Companies are generally taxed on income that is remitted back into their country of domicile.
In Singapore, registered companies are taxed on their Singapore-sourced income and foreign-sourced income when it is remitted or deemed remitted to Singapore. They ar subjected to corporate income tax on their income.
However there are also other tax types, including;
Withholding tax – This is usually incurred on top of gross revenues by non-resident companies (companies who do not have a management presence in Singapore).
- Interest from loans and rentals of movable property are subjected to WHT of 15%
- Royalty payments are subjected to WHT of 0%
- Payments to public entertainers and non-resident professionals who perform services in Singapore are subjected to WHT of 15%
- Dividends paid after taxes are generally not subjected to WHT (differ for each country)
Goods and services tax – This is a broad-based consumption tax levied on the import of goods (collected by Singapore Customs), as well as nearly all supplies of goods and services in Singapore. In other countries, GST is known as the Value-Added Tax or VAT. Companies generally must register for GST if they incur or are expected to incur more than SGD 1mil of taxable turnover in a calendar year (total value of all supplies during the course of business, including the GST rate incurred, but excluding exempted and out-of-scope supplies or capital sales)
- Imported goods are subjected to a GST of 8%
- Local services (i.e spa services) are subjected to a GST of 8%
- Imported services (providing marketing services to customer outside Singapore) are subjected to a GST of 8%
- International services are exempted from GST, including
- Advertising services performed outside singapore
- Co-location services (for computer server equipment) within Singapore
- International transport (for goods and passengers)
- Lease or hire of transport
- Services performed completely overseas
- Services related to goods for export or moving outside Singapore
- Services related to land/buildings/goods located overseas
- Services supplied to overseas persons
- Services related to electronic system
- Services performed on goods stored in warehouse under specialized warehouse scheme (i.e precious metals)
- Services related to air and sea containers
- Telecommunication services
- Trust services in relation to foreign trust
