Not Ordinarily Resident (NOR) scheme

Qualifying for NOR scheme

To enjoy the tax concessions, your application for the NOR status must be approved. To qualify as a NOR, you must be a non-resident in the past three years of assessment (YA); and a Singapore resident in the YA in which you first qualify as a NOR.

If you meet these qualifying conditions, you will be accorded the NOR status for five consecutive YAs, starting from the YA in which you first meet the criteria. As the NOR scheme will cease after 2020, the last NOR status granted will run / be valid from YA 2020 to YA 2024.

You can use the NOR status calculator (XLS, 92KB) to check your eligibility.

You can qualify for the NOR scheme from any YA if you meet the following criteria:

• You are a tax resident for that YA; and
• You are a non-resident for three consecutive YAs immediately before that.
  
  The last 5-year NOR status is from YA 2020 to YA 2024.
  
  If you wish to revoke the three-year administrative concession for an earlier YA and be taxed as a non-resident, your application must come in within four years from the YA following the year in which you have been assessed as a resident. If your application to revoke the three-year administrative concession is submitted after four years from the YA following the year in which you have been assessed as a resident, your application for the NOR scheme and tax concession will not be allowed.

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

1. You must have spent at least 90 days outside Singapore for business reasons; and
2. 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:

1. Director's fees; and
2. 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, 44KB). The NOR travel calculator will compute the number of days outside Singapore for you.

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

1. You are not a Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident; and
2. Your Singapore employment income must be at least $160,000; and
3. 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.

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).

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.

Yearly application of NOR tax concessions

If you have been accorded the NOR status, you are required to submit the Application for Not Ordinarily Resident (NOR Scheme) (DOC, 309KB), Appendices and Form IR8A/Appendix 8A/8B with your annual tax return by 15 Apr (or 18 Apr for e-Filing) each year to claim the NOR tax concessions.

The NOR Appendices A/B have to be certified by an authorised personnel of the company. If you are an authorised signatory of the company and are claiming NOR tax concession, your Appendices A/ B must be certified by another authorised personnel.

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

Late application for NOR status / tax concessions

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

Example:

After the five-year qualifying period

The NOR status will lapse after the five-year qualifying period. You can apply for the NOR status anew if you meet the qualifying conditions again.

In considering the qualifying three YAs that you need to be a non-resident, all YAs for which you are a non-resident, including any such YA that may fall within an earlier five-year qualifying period for which you were accorded the NOR status, will be taken into account in deciding if you qualify as a NOR taxpayer for a subsequent five-year period.