapore permanent residents are resident if they normally reside in Singapore apart from temporary absences. They do not need the 183 days.
- A foreigner with a work pass valid for at least 1 year is treated as resident at first, and IRAS reviews the status at tax clearance when the job ends.
- Time as a company director does not count towards the 183 days, and non-resident directors pay 24% on their fees.
- Non-residents who work in Singapore for 60 days or less in a year are exempt on short-term employment income, but directors, public entertainers and professionals are not.
- Foreign income that a resident individual brings into Singapore is in most cases exempt from tax.
- A tax treaty can decide your residence when Singapore and another country both treat you as resident.

## Common misconceptions

- "Only working days count towards the 183 days." IRAS includes weekends and public holidays. It also includes temporary absences such as overseas leave and business trips that belong to your Singapore employment.
- "The year that matters is the Year of Assessment." The days are counted in the calendar year before the Year of Assessment. Days in 2025 decide Year of Assessment 2026.
- "With fewer than 183 days in each year I am always a non-resident." A foreign employee whose continuous stay across two calendar years reaches 183 days is treated as resident for both years under the two-year concession.
- "Being a tax resident costs more tax." For most employees it costs less. Residents pay progressive rates that start at 0% and can claim reliefs, while a non-resident employee pays at least 15% with no reliefs.

## Questions and answers

### Is exactly 183 days enough?

Yes. The test is 183 days or more, so the 183rd day in the calendar year makes you a tax resident for the next Year of Assessment.

### What happens if I have only 182 days?

You are a non-resident for that Year of Assessment, unless a concession applies. Your employment income is then taxed at 15% or at the resident rates, whichever gives more tax, and you cannot claim personal reliefs.

### Does a business trip out of Singapore stop the count?

For an employee, no. IRAS counts absences that are incidental to the Singapore job, and overseas vacation leave, as part of the total days of employment.

### Do days before my job starts count?

For the two-year concession, IRAS includes your physical presence immediately before and after the employment. For the plain 183-day test, days of physical presence in the calendar year count.

### I am a director of a Singapore company and live abroad. Am I resident?

Not through your directorship. Work as a director is left out of the 183-day test, and the two-year concession does not apply to directors. A non-resident director pays 24% on director's fees.

### Does Singapore tax my foreign income if I am resident?

Singapore taxes income from Singapore. Foreign income that an individual resident brings into Singapore is in most cases exempt, according to IRAS.

## Sources

- [IRAS - Working out my tax residency](https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/individual-income-tax/basics-of-individual-income-tax/tax-residency-and-tax-rates/working-out-my-tax-residency)
- [IRAS - Individual income tax rates](https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/individual-income-tax/basics-of-individual-income-tax/tax-residency-and-tax-rates/individual-income-tax-rates)
- [Income Tax Act 1947, section 2 - Singapore Statutes Online](https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/ITA1947)

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Countr is an app for iPhone that counts your days in every country for visa, tax and residency rules, from the photos on your phone and your location. It explains rules and counts days. It does not give legal or tax advice. https://apps.apple.com/app/country-days-tracker-countr/id6810720800