Singapore Expats

I am unfamiliar with the Singapore tax system thus far, however I recently heard that rental expenses may be claimable for tax. Can this be right??

Generally no.

If you are coming here on full expat package where employer takes the lease and pays the rental, there might be some partial tax offset/rebates... I had something like this in the past but the company basically took care of it and they also took the benefit, as the contract was on an after tax equalized salary. I think it was quite a complicated structure but never looked fully into the details what they were doing.

However, if you are renting directly, then no tax benefit/rebate AFAIK.

Thank you Beeroclock! I thought that one might have been too good to be true!

As far as a I know, rental expenses are not deductible by individuals when filing individual income tax. As a company, you might be able to classify the expense as a category of business expense.

You can see a list of deductible categories
for companies: http://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/page04.aspx?id=11432
for individuals: http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page.aspx?id=110

edit to add:
According to the links above, IRAS mentions that rental expense is a deductible. However, not in the sense that you might think. Suppose you are renting out an apartment and spend money to find a tenant, then this expense can be deducted from rental income.

Millypede wrote:I am unfamiliar with the Singapore tax system thus far, however I recently heard that rental expenses may be claimable for tax. Can this be right??

Are you referring to rent expenses you incur as a result of moving here, or are you referring to expenses you incur in renting out a piece of property to someone?

If the former, rental expenses are not deductible. Indeed, if your company were to provide you a housing allowance, that would be treated as taxable income. If the company leased the house and let you live in it, you would incur a lower tax liability for housing provided.

If the latter, expenses incurred in conjunction with renting are deductible.