SINGAPORE - Most owner-occupied homes will have to pay less in property tax next year, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said on Tuesday.
Under the new Progressive Property Tax Rates regime announced during Budget 2013, all owner-occupied HDB flats and three quarters of owner-occupied private homes - or 95 per cent of owner-occupied homes - will see lower property tax bills.
Taking into account non-owner-occupied homes as well, 80 per cent of all homes will pay lower property tax in 2014.
With the new property tax structure, the Annual Value (AV) exemption threshold for which no tax applies will be $8,000, up from $6,000 previously. Owners who live in their own homes will not have to pay property tax on the first $8,000 of the Annual Value (AV) of their properties from Jan 1, 2014.
The new property tax structure also increases the progressivity of the property tax structure by taxing properties with higher AVs more.
A property's AV, which Iras reviews annually, is based on the estimated annual market rent of the property if it was to be let out. This is then used as a basis to compute the property tax payable.
The AV of three to five-room HDB flats will be revised next year, as market rents for these flats have increased by about 3 per cent since the last revision in January this year.
There will be no change to the AV of the other types of flats as rents on these flats have remained largely the same.
This means that all one and two-room HDB owner-occupiers will continue to pay no property tax.
Other HDB owner-occupiers will enjoy property tax savings ranging from $28 to $40 in 2014, IRAS added.
In total, 80 per cent of all homes will face lower property tax in 2014.
The property tax payable for HDB owner-occupied flats in 2014 are as follows:
AV and Property Tax for Owner-Occupied Private Residential Property
The market rents of 70 per cent of private residential properties over the past year have remained largely the same since the last AV revision. Only 30 per cent saw an increase in AV. Under the new property tax structure, 74 per cent of private owner-occupiers will pay less tax in 2014.
Property tax rates for non-owner-occupied residential properties with AVs above $30,000 will be increased gradually from January 1.
With this change, 74 per cent of non-owner-occupied private residential properties and HDB flats will have higher property taxes after applying the new tax rates on their 2014 AVs.
Property owners will receive their property tax notices and bills by the end of this year, and are reminded to pay their property tax by January 31.
Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013
Source: AsiaOne