On or about 9 Apr 2021, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has published the seventh edition of the e-Tax Guide, Income Tax: Tax Exemption under Sec 13(12) for Specified Scenarios, Real Estate Investment Trusts and Qualifying Offshore Infrastructure Project/Asset. It replaces the sixth edition published on 19 Apr 2019.

This e-Tax Guide aims to explain the scenarios and conditions under which tax exemption under section 13(12) of the Income Tax Act may be granted to resident taxpayers with effect from 31 May 2006.

Tax exemption is, subject to conditions, granted under sec 13(12) of the Income Tax Act (“section 13(12) tax exemption”) on:

  1. certain foreign-sourced income received in Singapore by resident companies under the scenarios specified in paragraph 4 of the guide;
  2. certain foreign-sourced income received in Singapore by the trustees of Real Estate Investment Trusts listed on SGX (“S-REITs”) or their wholly-owned Singapore resident subsidiary companies specified in paragraph 5 of the guide;
  3. certain foreign-sourced income received in Singapore by listed resident entities or their wholly-owned Singapore resident subsidiary companies from qualifying offshore infrastructure project/asset as explained in paragraph 6 of the guide; and
  4. foreign-sourced income received in Singapore by resident taxpayers on a case-by-case basis as explained in paragraph 7 of the guide.

In this seventh edition, the following revisions were made:

(i) Paragraph 8.1, updated the mode of submission; and

(ii) Annex 4, updated sec 13(12) Declaration Form.

Source: IRAS, 12 April 2021