All the Tax Reliefs and Rebates You Can Use to Reduce Your Income Tax in Singapore. This article covers all the tax reliefs and rebates that you can use to reduce your income tax in Singapore — legally, of course.
All the Tax Reliefs and Rebates You Can Use to Reduce Your Income Tax in Singapore.
This article covers all the tax reliefs and rebates that you can use to reduce your income tax in Singapore — legally, of course.
With this relief, you can reduce your chargeable income by:
- Topping up up to $8,000 to your own CPF SA, RA or MA
- Another $8,000 by topping up your family members' CPF
That's up to $16,000 of relief in total.
You can top up your parents, grandparents, or in-laws' CPF.
Spouse or Siblings:
Children:
Topping up your children's CPF will not qualify for the tax relief.
Matched Retirement Savings Scheme (MRSS):
Any cash top ups that qualify for the MRSS will also not be eligible for the tax relief. MRSS is a scheme where if you are above 55 years old and have less than the Basic Retirement Sum in your RA, the government will match your top ups dollar for dollar, up to $2,000 per year.
CPF Limits:
The relief only applies if your top ups stay within CPF's limits:
- Top ups to SA or RA must be below the Full Retirement Sum
- Top ups to MA must be below the Basic Healthcare Sum
Between topping up SA or MA, MA is often preferable since MA money is still very usable. You can spend it on:
- Vaccinations
- Hospital bills
- Day surgeries
- Insurance premiums
SA money, on the other hand, is completely locked up until retirement.
The SRS allows you to reduce your taxable income simply by contributing to your SRS account.
- Singaporeans and PRs: Up to $15,300 a year
- Foreigners: Up to $35,700 a year
With SRS, you not only get to enjoy instant tax savings, but you also get to invest and grow the money inside your SRS account. You can put it into:
- Stocks
- ETFs
- Unit trusts
- Fixed income products
- And more
The higher your income, the more meaningful SRS becomes:
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If you just had a child, congrats! You'll receive the Parenthood Tax Rebate.
- First child: $5,000
- Second child: $10,000
- Third and subsequent children: $20,000 each
Unlike tax reliefs (which only reduce your chargeable income), the Parenthood Tax Rebate directly offsets the tax that you have to pay.
Example:
If your original tax bill was $4,000, a $5,000 Parenthood Tax Rebate will instantly bring it down to $0. The remaining unused $1,000 balance will keep carrying forward until it is fully used up.
This is a one-time rebate per child, and it is shared between the parents. By default, IRAS splits it 50-50, but you can also transfer any portion to your spouse.
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Your child must be:
- Below 16 years old, OR
- Still studying full-time in a recognised school
- Earning $8,000 or less in the year (this limit used to be $4,000)
- Standard relief: $4,000 per child
- If child has a disability: $7,500 per child
Just like the Parenthood Tax Rebate, the QCR can be shared between parents. To optimize, it's best to give the relief to the higher-income parent so the tax savings can be maximised.
This is one of the most powerful tax reliefs available to parents.
In the past, the amount of relief was based on a percentage of earned income, and the percentage stacked for every child. If you had three kids, the total WMCR could easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars in relief.
The government wanted to incentivize mums to also go and work.
For children born in 2024 or later, the WMCR is now a fixed dollar amount:
- First child: $8,000
- Second child: $10,000
- Third and subsequent children: $12,000 each
If your child was born before 2024, the old percentage-based system will still apply for that child.
If you are a working mother, and your kid is 12 years old and below, and your parent, grandparent or in-laws are helping to take care of your kid (aka free childcare), you'll qualify for a $3,000 tax relief.
No. It doesn't matter whether your parent is taking care of 2 or 20 of your kids — the total relief is still $3,000.
- The caregiver must either be not working, or must not have earned more than $8,000 in that year
- No one else should be claiming the Grandparent Caregiver Relief on the same caregiver
- Only the mother can claim this relief (the father cannot)
Example:
If your sister has already claimed GCR on your mother, then you cannot claim GCR on your mother as well. You'll have to choose another eligible caregiver.
This relief is to encourage us to be filial children.
Your parent must be:
- 55 years old and above
- Must not have earned more than $8,000 in that year
These criteria won't apply if they are handicapped.
Parent Relief:
- Living with you: $9,000 per parent
- Living separately: $5,500 per parent
Handicapped Parent Relief:
- Living with you: $14,000 per parent
- Living separately:
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This is meant for taxpayers who are supporting a non-working spouse.
Your spouse must not have an annual income of more than $8,000. If your spouse is handicapped, then this income limit does not apply.
- Non-working spouse: $2,000
- Handicapped spouse: $5,500
Remember: You can't claim both the Spouse Relief and Parent Relief on the same person.
When you donate to any charity that is an approved Institution of a Public Character (IPC), you can get a 250% tax deduction on the amount you donated.
Example:
If you donate $1,000, your chargeable income will get reduced by $2,500.
You can't "profit" from donating, since the amount you donate will always be higher than the tax savings you get back.
Example:
If you are earning $100,000 and you donated $10,000:
- Your assessable income becomes $75,000
- This will attract $3,000 worth of income tax
- You still "lose" $7,000 overall
This tax relief is more of a side benefit if you are already planning to give to charity anyway.
This applies to all Singaporean males who have completed their National Service.
- Did not perform NS activities in the year: $1,500
- Performed NS activities (such as ICT or IPPT): $3,000
- NS Key Appointment Holder: Even higher relief
If you are a wife or parent of an NSman, you will receive a relief of $750.
Note: The NSman parent relief and NSman wife relief can't be stacked. If you are a mother and both your husband and your son are NSmen, you will still only get one $750 relief. Similarly, if you have 3 sons who are all NSmen, you'll still only get $750 worth of relief.
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Honestly, most Singaporeans today will not qualify for this.
This relief will only apply if your total CPF contributions for the year is less than $5,000. So this relief is more for:
- Super low income workers
- Foreigners (since they don't have CPF)
This relief is only for life insurance, so it doesn't cover:
- Accident insurance
- Hospitalisation
- Health insurance
If you do qualify, you can claim up to $5,000 in relief for the life insurance premiums you've paid.
This relief is meant to encourage Singaporeans to upgrade their skills.
You can claim up to $5,500 per year for courses, seminars or conferences that are relevant to your current job or future employment.
- Aptitude test fees
- Exam fees
- Registration fees
- Tuition fees
- Certifications related to your field (e.g., ACCA, CFA, CDL, IT courses)
As long as the course is directly relevant to the work you are doing or intend to do.
- Courses taken for personal interest (e.g., photography, language courses)
- Portions paid using your SkillsFuture Credit
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This is something many people forget they can claim, especially if they work from home.
If you incur expenses in the course of doing your job, and your employer does not reimburse you for them, you can claim them as tax-deductible expenses.
- A portion of your electricity bill
- Wi-Fi
As long as these were purchased specifically for work purposes.
- Client entertainment: You can claim the client's portion of the expense, but not your own
- Professional subscriptions
- Work-related travel (but not travel between your home and office — that's considered personal commuting)
- CPF Cash Top Up Relief: Up to $16,000 ($8,000 self + $8,000 family)
- SRS Contributions: Up to $15,300 (Singaporeans/PRs) or $35,700 (foreigners)
- Parenthood Tax Rebate: $5,000 / $10,000 / $20,000 per child (directly offsets tax)
- Qualifying Child Relief: $4,000 per child ($7,500 if disabled)
- Working Mother's Child Relief: $8,000 / $10,000 / $12,000 per child (new fixed amounts)
- Grandparent Caregiver Relief: $3,000 (only for working mothers)
Ultimate Income Tax Relief Guide For Singaporeans (2025)
- $120,000 taxable income: Maxing out SRS saves $1,769.50 — literally the cost of a short trip to Japan
Unlike locals who must wait until age 63 to make penalty-free withdrawals, foreigners can make a one-time full withdrawal as long as it is done 10 years after their first SRS contribution.
Note: The SRS operator will withhold tax at the 24% non-resident rate, but IRAS will refund any excess based on your actual tax bill.
This is very useful especially if one parent isn't working, so the working parent can take the full rebate and make sure none of it goes to waste.
- Only the mother can claim this relief (cannot be shared with the father)
- The combined amount from WMCR and QCR is capped at $50,000 per child
This is why tax planning becomes important — you want to allocate the other child-related reliefs properly between spouses to ensure nothing is wasted.
- Even though it says you need to have incurred $2,000 or more in supporting a dependent living separately, IRAS doesn't need you to keep any receipts or submit proof. You just simply need to declare that you have supported them.
- You can only claim for up to 2 dependants
- This relief is shared between siblings
It's not possible to claim the Parent Relief and Spouse Relief on the same person. If you are claiming Spouse Relief on your wife, then your children cannot claim the Parent Relief on their mother.
In that case, it's financially better to claim the Parent Relief, since it gives a much higher $9,000 as compared to the $2,000 from the Spouse Relief.
- Donations to overseas charities
- Crowdfunding campaigns
- Private fundraisers
- It must not have been reimbursed by your employer
If the company already paid you back, then you cannot claim it again.
If you plan to claim employment expenses, make sure you keep your receipts and records for at least five years, in case IRAS asks for them.
- Parent Relief: $5,500 - $9,000 per parent
- Handicapped Parent Relief: $10,000 - $14,000 per parent
- Spouse Relief: $2,000 ($5,500 if handicapped)
- Donations: 250% tax deduction (must be to IPC-approved charity)
- NSman Relief: $1,500 - $3,000
- NSman Wife/Parent Relief: $750
- Life Insurance Relief: Up to $5,000 (if CPF contributions < $5,000)
- Course Fees Relief: Up to $5,500 per year
- Employment Expenses: Variable (must keep receipts for 5 years)
IRAS has a super useful page where you can filter the reliefs and rebates that apply to you, and see exactly how much you can save.
