Singapore taxes for Brits: the UK link and your pension

Singapore's taxman takes a lot less than HMRC does, but you only get the low rates once you count as resident, and the UK side still needs sorting properly.

The short version

Singapore taxes income earned in Singapore. Overseas income you bring in, including money paid into a Singapore bank account, is generally not taxed [1].
Tax residents pay progressive rates from 0% to 24%, with the first S$20,000 (about £11,600) tax-free. Non-residents pay a flat 15% on employment income, or the resident rates if that comes to more [2].
You're usually a tax resident if you've lived or worked in Singapore for 183 days in the previous calendar year [2].
Leaving Singapore? Your employer must file Form IR21 for tax clearance at least a month before you go, and can hold back your final pay until it's done [3].
Leaving the UK system is down to the Statutory Residence Test. The UK–Singapore double taxation agreement has been in force since 1997, and your UK State Pension is frozen in Singapore [4][5][6].

How Singapore taxes you

Coming from PAYE, the first thing you'll notice is the size of the bill. The second is that it doesn't come out of your pay packet. Singapore assesses the previous calendar year (the "Year of Assessment", or YA), you file between 1 March and 18 April, and the Notice of Assessment usually lands between the end of April and the end of September [7]. Many employees are on the No-Filing Service, where your employer's figures are pre-filled and you just check them by 18 April [7]. You then pay the bill in one go or by GIRO instalments, so put money aside each month rather than blowing it on chilli crab.

The resident rates from YA 2024 onwards are [2]:

Chargeable income (SGD)	Rate on that slice	Tax on the full band
First 20,000	0%	0
Next 10,000	2%	200
Next 10,000	3.5%	350
Next 40,000	7%	2,800
Next 40,000	11.5%	4,600
Next 40,000	15%	6,000
Next 40,000	18%	7,200
Next 40,000	19%	7,600
Next 40,000	19.5%	7,800
Next 40,000	20%	8,000
Next 180,000	22%	39,600
Next 500,000	23%	115,000
Above 1,000,000	24%	–

To put that in pounds: on chargeable income of S$150,000 (about £87,100), a resident pays S$12,450, about £7,230, or roughly 8.3% [2]. Back home in Blighty, the same salary would be well into the higher and additional rate bands, before National Insurance.

There's also GST at 9% on most things you buy [8]. There's no separate capital gains tax for ordinary investors; gains on shares or property are generally only taxable where IRAS treats them as trading.

What counts as Singapore income

The rule that surprises most Brits is the overseas one. IRAS says that, generally, overseas income received in Singapore "is not taxable" [1]. Interest from a UK savings account, dividends from UK shares and UK rent are not Singapore income, even if you transfer them here.

The exceptions matter, though. Overseas income is taxable in Singapore if it comes through a Singapore partnership, if overseas work is incidental to your Singapore job (the regional manager flying to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur), or if you work in Singapore for a foreign employer [1]. So if a UK company keeps you on its payroll while you work from a desk in Raffles Place, that pay is Singapore income.

Resident or non-resident?

Your Singapore tax residence is decided year by year. As a foreigner you're a tax resident for a Year of Assessment if you [2]:

stayed or worked in Singapore for at least 183 days in the previous calendar year; or
stayed or worked here continuously for three consecutive years, even if the first or third year had fewer than 183 days; or
worked here for a continuous period straddling two calendar years, totalling at least 183 days (this one doesn't apply to directors, public entertainers or professionals).

If you don't qualify, you're a non-resident. Employment income is then taxed at a flat 15% or the resident rates, whichever gives the higher bill, with no personal reliefs. Most other income, including director's fees and rent from Singapore property, is taxed at 24% [2]. Arrive in the autumn and that first part-year can hurt: on S$150,000 a non-resident would pay S$22,500 (about £13,070), almost double the resident figure. The straddling rule in point 3 is what rescues most people who arrive mid-year and stay into the next.

Leaving Singapore: Form IR21

When a foreign or Permanent Resident employee stops work, goes on an overseas posting or plans to leave Singapore for more than three months, the employer must notify IRAS on Form IR21 at least one month in advance [3]. From the moment they know you're going, the employer has to withhold "all monies due" to you until IRAS issues a clearance directive [3]. Employers who file late without a good reason can be fined up to S$5,000 (about £2,900).

In practice that means your last salary, bonus or gratuity can sit with your employer for a few weeks. Unvested share options are treated as exercised at the point of clearance under the "deemed exercise" rule [3], which can produce a tax bill on shares you can't sell yet. Plan your leaving date with HR and payroll early.

Leaving the UK tax system properly

The UK taxes by residence, not citizenship, and Singapore's lower rates don't change that. You stop being UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test, one tax year at a time.

Check the automatic overseas tests. Most people moving out for a full-time job use the full-time work abroad test: fewer than 91 days in the UK, and fewer than 31 days working more than three hours there, in the tax year. See the Statutory Residence Test explained.
Claim split-year treatment for the year you leave, so your Singapore pay from the move date isn't caught. Our split-year guide explains the cases.
Tell HMRC. Use form P85 if you won't do a Self Assessment return, or the SA109 residence pages if you will [4].
Keep UK income in view. Non-residents usually still pay UK tax on UK income such as rent, and as a British citizen you keep the UK Personal Allowance [4].

Singapore is a 13-hour flight from Heathrow, so the trap is less weekends at home and more long Christmas trips plus working from your mum's spare room. Count the days.

The UK–Singapore double taxation agreement

The agreement was signed on 12 February 1997, came into force on 19 December 1997 and has applied to UK income tax since 6 April 1998. It has been amended by protocols in 2010 and 2012, and by the OECD's Multilateral Instrument from 6 April 2020 [5].

Income	Who can tax it	Article
Your Singapore salary, for work done in Singapore	Singapore	Article 15
Rent from your flat in Bristol	The UK, where the property is	Article 6
Gains on UK property	The UK	Article 13
Private and workplace pensions, and State Pension	Your country of residence, but only if you're taxed on it there	Article 18
UK government pay and pensions	Generally only the UK	Article 19

Source: 1997 UK–Singapore Double Taxation Agreement as amended [5].

The pensions catch. Article 18 says pensions and social security payments are "taxable only" in the country where you're resident, but only if you're resident there "and subject to tax" on the payment [5]. Because Singapore generally doesn't tax overseas income received here [1], a Singapore resident may not meet that condition, and the UK can then keep its right to tax your UK pensions. Don't assume a UK pension is tax-free just because you live here; a tax adviser who knows both countries can check your case.

Tie-breaker. If both countries treat you as resident, Article 4 looks at where you have a permanent home, then where your "centre of vital interests" is, then your habitual abode and finally your nationality [5]. Keeping a house in Surrey empty and ready for you can tip that the wrong way.

Your UK State Pension in Singapore: frozen

Singapore isn't on the DWP's list of countries where the State Pension goes up each year. You get the annual increase only if you live in the EEA, Switzerland or a country with an agreement that includes uprating [6]. Retire here and your pension stays at the rate you were first paid abroad.

The full new State Pension is £230.25 a week in 2025/26 and £241.30 a week in 2026/27 [9]. Someone who started drawing it in 2025/26 and then moved to Singapore would stay on £230.25 for good.

There's no social security agreement between the UK and Singapore, so Singapore work doesn't count towards your UK pension. To fill gaps, read voluntary National Insurance from abroad. As a foreigner you won't pay into CPF, Singapore's own savings scheme, unless you become a Permanent Resident: our CPF guide explains what changes. If anyone suggests moving a UK pension offshore, remember that transfers need regulated financial advice; our guide to UK pensions abroad and the transfer warnings covers the overseas transfer charge and the scams.

The FCDO's guide to living in Singapore confirms the UK has a double taxation agreement with Singapore and points tax questions to IRAS [10]. And if the April filing window has you puzzled, ask in our community group for Brits in Singapore: someone will have filed one before.

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = SGD 1.7214). Tax is general information, not advice.

Singapore taxes for Brits: low rates, the UK treaty and your State Pension