The productivity improvement activities covered under PIC are:
Businesses have to obtain prior approval from the DesignSingapore Council for their design projects. For the other five activities, approval is not required to claim the tax benefits under PIC.
Acquisition and Leasing of PIC IT and Automation Equipment
Brief Description of Qualifying Expenditure under PIC
Costs incurred to acquire or lease:
Please see How PIC should be claimed if you have additional items bundled with the purchase or lease of PIC IT and automation equipment, receive cash discount or trade in an old asset, etc.
Please see Worked Examples 1 (40KB) and Examples 2 (450KB).
Examples of Qualifying Expenditure
*For lease payment of software, the lessee must be the end user having only the right to use the software and not the right to reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the software, or exploit the copyright to the software.Back to Top
Training of Employees
Brief Description of Qualifying Expenditure under PIC
Costs incurred to provide training to staff for the purposes of the trade and business. Training refers to:
- External training; and
- In-house training accredited by Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) or approved/certified by Institute of Technical Education (ITE). From YA 2012 to YA 2015, if the training is not WDA-accredited or ITE-approved/certified, a cap of $10,000 per YA applies.
Examination fees for courses without attending the course training will not qualify for PIC.
Please see Worked Examples (38KB).
Examples of Qualifying Expenditure
- External course fees for staff.
- Costs incurred on internal Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) courses for employees' skills upgrading.
- Training of prescribed agents/ representatives from YA 2012 (refer to Q42 of FAQs)Back to Top.
Acquisition and In-licensing of Intellectual Property Rights
Brief Description of Qualifying Expenditure under PIC
- Costs incurred to acquire IPRs for use in a trade or business (exclude EDB approved IPRs and IPRs relating to media and digital entertainment contents).
- Costs incurred on IPR in-licensing from YA 2013 to YA 2015 (refer to Q7 to Q12 of FAQs).
Examples of Qualifying Expenditure
- Payment to buy a patented technology for use in manufacturing process.
- Price paid for copyright.Back to Top
Registration of Patents, Trademarks, Designs and Plant Varieties
Brief Description of Qualifying Expenditure under PIC
- Costs incurred to register patents, trademarks, designs and plant varieties.
For information on Plant Varieties Protection, please refer to the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) website.
Examples of Qualifying Expenditure
Research and Development Activities
Brief Description of Qualifying Expenditure under PIC
Examples of Qualifying Expenditure
- Salaries for R&D personnel and fees to R&D institute for creating a novel product.
- R&D cost sharing from YA 2012 (refer to Q21 of FAQs)Back to Top.
Design projects approved by DesignSingapore Council
Brief Description of Qualifying Expenditure under PIC
- Costs incurred to create new products or industrial designs where the activities are primarily done in Singapore.
More details can be found on the DesignSingapore Council website.
Examples of Qualifying Expenditure
- Fees to engage in-house eligible designers or outsourced to eligible design service providers to carry out approved design activities. Back to Top