today is the last day for topping up CPF/SRS and Jan 1 is the first day to top up again

[malcontent]

For those of you following this thread - a very useful subreddit has started. It is interesting to see how few Singapore high earners maximise their tax deductions with either SRS or CPF VC.

https://www.reddit.com/r/singaporepayslips/

In my view, a tax deductible CPF VC to a CPF account earning 4%+ is far more attractive than making a tax deductible SRS contribution.

SRS has never been a highly compelling option in my view, and I only ended up with SRS because my employer insisted on funding my SRS account.

The whole idea of “opting in” to be taxed on gains that would otherwise go tax free outside an SRS account, is a major turn off, in spite of the 50% relief.

Then there is being restricted to local investments in SRS, which means higher expenses versus investing outside SRS. If those higher expenses compound over decades, they can completely wipe out your tax savings.

If you are later in your career and close to the statutory retirement age, then SRS can make sense.

[PNGMK]

Yes. The best advice is to start an SRS account today to beat the 10 year holding rule and withdraw at your current age of retirement. Since I opened an SRS the age of withdrawal has gone from 62 to 64.