Buying Vacant Land or Development Sites

A) Make a legal requisition on the property

Once the property is transferred to you, you will be liable for any outstanding property tax including arrears that should have been paid by the previous owner. Thus, it is important for your lawyer to make a legal requisition to check on any outstanding property tax.

B) Apportion property tax between you and the seller

If there is an outstanding tax amount, your HDB officer or lawyer will assist you to settle the outstanding amount with the seller. Your HDB officer or lawyer will also apportion the current year tax between the seller and yourself. IRAS does not apportion property tax liabilities between the parties.

C) File a Notice of Transfer to IRAS

The seller's lawyer will file a Notice of Transfer to IRAS within 1 month of the sale or property transfer .

For correspondence and payment, IRAS communicates with the owner who is listed first in the Notice of Transfer filed by the seller's lawyer. If there is a preference among owners on who IRAS should correspond with, please inform your lawyer. Your lawyer will then liaise with the seller's lawyer to ensure the Notice of Transfer is filed correctly.

Once the Notice of Transfer has been processed by IRAS, the record of ownership will be updated for property tax purposes.

A) Update your address

IRAS sends the property tax bill or notice to:

• The address listed on your identity card; or
• The corporate owner's registered office address listed in the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) records.

To receive all your correspondence promptly, please ensure that your address is updated. Please see change mailing address if you need to update your address.

B) Receive Acknowledgement Notice on Transfer of Property

IRAS will issue an Acknowledgement Notice to inform you about the updated record of ownership.

If there is any outstanding tax for your property, please arrange for payment to be made.

C) Calculate your Property Tax

Property tax is calculated by multiplying the Annual Value (AV) of your land with the prevailing property tax rate. The AV is assessed at 5% of the estimated freehold land value. The current tax rate is 10%. You can use this calculator to calculate your tax payable.

For land purchased in an en bloc sale, please refer to the e-Tax guide on  Property Tax Treatment of En Bloc Sales Sites (PDF, 83KB).

D) Arrange to pay your Property Tax

Payment of property tax must be made within 1 month from the date of Acknowledgement Notice. You are encouraged to pay your property tax by  GIRO as you will enjoy up to 12 interest-free monthly installments.

Alternatively, you can use any of the modes of payment available to pay your property tax.

E) File Property Tax Claims

You can apply for Property Tax Remission for Land Under Development for an Owner-Occupied House if you satisfy the conditions.