I am writing an article on income tax savings. Please help to identify some tax saving tips. What are the deduction that you should not forget and good habits, such as keeping receipts and other records on donation, expenses, etc.
Donations - the recipient organization (e.g. charities) submit your donation with NRIC and it is automatically reflected by IRAS
Property - keep a record of all your expenses, such as agent commission, repair bills, property tax and maintenance (for condos)
CPF top-up - top up the special account of family members and get tax relief
Education expenses - subscriptions to professional bodies - you can claim for deductions
SRS - supplementary retirement schemes. Amount allowed is quite small and the conditions are quite troublesome - so many people ignore this incentive.
Please correct the facts above and suggest other allowable deductions that I may have overlooked.
Parenthood Tax Rebate - it is the deduction to your final payable tax amount.
ReplyDeleteRebate of $5,000 for first child, etc.
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04.aspx?id=1528
So basically you do not have to pay income tax for y ears if you have children.
Allow me the liberty to touch on rental income reporting.
ReplyDeleteFor people with rental income, repairs and replacements and general maintenace expenses are not permitted to be offset against rent, when the property is not occupied by tenant.
Simply, even if your property is dilapitated and need renovation before you could rent out, you can't deduct your expenses.
So landlords better do repairs after your tenant has moved in.
On income from property, the interest paid on bank loan (if still under financing) is a deductible.
ReplyDeleteFor self-employeds and business owners, I recall transport for business purposes is deductible at one-third. Applicable to own vehicle or taxi only, not applicable to bus and MRT. I'm not sure what's it now, should check.
ReplyDelete