Assessable income is IRAS’s term for total income after deducting allowable expenses and approved donations. Personal reliefs, which IRAS allows if the individual is a Singapore tax resident and meets the qualifying conditions, then come off it to give chargeable income, the figure IRAS’s resident tax rate bands are set against. In IRAS’s Example 1 for YA 2026, SGD 50,000 of employment income earned in 2025 less SGD 250 of donations gives assessable income of SGD 49,750.
Singapore · assessable income in IRAS’s Example 1 for YA 2026: employment income earned in 2025 less donations, before SGD 15,000 of personal reliefs
SGD 49,750
IncomeSGD 50,000
DonationsSGD 250
ReliefsSGD 15,000
AssessedYA 2026
Donation deductionup to 2.5×of qualifying donations to Community Chest or an approved IPC (IRAS)
Donation carry-forward5 yearsat most, unutilised deductions for donations to IPCs (IRAS)
Deemed rental expenses15%of gross rent, tenanted residential property, from YA 2016; mortgage interest on top
YA 2026 basis period20251 Jan 2025 to 31 Dec 2025; business income may differ (IRAS)
Personal relief capSGD 80,000per Year of Assessment since YA 2018; applied after assessable income
4-Line Statement aboveSGD 200,000of revenue, self-employed; 2-Line Statement at or below (IRAS)
On this pageBefore and afterIRAS’s YA 2026 examplesWhat it means for youMisconceptionsRelated termsSources
Key takeaways
- IRAS defines assessable income as total income after deducting allowable expenses and approved donations, where total income includes employment income, trade income for the accounting year and/or other income such as rental income. Chargeable income is the remainder of assessable income after deducting personal reliefs, which are allowable if the individual is a Singapore tax resident and meets the qualifying conditions; IRAS’s resident tax rate table, from YA 2024 onwards, is set out against bands of chargeable income.
- IRAS’s donations page sets out the order of the computation: total statutory income less donations gives assessable income, and assessable income less personal reliefs gives chargeable income. In IRAS’s Example 1 for YA 2026, a 35-year-old resident employee earned SGD 50,000 in 2025 and has SGD 250 of donations, so assessable income is SGD 49,750; personal reliefs of SGD 15,000 (Earned Income Relief SGD 1,000, Qualifying Child Relief SGD 4,000 and Employee CPF Contribution Relief SGD 10,000) then bring chargeable income to SGD 34,750.
- Allowable expenses come off each kind of income. Employment expenses are those incurred wholly and exclusively in the production of employment income in Singapore, and to be allowable they must satisfy all of IRAS’s conditions: incurred to carry out official duties, not reimbursed by the employer, and not capital or private in nature. Net rental income after allowable expenses is taxable; for tenanted residential property IRAS pre-fills deemed expenses of 15% of gross rent, mortgage interest on the loan taken to buy the property can be claimed on top, and the owner may claim actual expenses instead. For the self-employed, IRAS’s Adjusted Profit/Loss is revenue less cost of goods sold, less allowable business expenses; capital expenses are not allowable, but depreciation of fixed assets may be claimed as capital allowances.
- IRAS gives tax deductions of up to 2.5 times the qualifying donation amount for donations to Community Chest or an approved Institution of a Public Character (IPC); donations to a charity without approved IPC status are not tax deductible. The deduction is given in the Year of Assessment after the donation (a 2024 donation is deducted in YA 2025) and is reflected automatically from the information the IPC submits, without being declared, provided the donor gave the IPC their NRIC/FIN when donating; IRAS does not accept claims based on donation receipts. Where the deduction for donations to IPCs exceeds the year’s income, the unutilised part may be carried forward for a maximum of 5 years; this does not apply to donations for overseas causes. MOF’s Budget 2026 Annex H-1 says the 250% deduction, scheduled to lapse for donations made after 31 December 2026, will be extended to qualifying local donations made from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2029.
- IRAS’s YA 2026 sample Notice of Assessment has no line labelled assessable income. On the NOA, ‘Income’ is total income after deducting allowable expenses, ‘Deductions’ covers items such as donations and reliefs, and chargeable income is ‘Income’ after subtracting ‘Deductions’. Each Year of Assessment covers the year before it: the basis period for YA 2026 is 1 Jan 2025 to 31 Dec 2025, though for business income it may be different where the accounts are made up to a date other than 31 Dec.
Definition
What is assessable income?
IRAS defines assessable income as total income after deducting allowable expenses and approved donations. Those are the two deductions its definition names; for the self-employed, trade losses and capital allowances can also be offset against other income in the same year. Personal reliefs come off after assessable income.
Allowable expensesbeforeEmployment, rental and trade income each count net of their own expenses: employment expenses, rental expenses and allowable business expenses.
Approved donationsbeforeDeducted against statutory income before arriving at assessable income. Qualifying donations to Community Chest or an approved IPC attract deductions of up to 2.5 times the amount.
Personal reliefsafterDeducted from assessable income to give chargeable income. Allowable if the individual is a Singapore tax resident and meets the qualifying conditions; the total of all reliefs claimed is capped at SGD 80,000 per Year of Assessment.
Each Year of Assessment taxes the income of its basis period, the year preceding it: 1 Jan 2025 to 31 Dec 2025 for YA 2026. For business income the basis period may be different where the accounts are made up to a date other than 31 Dec; in IRAS’s example, a sole-proprietor whose financial year ends on 31 Mar 2025 earns that income in the basis period 1 Apr 2024 to 31 Mar 2025, and it is assessed in YA 2026.
Worked example
IRAS’s two YA 2026 examples, step by step
From IRAS’s Sample Income Tax calculations: Example 1 is a 35-year-old resident employee who earned SGD 50,000 in 2025; Example 3 is a non-resident who stayed and worked in Singapore from 1 Aug 2025 to 31 Oct 2025 and received SGD 21,000 in salary. The amounts are IRAS’s; Money Snap recomputes each subtotal, and the Example 1 tax at the resident rates, and each matches IRAS’s figure.
| YA 2026 | Example 1 | Example 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Employment income, 2025 | SGD 50,000 | SGD 21,000 |
| Less: donations | − SGD 250 | not listed |
| Less: employment expenses | not listed | SGD 0 |
| Assessable income | SGD 49,750 | SGD 21,000 |
| Less: personal reliefs | − SGD 15,000 | N.A. |
| Chargeable income | SGD 34,750 | SGD 21,000 |
| Tax on chargeable income | SGD 366.25 | SGD 3,150 |
| Net tax payable, YA 2026 | SGD 0 | SGD 3,150 |
IRAS’s donation example, YA 2025
Total statutory incomeSGD 100,000
Donation in 2024SGD 10,000
Deduction at 2.5×SGD 25,000
Assessable incomeSGD 75,000
IRAS’s example of a SGD 10,000 donation in 2024 to an approved IPC for causes that benefit the local community, by someone whose total statutory income for YA 2025 is SGD 100,000. The deduction, 2.5 times the donation, comes off statutory income before assessable income; personal reliefs, where they apply, come off afterwards.
In Example 1, IRAS offsets the SGD 366.25 with a SGD 5,000 Parenthood Tax Rebate for a first child born in 2025, so net tax payable for YA 2026 is SGD 0; the rest of the rebate offsets tax in later years until it is fully used. In Example 3, IRAS’s ‘Tax Rate for Non-Residents’ line applies 15%, giving SGD 3,150. Its rates page says a non-resident’s employment income is taxed at the flat rate of 15% or the progressive resident rates, whichever gives the higher tax amount; on SGD 21,000, the resident rates would give SGD 20, on Money Snap’s arithmetic.
What it means for you
What goes into assessable income
Salary, bonus and benefitsIncome tax calculator: tax on salary and bonus
IRAS treats all income derived as an employee from employment as taxable unless specifically exempted under the Income Tax Act or covered by an existing administrative concession, and lists allowances such as transport and meal allowances, and benefits-in-kind such as club memberships provided by the employer in place of cash, as taxable. With effect from YA 2025, employer’s contributions made on or after 1 January 2024 to an overseas pension or provident fund are taxable in the hands of employees upon contribution; up to YA 2024 they were not taxed where all of IRAS’s conditions were met, including that the contributions were mandatory under a social security scheme operated, regulated and supervised by the employee’s home country government. Employment expenses may be deducted where they are incurred wholly and exclusively in producing employment income in Singapore and satisfy all of IRAS’s conditions: incurred for official duties, not reimbursed by the employer and not capital or private in nature.Qualifying donations to Community Chest or an approved IPC are deducted at up to 2.5 times the amount in the Year of Assessment after the donation, automatically from the IPC’s information where the donor gave their NRIC/FIN; donations to a charity without approved IPC status are not deductible. MOF’s Budget 2026 Annex H-1 says the 250% deduction, which was scheduled to lapse for donations made after 31 December 2026, will be extended to qualifying local donations made from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2029. For overseas causes, IRAS describes the Overseas Humanitarian Assistance Tax Deduction Scheme, a pilot: a 100% deduction for qualifying cash donations made from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2028 to approved overseas emergency humanitarian assistance causes through designated charities with a valid Fund-Raising for Foreign Charitable Purposes permit, capped at 40% of the donor’s statutory income (a cap shared with the Philanthropy Tax Incentive Scheme for Family Offices), with no carry-forward of unutilised deductions.
Rental incomeRental yield calculator: gross and net yield
Net rental income after allowable expenses is taxable from the date the rent is due and payable to the owner, not the date it is received. For tenanted residential property, IRAS pre-fills deemed expenses of 15% of gross rent, an option its e-Tax Guide dates from YA 2016, and mortgage interest on the loan taken to buy the property can be claimed on top: in IRAS’s Example 5, SGD 5,000 a month for 12 months is SGD 60,000 of gross rent, and less SGD 12,000 of mortgage interest and SGD 9,000 of deemed expenses, net rent is SGD 39,000. An owner with more than one tenanted residential property who claims actual expenses on any one of them has to do so for all of them, and the deemed option does not apply where no deductible expense other than mortgage interest was incurred, where the rental income is derived through a partnership in Singapore, or where it comes from a property held under a trust. From YA 2022, repair, insurance, maintenance or upkeep costs and property tax for a period when the property is vacant between leases can be deducted against rental income, provided reasonable efforts were made to find a new tenant.Self-employed and trade incomeIncome tax calculator: tax on chargeable income
IRAS’s Adjusted Profit/Loss is revenue less cost of goods sold (gross profit), less allowable business expenses. Business income is reported on a 2-Line Statement where revenue is SGD 200,000 or less, and on a 4-Line Statement where it is more. Capital expenses, such as buying plant and machinery, are not allowable business expenses, but depreciation of fixed assets may be claimed as capital allowances. Trade losses and capital allowances claimed can be offset against other income, such as employment, interest and rental income and income from other businesses, in the same year, and unutilised amounts can be carried forward to later years, though carrying forward unabsorbed capital allowances requires the same business test to be met; car rental and private car instruction businesses follow a separate rule.Reading the tax billSG finance calendar: IRAS tax deadlines
IRAS’s YA 2026 sample Notice of Assessment shows ‘Income’, ‘Deductions’ and ‘Chargeable Income’, with no line labelled assessable income. ‘Income’ is total income after deducting allowable expenses, with employment, rental and trade income each net of their own expenses, and ‘Deductions’ covers items such as donations and reliefs. On IRAS’s two definitions, assessable income is the ‘Income’ figure less the deduction for donations within ‘Deductions’; that is Money Snap’s reading, not a line IRAS prints. In the sample, Income of SGD 240,000.00 less Deductions of SGD 19,680.00, made up of Earned Income relief of SGD 6,000.00 and Provident Fund/Life Insurance relief of SGD 13,680.00, gives Chargeable Income of SGD 220,320.00, with tax payable of SGD 25,010.80 by 20 May 2026.Common misconceptions
Five things people get wrong
Assessable income and chargeable income are the same figure.
Chargeable income is what remains of assessable income after personal reliefs, which IRAS allows if the individual is a Singapore tax resident and meets the qualifying conditions. In IRAS’s Example 1 for YA 2026 the two are SGD 49,750 and SGD 34,750; in its non-resident Example 3, personal reliefs are shown as N.A. and both are SGD 21,000.
Employee CPF contributions come off before assessable income.
In IRAS’s Example 1, Employee CPF Contribution Relief of SGD 10,000 is listed among the personal reliefs, with Earned Income Relief and Qualifying Child Relief, that are deducted from assessable income of SGD 49,750 to reach chargeable income of SGD 34,750.
Gains from selling shares or a home are added to assessable income.
IRAS states that gains from the sale of a property, shares and financial instruments in Singapore are generally not taxable, though gains from “trading in properties” may be taxable. Dividends paid by a Singapore resident company under the one-tier corporate tax system are also generally not taxable, except dividends from co-operatives.
A loss on a rented-out property reduces the tax on a salary.
IRAS states that losses from renting out property cannot be carried forward or offset against any other income, such as employment income, in the same year or in the future. As an administrative concession, a rental loss on one property may offset the taxable rental income of another property in the same year, provided all the rented-out properties were rented out at market rates. Trade losses are treated differently: with capital allowances claimed, they can be offset against other income, such as employment income, in the same year, except in car rental and private car instruction businesses, which follow a separate rule.
Assessable income for YA 2026 is the income earned in 2026.
A Year of Assessment covers the year before it: the basis period for YA 2026 is 1 Jan 2025 to 31 Dec 2025. For business income the basis period may be different where the accounts are made up to a date other than 31 Dec; in IRAS’s example, a sole-proprietor whose financial year ends on 31 Mar 2025 has a basis period of 1 Apr 2024 to 31 Mar 2025, assessed in YA 2026.
Sources and reviewChecked against the IRAS assessment, sample calculation, donations, employment, rental, business and rates pages and MOF’s Budget 2026 Annex H-1 on 2026-10-04
- IRAS — Understanding my tax assessment — the definition, the Notice of Assessment lines, the YA 2026 sample NOA, the basis period and who may claim reliefs
- IRAS — Sample Income Tax calculations — Examples 1 and 3 for YA 2026
- IRAS — Donations & tax deductions — the order of the computation, the 2.5 times deduction, its timing, the YA 2025 example, carry-forward and overseas causes
- MOF — Budget 2026 Annex H-1: Tax Changes — the 250% deduction extended for local donations to 31 December 2029
- IRAS — Employment expenses — the wholly-and-exclusively test and its three conditions
- IRAS — Salary, bonus, director’s fee, commission and others — taxable employment income, allowances and benefits-in-kind, and the overseas pension change from YA 2025
- IRAS — Income from property rented out — net rental income, the 15% deemed expenses, Example 5, vacancy expenses and rental losses
- IRAS — e-Tax Guide: Simplification of Claim of Rental Expenses for Individuals (Third Edition) — the deemed expenses option from YA 2016
- IRAS — Calculating business income — Adjusted Profit/Loss and the 2-Line and 4-Line Statements
- IRAS — Business expenses and deductions — capital expenses and capital allowances
- IRAS — Business making losses and unabsorbed capital allowances — offsetting and carrying forward trade losses
- IRAS — Gains from sale of property, shares and financial instruments — gains that are generally not taxable
- IRAS — Dividends — one-tier dividends
- IRAS — Individual Income Tax rates — the resident rate table on chargeable income and the non-resident employment rule
- IRAS — Tax reliefs — the SGD 80,000 personal income tax relief cap
Official IRAS rules and worked examples and MOF’s Budget 2026 annex; the recomputed subtotals and the resident-rate comparison are Money Snap’s arithmetic. For general information only. Not financial advice.
This page is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice. All figures and worked examples are estimates for illustrative purposes, are subject to change, and do not reflect any individual’s circumstances. Always refer to IRAS and MOF and seek independent professional advice before making any financial decisions.