Scope and amounts already included
This is the YA 2026 quick guide, dated 27 April 2026, primarily using 2025 facts. Do not enter again amounts automatically included: AIS employment income, NSman/NSF pay, SRS withdrawals, government-paid maternity/childcare payouts to the self-employed, partnership shares where Form P is e-filed, and the specified Fairprice/Income cooperative dividends. Auto-included deductions include MUIS-reported Zakat, AIS salary-deducted donations and direct cash gifts to approved IPCs. Earned Income Relief, AIS employee CPF, self-employed CPF, employee voluntary MediSave, retirement-sum cash top-ups, SRS contributions and NSman/wife/parent relief are also identified as auto-included. Verify prefill rather than duplicating it.
Non-AIS employment and expense claims
For a non-AIS employer, report Form IR8A salary, bonus, director’s fees, part-time pay and benefits-in-kind. Include only taxable retrenchment components. For share-option/ownership gains answer Yes and report under the non-AIS employment Others category. Employment expenses must be for official duties and unreimbursed, including qualifying entertainment, travel between work sites, professional subscriptions and the specified other deductions. Use the Employment Expenses Schedule; estimates are unacceptable and receipts/vouchers must be retained at least five years. Salary-deducted approved-IPC donations from a non-AIS employer are claimed using IR8A.
Dividends, interest and rental income
Report cooperative dividends that are not auto-included and interest other than that from approved Singapore banks/licensed finance companies, for example pawnshop interest. Gross rent includes premises, furniture/fittings, rooms and tenant-paid maintenance/service charges under the agreement. Each legal owner declares the legal ownership share regardless of who receives the rent or paid for the property. For room subletting, apportion allowable expenses by rooms rented. Deduct qualifying property tax, mortgage interest, insurance, repairs and maintenance as appropriate.
Residential 15% deemed rental expenses and exclusions
For tenanted residential property, the form pre-fills deemed expenses of 15% of gross rent, with qualifying acquisition-loan mortgage interest deductible separately. Retain mortgage-interest evidence at least five years; other actual expense evidence is not required for this option. Alternatively claim actual expenses and retain tenancy agreements, bank statements, invoices and receipts at least five years. If actual expenses are chosen for one tenanted residential property, use that method consistently for all; do not mix with 15% on another. Approved non-residential use such as childcare centres or worker dormitories is excluded from residential treatment. The deemed option also fails where there are no deductible expenses apart from interest, rental is earned through a Singapore partnership, or property is held under a trust. Non-residential rental allows actual expenses only, with five-year evidence retention.
Royalties, deed payments, estates and trusts
Report royalties paid directly/indirectly by a Singapore resident or permanent establishment, or deducted against Singapore income, when due and payable. Specified creative-work royalties may be taxed on the lesser of net royalties after allowable deductions and 10% of gross royalties. Newspaper/periodical works are excluded; the former concession for approved IP/innovation ceased from YA 2017. Report taxable payments under deeds/court orders, but court-ordered or separation-deed alimony/maintenance is exempt. Estate income is declared when legally entitled to payment; trust income when it accrues to the beneficiary regardless of distribution timing. Enter other income-nature gains in the residual category. The royalty footnote contains an apparent unrelated separation-deed phrase; do not treat that as an approval condition.
Self-employment accounts and partnership allocations
Revenue up to S$200,000 uses two lines: revenue and adjusted profit/loss. Above S$200,000 but below S$500,000 uses four: revenue, gross profit/loss, allowable deductions and adjusted profit/loss. At S$500,000 or more, use four lines and submit a personally certified profit-and-loss account and balance sheet. Only actual wholly/exclusively income-producing expenses qualify, such as business borrowing interest, rent/utilities, equipment upkeep and compulsory employer CPF. E-filed Form P allocations prefill partners’ returns: verify divisible profit/loss, salary/bonus/CPF, benefits, other income, donations and partner expenses not otherwise charged or claimed. Allocation objections go through the precedent partner, who writes reasons within 30 days of the allocation notice.
Spouse and child reliefs
Ordinary spouse relief is S$2,000 for living with/supporting a spouse, or up to that amount for court/deed maintenance to a legally separated wife; total cannot exceed S$2,000 and spouse income above S$8,000 excludes it. Disability spouse relief is S$5,500 or maintenance up to that limit. QCR is S$4,000 for a maintained unmarried child under 16 or in full-time studies when older, with the source stating annual income below S$8,000. Child disability relief is S$7,500 for an unmarried child with disability. Parents may apportion child relief. Relevant income includes taxable, exempt and foreign income; QCR excludes scholarships/bursaries but includes NS and internship income. Keep first-time disability evidence with commencement date and provide it only if requested. If spouse disability relief is claimed, another person cannot claim another dependant relief for that spouse except GCR.
Working Mother’s Child Relief and its two date regimes
A married, divorced or widowed working mother with taxable earned income must maintain a child meeting QCR/disability conditions and Singapore citizenship at 31 December 2025; the guide also allows YA 2026 claims for a child who died in 2025. For birth/adoption on or after 1 January 2024, WMCR is S$8,000/S$10,000/S$12,000 for first/second/third-and-later children; earlier children use 15%/20%/25% of the mother’s earned income. Select Yes without entering WMCR amount; IRAS calculates it. Combined QCR/disability child relief plus WMCR is capped at S$50,000 per child, with child relief allowed first regardless of claimant. Total WMCR is also capped at 100% of the mother’s earned income.
Parent, caregiver and sibling disability relief
Parent relief is S$9,000 living together or S$5,500 apart, for a Singapore-living parent aged at least 55 in the prior year, with source-stated income below S$8,000. Parent disability relief is S$14,000/S$9,000, without age/income thresholds. Eligible claimants may share it; other dependant relief is barred except GCR. Singapore living generally means permanent residence with temporary absences; foreign dependants generally need eight months in 2025. GCR is S$3,000 for a married/divorced/widowed working mother whose specified own/in-law parent/grandparent, including step/adoptive relations, lives in Singapore and cares for a citizen child aged 12 or below or an unmarried citizen child with disability of any age. Caregiver trade/employment income must not exceed S$8,000 and nobody else claims GCR for that caregiver; the no-work condition applied through YA 2023. Sibling disability relief is S$5,500 per supported Singapore-living sibling/in-law, sharing allowed; if not same household, support must be at least S$2,000. Retain first-time disability evidence.
CPF, life insurance and Parenthood Tax Rebate
Non-AIS employee CPF/provident relief uses IR8A. Life insurance relief for a policy on the taxpayer’s or wife’s life is the lesser of actual premiums and 7% of insured capital; child-life policies do not qualify. CPF contributions of S$5,000 or more leave no insurance relief; below that, combined CPF/insurance relief cannot exceed S$5,000. PTR for a married Singapore tax resident requires a child born during marriage, parents marrying before a previously born child reaches six, or legal adoption during marriage before six. Citizenship is required at the relevant birth/marriage/adoption or within 12 months. Child order follows the relevant event across the household, including non-qualifying siblings. Deceased siblings count; stillbirth counting from YA 2022 requires the natural mother to be in the same household. PTR amounts from YA 2009 are S$5,000 first, S$10,000 second and S$20,000 each third/later, apportioned by agreement between spouses.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
Read the official PDF ↗