Tax Obligations for SRS Withdrawal

If a foreigner or Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) has applied to withdraw from his SRS account, 50% or 100% of the withdrawn amount, depending on the type of the withdrawal will be subject to a withholding tax.

Requirements for SRS Operators

The SRS Operator should:

1. Withhold an amount of tax at the point of withdrawal at the prevailing non-resident tax rate of 22% (20% for withdrawal from SRS accounts prior to 1 Jan 2016). This amount will be remitted to IRAS.
2. Deduct a 5% penalty on premature withdrawals. The 5% penalty is non-refundable and is separate from the withholding tax
3. Electronically transmit the information on the withdrawal to IRAS.

*Note 1: Effective 1 Jul 2014, the concessionary withholding tax rate of 15% will apply if the following conditions are met:

• Cumulative amount withdrawn by the SRS account holder in the calendar year does not exceed $200,000; and
• The SRS account holder does not have any other income besides the SRS withdrawal(s) during the calendar year when the withdrawal(s) are made.     

If you are a foreigner or SPR seeking tax clearance and you have made SRS contributions or withdrawals in the current year, please submit the standardized SRS Statement of Contribution/Withdrawal (for tax clearance) (61KB), endorsed by the SRS Operator, to IRAS.

IRAS will take into account your SRS contributions or withdrawals in your tax assessments.

The SRS Operator will undertake to withhold tax at the prevailing non-resident tax rate should a non-Singaporean SRS account holder need to withdraw the current year's SRS contribution within the year of tax clearance.