IRAS | Not Ordinarily Resident (NOR) Scheme

The NOR scheme has ceased. The last NOR status granted will run / be valid from YA 2020 to YA 2024. Individuals who have qualified for the NOR status will continue to enjoy NOR tax concessions until their NOR status expires, if they continue to meet the conditions of the concessions.

On this page:

Yearly application of NOR tax concessions

If the application form is not submitted by the due date, no tax concession would be allowed to you.

Due date to apply for NOR status / tax concessions

During the annual filing cycle	Due date to apply for
During the annual filing cycle	NOR status for YA 2020 to 2024 (one-time application together with annual tax return)	NOR concessions (yearly application together with annual tax return)
Year 2021	Not Applicable	15 Apr 2021 (paper filing) 18 Apr 2021 (e-Filing)
Year 2022	Not Applicable	15 Apr 2022 (paper filing) 18 Apr 2022 (e-Filing)
Year 2023	Not Applicable	15 Apr 2023 (paper filing) 18 Apr 2023 (e-Filing)
Year 2024	Not Applicable	15 Apr 2024 (paper filing) 18 Apr 2024 (e-Filing)

Late application for NOR status / tax concessions

You will not enjoy tax concession(s) for certain YAs if you submit your application late.

Example:

If you file on	NOR status applied for	NOR concessions applied for	NOR status granted for	NOR concession granted for
8 Nov 2020	YA 2020 to 2024	YA 2020	YA 2020 to 2024	No concession
14 Apr 2021	YA 2020 to 2024	YA 2020 & 2021	YA 2020 to 2024	YA 2021
8 Nov 2021	YA 2020 to 2024	YA 2021	YA 2020 to 2024	No concession
10 Apr 2023	YA 2020 to 2024	YA 2023	YA 2020 to 2024	YA 2023
14 Apr 2025	YA 2020 to 2024	YA 2024	YA 2020 to 2024	No concession

Tax concessions under the NOR scheme

If you are accorded the NOR status, you can enjoy the following tax concessions during the NOR period as long as you are a tax resident in the respective YA and the qualifying conditions are fulfilled:

1. Time apportionment of Singapore employment income

Under this concession, you will not be taxed on the portion of your Singapore employment income that corresponds to the number of days you have spent outside Singapore for business reasons, as a resident Singapore employee.

Qualifying conditions

You must have spent at least 90 days outside Singapore for business reasons; and
Your total Singapore employment income must be at least $160,000. If the tax on the apportioned income is less than 10% of your total employment income, you will still be subject to a tax of 10% of your total employment income.

Income not apportionable

You cannot apportion:

Director's fees; and
Any amount of income tax payable in Singapore that is borne, directly or indirectly, by your employer.

Calculating number of days outside Singapore

Your presence in Singapore for any part of a day shall be counted as one day in Singapore.

Alternatively, as an administrative concession, you may choose to count only the day of arrival in Singapore as a day in Singapore (i.e. the day of departure from Singapore will be counted as a day outside Singapore). If you have left Singapore and returned on the same day, this will be considered as a day in Singapore.

You can enter your travel days in the NOR Travel Calculator (XLS, 71KB). The NOR travel calculator will compute the number of days outside Singapore for you.

Example 1: Calculating number of days outside Singapore

You left Singapore on 23 May and returned on 26 May. 23 May is not counted as a day in Singapore. The number of days outside Singapore is three days (23 May to 25 May).

2. Tax exemption of employer's contribution to non-mandatory overseas pension fund or social security scheme

Under this concession, if you are a resident Singapore employee, tax exemption will be given to you on contribution made by your employer to any non-mandatory overseas contribution scheme subject to qualifying conditions.

This is provided that your employer does not claim a deduction for the contribution. The amount of exemption is subject to a cap.

Qualifying conditions

You are not a Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident; and
Your Singapore employment income must be at least $160,000; and
Your employer must not claim a deduction on contribution made to non-mandatory overseas pension or provident funds and social security schemes up to the NOR cap.

For the avoidance of doubt. condition (3) is met where:
1. the contribution is borne by a foreign company and is not charged or recharged to your Singapore employer, as no deduction on the contribution is taken by your Singapore employer; or
2. your employer is a tax-exempt body or representative office that is not required to file a tax return, as no deduction on the contribution is taken by your employer.

Example 2: Contributions to welfare fund set-up to supplement the national insurance scheme run by the home country government

Your employer contributes to a pension welfare fund that was set up to supplement the national insurance scheme run by the government of your home country.

The contribution is not mandatory but your employer participates in the scheme according to social norms.

Generally, such contributions made by employers in line with social practice are not considered mandatory. You can claim NOR tax concession on employer's contribution to non-mandatory overseas pension fund or social security scheme subject to a cap, provided all the qualifying conditions are met.

Employees of investment holding company

If you are employed by an investment holding company, you can enjoy the tax concession on the contributions made by your employer to any non-mandatory overseas contribution scheme on or after 2014, provided your employer does not claim any deduction for such contributions under section 14(1)(e). In this regard, your employer is required to state upfront in its tax return for the relevant year of assessment that it is not claiming any deduction for such contributions under section 14(1)(e).

Employees of service company

If you are employed by a service company, you will continue to enjoy this tax concession provided your company prepares its tax computation based on "normal trading company" ("NTC") basis from YA 2016 (i.e. for accounting period ending in 2015) onwards.

Employees of a service company that adopts the "cost plus mark-up" ("CM") basis of tax assessment will not be able to enjoy this tax concession after YA 2015 (i.e. for accounting period ending in 2014).

Example 3: Service company adopting "Cost plus mark-up" ("CM") basis of tax assessment

You are employed by a service company that adopts the CM basis of tax assessment and its accounting period ends on 31 Jan.

Your employer contributed $2,000 and $1,000 to your non-mandatory overseas contribution scheme on 31 Jan 2014 and 31 Aug 2014 respectively. Your employer did not claim a deduction for the contribution.

You can enjoy tax exemption on the contribution of $2,000 made on 31 Jan 2014.

However, as the contribution of $1,000 on 31 Aug 2014 was made during your company's accounting period ending 2015 (Basis period 1 Feb 2014 to 31 Jan 2015, which is after YA 2015) and your company adopts the CM basis of tax assessment, you would not be able to enjoy the NOR tax concession on the contribution of $1,000.

Example 4: Service company changes its basis of tax assessment from "Cost plus mark-up" ("CM") to "Normal Trading Company" ("NTC")

Same scenario as in Example 2 (above) except that the employer decides to change its basis of tax computation from CM to NTC with effect from Year of Assessment 2016 (basis period 1 Feb 2014 to 31 Jan 2015).

In this case, you can enjoy the NOR tax concession on the contribution of $1,000 made on 31 Aug 2014 and hence you will not be taxed on the total contribution of $3,000.

Calculating the NOR cap

The NOR cap is determined based on the total employer contribution to an approved mandatory or a non-mandatory overseas contribution scheme or to both.

It is computed based on CPF (Central Provident Fund) capping rules as if the employer had made contribution to the CPF for a Singapore citizen as required under the CPF Act.