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Singapore Reduces Taxes Effective in 2010
By Stuart Gray,
http://www.investorsoffshore.com,
May, 2009
The Singapore corporate income tax stands at 18%, but this will be reduced
to 17% in 2010. The 2009 budget offered a range of stimulus measures to
assist business:
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Unutilized trade losses and capital allowance for YA 2009 and YA2010 can
be carried back to set off against Assessable Income of three
immediately preceding YAs up to a limit of SGD200,000;
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Singapore businesses that incur qualifying Renovation and Refurbishment
expenses in the basis periods for YA 2010 and YA 2011 can deduct such
expenses in one year instead of over three years, subject to the cap of
SGD150,000 for each relevant three-year period;
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Companies Limited by Guarantee (CLGs) will be allowed to qualify for the
tax exemption scheme for new start-up companies effective from YA2010;
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A
new tax framework for qualifying amalgamations will be introduced;
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An
accelerated write-down of capital allowance (CA) will be allowed on
plant and machinery acquired in the basis periods for YA 2010 and YA
2011. CA is computed based on 75% of the capital expenditure for the
first YA and 25% of the capital expenditure for the second YA.
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Under the Block Transfer Scheme (BTS), withholding tax (WHT) exemption
can be granted in respect of interest payable on a loan taken by a
shipping enterprise from a lender outside Singapore to acquire a
Singapore-flagged ship. This WHT exemption is for ships registered with
the Singapore Registry of Ships (SRS) on any date from January 1, 2009
to December 31, 2013.
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