If you own shares in a company, you may receive a dividend which represents your share of the company's profits.
Dividends may be paid in cash or in kind. For instance, a company may pay its shareholders dividends in the form of the company's shares.
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Dividends that are not taxable
Generally, the following dividends are not taxable:
- Dividends paid on or after 1 Jan 2008 by a Singapore company.
- Foreign dividends received in Singapore on or after 1 Jan 2004 by resident individuals.
If these are received in Singapore by any individual resident in Singapore through a partnership in Singapore, the dividends may be exempt from Singapore tax if certain conditions are met. For details, please refer to the e-Tax Guide Tax Guide on “Tax Exemption of Foreign-Sourced Income”.
- Income distribution from real estate investment trusts (REITs). However, this excludes distributions derived by individuals through a partnership in Singapore or from the carrying on of a trade, business or profession in REITs.
Examples of dividends that are not taxable |
| 1. Dividends from companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, as shown in the statement from Central Depository Pte Ltd (CDP) |
| 2. Singapore dividends from approved CPF investment Scheme agent banks, as shown in the Annual Dividend Statement (ADS) |
| 3. Singapore dividends from Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) |
| 4. Singapore dividends from Units Trusts |
| 5. NTUC Fair-Price dividends (except for NTUC co-operatives) |
| 6. Dividends from share buyback through Special Trading Counters (CTC) |
| 7. Dividends from Private Companies |
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Dividends that are taxable
Dividends derived in Singapore are taxable unless they are specifically exempted under the Income Tax Act.
Taxable dividends include dividends received from co-operative registered under MCYS Co-operatives Societies. For example, dividends received from NTUC Fairprice Co-operative, NTUC Healthcare Co-operative and NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative.
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How to report
If you receive taxable dividends from organizations that:
- Transmit details of the taxable dividends to us: You do not need to declare them in your tax form. Such organizations will indicate on the dividend voucher that they will provide the dividends’ information to us.
- Do not transmit details of the taxable dividends to us: You need to declare the taxable dividends under 'other income' in your tax form.
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