Generally, overseas income received in Singapore on or after 1 Jan 2004 is not taxable. These include overseas income paid into a Singapore bank account.
You do not need to declare overseas income that is not taxable.
When is it taxable
Overseas income is taxable in Singapore if :
1. Your overseas employment is incidental to your Singapore employment. That is, as part of your work here, you have to travel overseas.
Example: Is my income from frequent overseas travel taxable?
You are a regional sales manager employed by a Singapore company. You are required to travel overseas frequently to oversee operations in regional countries. Your employment income is fully taxable in Singapore since your travelling is
incidental to your Singapore employment.
2. You have received the income in Singapore through a partnership in Singapore, unless the income qualifies for exemption*.
3. You are employed outside Singapore on behalf of the Government of Singapore:
If you are a Singapore citizen or tax resident in Singapore, then the income from your employment exercised outside Singapore on behalf of Singapore government is deemed to have derived from Singapore.
All your gains from such employment (including overseas allowances) are taxable in Singapore.
Your employer will send your employment income details (including all allowances paid to you while you are working outside Singapore) to IRAS electronically.
The tax on overseas allowances will be remitted if applications for tax remission are approved by Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Generally, your gains from such employment will not be taxed outside Singapore.
Your gains from such employment will be exempted from tax in the foreign country where you worked if there is:
o A Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) between Singapore and the Foreign country, OR
o Provision for reciprocal exemption by Singapore and the Foreign government
In the event that your gains from such employment are taxed in the foreign country, you may apply for double taxation relief or tax remission in Singapore, to avoid being taxed twice on the same income.
Please approach your employer for clarification on the application for tax remission.
4. You have a trade/ business in Singapore and you are carrying on a trade/ business overseas which is incidental to your Singapore trade.
5. You received service income from overseas, unless the income qualifies for exemption*.
*For more information, refer to the e-Tax Guide on Tax Exemption for Foreign-Sourced Income (159 KB)
How to report
You do not have to declare overseas income that is not taxable.
For taxable overseas income, you have to declare the income under 'employment income' or ‘trade income' (whichever is applicable) in your tax return.