ABSD in Singapore: the full rate table, the counting rules, and the four ways it comes back

Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty is a second, profile-based layer of stamp duty charged by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore on the acquisition of residential property. It sits on top of Buyer’s Stamp Duty, which every buyer pays. Two facts determine the rate: who you are on the date of purchase, and how many residential properties you already count.

The rates currently in force took effect on 27 April 2023. They were announced by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Development and the Monetary Authority of Singapore in a joint release on measures for a sustainable property market. The IRAS ABSD page was checked on 2 August 2026 and carries no later rate column.

IRAS computes ABSD on the higher of the purchase price or the market value of the property, rounds the result down to the nearest dollar, and applies a minimum duty of $1. The market-value limb matters in family transfers, where the stated consideration is often below what a valuer would certify.

This is the whole matrix. Read down to your profile, then across to your count.

IRAS defines an entity as a person who is not an individual. That includes an unincorporated association, a trustee for a collective investment scheme acting as such, a trustee-manager for a business trust acting as such, and the partners of a partnership where the property is held as partnership property. A Singapore-incorporated company owned entirely by Singapore citizens is still an entity, and still pays 65%.

A housing developer pays 35% that is remittable subject to conditions under the Stamp Duties (Housing Developers) (Remission of ABSD) Rules, plus a further 5% that is non-remittable and payable upfront — an aggregate of 40%. That 35/5 split was not altered on 27 April 2023.

ABSD (Trust) at 65% applies to any conveyance of residential property to a trustee to hold on trust, for instruments executed on or after 9 May 2022. Between 9 May 2022 and 26 April 2023 the rate was 35%. It does not apply to trustees for collective investment schemes, trustee-managers of business trusts, or trustees for housing developers. Residential property transferred into a trust for a housing developer is charged at 40% — 5% non-remittable plus 35% remitted upfront subject to conditions.

Buyer’s Stamp Duty is charged on every acquisition of property, whatever the buyer’s profile and whatever the count. The residential bands below have applied to instruments executed on or after 15 February 2023 and are published by IRAS.

On a $2,000,000 residential purchase the BSD is: 1% of $180,000 = $1,800; plus 2% of $180,000 = $3,600; plus 3% of $640,000 = $19,200; plus 4% of $500,000 = $20,000; plus 5% of the remaining $500,000 = $25,000. Total $69,600. Every ABSD figure below sits on top of a BSD figure computed exactly this way.

The count is where most buyers get their own position wrong. IRAS states four rules, and each one catches people.

• Any interest counts as a whole property. As long as a buyer owns any interest in a property, that property is included in the count. A 1% share counts the same as sole ownership. Owning 20% of one property and all of another makes the count two.
• Gifted and inherited property counts. Property acquired or transferred by gift, inheritance, release, settlement, declaration of trust where the beneficial owners are identifiable, letter of authority or exchange is included in the count. A flat inherited from a parent and never occupied still moves the buyer up a tier.
• Overseas residential property is excluded. A house in London or Mumbai does not affect the Singapore count.
• Property held on trust counts against the beneficiary. If A purchases a residential property to be held on trust for an identifiable beneficial owner B, the property is counted for B.

Where two or more parties of different profiles acquire jointly, IRAS applies the highest applicable ABSD rate to the entire purchase price or market value. Not a blended rate. Not a rate apportioned by share. A Singapore citizen buying her first home jointly with a foreign spouse pays 60% on the whole consideration, and the fact that her own rate would be nil is worth nothing.

Example 1 — a Singapore permanent resident buying a second property at $1,800,000

BSD: $1,800 + $3,600 + $19,200 + $20,000, then 5% of the remaining $300,000 = $15,000. BSD is $59,600. ABSD at the permanent-resident second-property rate of 30%: 30% of $1,800,000 = $540,000. Total stamp duty $599,600. The same buyer one property earlier would have paid 5%, or $90,000. The step from first to second property costs $540,000 − $90,000 = $450,000.

Example 2 — a foreigner buying a $2,000,000 condominium

BSD is $69,600, computed in the section above. ABSD at 60%: 60% of $2,000,000 = $1,200,000. Total stamp duty $1,269,600, which is 63.48% of the price. IRAS publishes the same computation in its own worked example for a foreigner buying at a market value of $2 million. The buyer’s nationality is irrelevant unless it appears on the free trade agreement list below.

Example 3 — a mixed-profile joint purchase at $2,500,000

A Singapore citizen who owns no residential property buys with her permanent-resident husband, who already owns one. Her own rate would be nil. His would be 30%. The highest applicable rate applies to the entire value: 30% of $2,500,000 = $750,000. BSD is $1,800 + $3,600 + $19,200 + $20,000 + 5% of $1,000,000 ($50,000) = $94,600. Total $844,600. Buying in his sole name would not fix it either — the count follows him.

Example 4 — a married couple upgrading, and getting the ABSD back

Two Singapore citizens who between them own one residential property buy a second at $2,200,000, in both their names only. BSD: $1,800 + $3,600 + $19,200 + $20,000 + 5% of $700,000 ($35,000) = $79,600. ABSD at the citizen second-property rate of 20%: 20% of $2,200,000 = $440,000, paid on stamping. They sell the first property within six months of the date of purchase of the second and claim the refund. The $440,000 comes back. The $79,600 does not. If the sale of the first property completes in month seven, the $440,000 is gone.

Most of what circulates as "ABSD planning" is not a relief at all. These four are the routes IRAS actually publishes, each with its own statutory instrument.

1. 01The married-couple refund, on selling the first property within six months

   Governed by the Stamp Duties (Spouses) (Remission of ABSD) Rules, G.N. No. S 217/2013. The second property must be purchased in both names of the couple only, and the couple must include a Singapore citizen spouse. ABSD is paid on stamping and refunded afterwards.

2. 02The upfront married-couple remission, where neither spouse owns anything

   Where a married couple includes a Singapore citizen spouse, neither spouse owns any residential property, and the property is bought in both their names only, IRAS grants full remission — the ABSD need not be paid at all upon stamping. This is the relief that matters most to a citizen married to a foreigner buying a first home together.

3. 03The ABSD (Trust) refund, within six months of execution

   The 65% must be paid upfront. A refund may then be claimed of the difference between the 65% and the ABSD rate applicable to the beneficial owner with the highest applicable ABSD profile. The application must be made to IRAS within six months after the date of execution of the instrument. Remission is under the Stamp Duties (Trusts for Identifiable Individual Beneficiary) (Remission of ABSD) Rules 2022, S 367/2022.

4. 04The matrimonial proceedings remission

   IRAS maintains a dedicated remission for transfers made pursuant to matrimonial proceedings, covering BSD, ABSD and SSD. This is the route for a genuine division of matrimonial assets, and it is distinct from a voluntary part-share transfer between spouses who remain married.

The six conditions on the married-couple refund

1. 01The married couple did not own an interest in more than one residential property each at the date of purchase of the second residential property.
2. 02ABSD has been paid on the second residential property.
3. 03The first residential property, whether co-owned or separately owned, is sold within six months after the date of purchase of the second property if it was completed at the time of purchase, or within six months after the issue date of the Temporary Occupation Permit or Certificate of Statutory Completion, whichever is earlier, if it was uncompleted.
4. 04The couple remains married and there is no change of ownership in the second property at the time of sale of the first.
5. 05The couple has not purchased or acquired any other residential property since the second property.
6. 06The refund application is made within six months after the date of sale of the first property.

For "Sale & Purchase — Purchase/Acquisition" e-Stamping forms submitted on or after 2 July 2023, IRAS refunds the ABSD automatically within six weeks of the stamping of the sale of the first property, provided the purchasers declared their intention to sell and claimed the refund in the e-Stamping form. Earlier stampings need a manual application through myTax Portal.

Two narrower reliefs sit alongside these. For purchases of a second residential property on or after 16 February 2024, a single Singapore citizen aged 55 and above may claim a refund of the ABSD paid on the second property under the ABSD Concession for Single Singapore Citizen Seniors; no other buyer group qualifies. And a partial-interest remission reduces ABSD from 30% to 20% where a Singapore citizen who owns two properties acquires a spouse’s half-share in one of those two properties.

Five jurisdictions are treated as Singapore for ABSD purposes. The list has not changed since 2013.

The relief is a remission, not an exemption. It is delivered by the Stamp Duties (Free Trade Agreements) (Remission of ABSD) Rules 2013, G.N. No. S 214/2013, made under section 74 of the Stamp Duties Act and deemed to have come into operation on 12 January 2013. The underlying treaties are the United States–Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which identifies a US national by reference to Title III of the US Immigration and Nationality Act, and the EFTA–Singapore Free Trade Agreement for the four European states.

The effect is that ABSD is remitted down to the amount that would have been chargeable had the qualifying foreigner been a Singapore citizen. A first property attracts nothing, a second 20%, a third 30%. A qualifying foreigner who is also a Singapore permanent resident receives the citizen treatment, not the 5% permanent-resident rate. Singapore Statutes Online records four versions of the Rules — 12 January 2013, then S 950/2021, S 368/2022 and S 245/2023. The 2021 and 2023 amendments only updated cross-references into the First Schedule; the 2022 amendment extended the relief to qualifying foreigners who are identifiable individual beneficiaries under a trust.

Relief is claimed by stamping through myTax Portal to obtain the remission certificate. Where a trust instrument is involved, a manual remission application must be submitted with the trust instrument and the option or sale and purchase agreement. No other nationality has any ABSD relief: Indian, mainland Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, British and Australian nationals all pay the full 60%.

Stamp duty is payable within 14 days after the date of execution of the document if it is executed in Singapore, or within 30 days after it is first received in Singapore if it was first executed outside Singapore. That is the deadline whether or not a remission application is pending.

For a trust purchase, this ordering is expensive. The full 65% must be paid inside the fourteen-day window and is only recovered on a successful application made within six months of execution. On a $2,000,000 property that is $1,300,000 of ABSD funded upfront, on top of $69,600 of BSD, before a cent comes back. A trustee who cannot fund that number should not sign the option.

Where a remission is claimed on the basis of a stated intention — most commonly the married-couple refund — the intention has to be declared in the e-Stamping form at the time of stamping, not asserted later.

Section 33A(5) carves out an arrangement carried out for bona fide commercial reasons which did not have as one of its main purposes the avoidance or reduction of duty. Separately, evasion of duty is an offence under section 62 of the Stamp Duties Act, carrying a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to three years, or both. IRAS has prosecuted buyers for giving false and misleading information during a stamp duty audit, and refers property agents involved in avoidance arrangements to the Council for Estate Agencies.