Income Tax Singapore YA2010

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Do you know that Singapore uses a progressive tax system? The tax rate increases as the chargeable amount increases. (See IRAS tax rates.)

A person with a chargeable income of $100k is taxed $7,100 or 7.1%.

But if the chargeable amount was $300k he has to pay $39,300 in taxes or 13.1%.

Fair?

Effective Tax Rate YA2010

Here’s the income tax calculator for this year. Just enter your expected chargeable income:

How much is your income tax this year?


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15 Comments

  1. senior year at college on

    http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2009/feb/12feb09_speech/12feb09_speech3.html

    up to 11-12 billion SGD (up to 6% of Singapore’s GDP) worth of taxes go into MINDEF ‘spending’ on lucrative salaries, scholarships, etc.

    However, I’m still grateful that Singapore’s tax rate is one of the lowest in the region, if not the world,
    and thus it’s good for fresh grads such as myself, who’l have to bear 3+ % tax, and 20% CPF… hmm… so… 77% ‘spendable’ income

  2. honestly, that’s the one thing that i have no complaints about in Singapore.. the tax regime.

    Seriously, between making USD100k in the US and SGD100k in Singapore, I’d choose Singapore anytime.

    In Singapore, my take home pay (monthly) is $8333-$900(CPF)-$1(Donation) = S$7432.

    In the US (pick a state e.g. California), my take home pay after social security, taxes, medicare, etc (calculator at http://www.paycheckcity.com/netpaycalc/netpaycalculator.asp ) would be only US$5207 which, at today’s conversion rate of 1.4, is only S$7289.

    That’s lower than my Singapore take home pay even in absolute terms! And remember that the cost of living there is much higher (e.g. no hawker centres, a cheap meal is at least US$10 or more).

    CPF can be used to pay monthly housing loan too, so the take home pay is unaffected. In the US and other foreign countries, I’d have to pay rent out of my own pocket of a further US$1500-$2000 (1br in, e.g. San Francisco, more in New York), so my effective take home pay is only US$3207 = S$4490.

    So if anyone here reading this thinks that the grass is always greener overseas and that USD100k is a lot of money, please first consider the tax and cost of living implications and you’ll realize that Singapore provides a much better deal.

  3. What’s great about Singapore is that income tax rates have been consistently lowered for the past 20 years, as the tax base is shifted from direct taxes to indirect taxes such as GST.

    There is also an interesting comparison between setting up base in Singapore vs. Hong Kong, and how the effective income tax rate is much lower in Singapore than in Hong Kong.

    Low-wage workers are also better off. As a result of changes to tax structure over the past twenty years, low-wage workers have moved from paying income tax, to having “negative income tax” through direct transfers and Workfare.

  4. I now live in Singapore, but before that I lived in California for 10 years. If life is only about taxes and dollars, then I agree with anonymous above, but living in California is so much more than that, and the food’s so much better than whatever is available in Singapore at a REASONABLE price. I have never had a decent burger here at any place and I’ve visited many well publicized places like the Hand Burger, etc. Singapore food has always been meh to me and I am Asian!!! I even went to school at VS and VJC (Nil Sine Labore!!), but I am now paid my US Salary + Bonus and getting taxed at ridiculously cheap tax rate so no complains there, but I would go back again to the US someday once their problems have been fully worked out.

  5. to Normal: Granted that hand burger is certainly no in-n-out, but straits cafe definitely doesn’t cut it either, when compared to your average hawker center in Singapore (and let’s not even discuss Panda Express!). At the end of the day, it’s about what you really want, I guess. I lived in the bay area for a few years but I’m glad to be back home in Singapore with cheap food and reasonable wages vs cost-of-living. Sure, I miss the weather and cheap cars, but with A/C and efficient public transport, I don’t think I’m any worse off here. Of course I would love to be paid US wages while working in Singapore like you are, but I guess I can’t complain about what I’m getting now as I think it is more than sufficient for me to live happily in Singapore.

  6. Hei a fellow Bay Area-er. I absolutely agree with you that Straits Cafe sucks. I also agree that if you are a Singaporean and have ties here whether through family, food or what have you, you may feel happier here.

    What I have a problem with is the statement that Singapore is cheap and provides a better deal. You need to compare apple to apple and the fact is that food is “cheaper” here because the portion is two times smaller in general and the quality is wanting for common foods (just compare In n Out vs Burger King here). Hell Carl’s Jr here is as expensive as the one in the U.S. and it’s not as good. Starbucks is also equally priced.

    Most hawker food is also meh in general. There are some GREAT ones no doubt like Tian Tian Chicken Rice, Katong Laksa, and some stalls in East Coast Lagoon and I am sure there are others. Again though the portion is much smaller. A plate of Oyster Egg comparable to the size in the US is 10-12 Sing dollars. A good bowl of ramen here is around 16 to 20 Sing Dollars. There are many places in San Franciso, Cupertino or ESPECIALLY LA that are much cheaper and tastier.

    Basically other than Sing food, all other types of food are cheaper or comparable to ones in the Singapore in terms of price. The portion is bigger and the quality is better since the U.S. has no need to import a lot of the ingredients.

    So there you go. Yes, in terms of absolute dollars and cents you can’t quite beat hawker food here since customer over there demand big sizes, but you have to compromise in terms of portion AND quality. Once you compare apple vs apple side by side, the argument that Singapore is a good deal is ridiculous. That’s just food, not to mention housing and cars as somebody pointed out above.

    Your dollar does go further in the U.S. than here.

    My advice to talented and ambitious Singaporeans is absolutely go to the U.S. It’s hard to become Bill Gates here, but many people of different nationalities have made it absolutely big over there and have crazy fun doing it, one thing that can’t be said of Singapore.

  7. normal: well, to each his own i guess.. I find US-sized portions usually too big for me, so Singapore portions are more suitable.

    The bottom line is that if you’re a theater-going or artsy sort, gourmet food lover, travel nut or some mixture of the above (most would describe that as “cosmopolitan”), then big US cities like SF, LA or NYC definitely provide you better value for money (I won’t say cheaper, but definitely better value in terms of quality vs price).

    But if you’re a hardcore “heartlander” like I am, Singapore’s the place to be, as I find Sheng Siong or NTUC cheaper and better than Safeway or even 99Ranch, MRT wins hands down against Caltrain or BART, and HDB flats are in much better condition than most low-cost housing in the bay area (try driving through East Palo Alto past Ikea).

    So it really depends on what sort of lifestyle you want. For me, I would always choose Singapore, not just because of friends and family, but because the lifestyle I have and want generally gives me better bang for my Singapore buck.

    I can’t argue with you about the Bill Gates factor though. The US is seriously a better platform for those early in their careers. However, once you hit the glass ceiling, it’s probably time to come home.

  8. that means you’re making 300k thereabout. it’s a “good” problem to have. i’m sure many people wish their tax is 30k, myself included.

  9. proud to be singaporean on

    to anonymous and normal:

    you din need to evaluate all these yourselves. gdp per capita (ppp) measures cost of living. just look up these tables from the net lah. the ppl who produced these tables know much more than all of us do!!!

  10. If I was working in Sinagapore, is it better to get paid a US salary or a Sinapore salary(equivalent to US)??

  11. hi, Recently I got opportunity to work in Singapore with $4000 per month.
    Can you please help me on how much Tax is on my Salary? Is it deducted every month from my salary?

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