If your stay for business in Singapore was for less than 60 days you are not subject to personal income tax, but this would only be if you are working. Since you are not working, the number of days you are in Singapore is irrelevant.thrilled wrote:Hello all,
First of all, yes, I will seek for professional, legal advice and I am posting here just to get a feedback from others who were/are in similar situation.
I am not living/working in Singapore and just pop over there few times a year - length of my stay in total (a sum of) is less than 60 days per the calendar year.
I have a personal bank account in Singapore and I would like to transfer money to it (since I want to diversify my assets across multiple banks in different countries). The money is not earned in Singapore.
Now, two scenarios that I would like to know an answer for each:
1. The money is transferred by a locally registered company (think of it like a TransferWise, Stripe etc.). This could look like it's coming from a Singapore (?)
2. The money is transferred with an international transfer from overseas.
For each of these scenarios, should this money be declared and taxed?
So you are saying, even if you are a tax resident (don't work in Singapore but staying more than 183 days per calendar day - I understand this is how you automatically getting a "tax resident" status in SG) they cannot tax any money that you put into a personal bank account in Singapore?Strong Eagle wrote:If your stay for business in Singapore was for less than 60 days you are not subject to personal income tax, but this would only be if you are working. Since you are not working, the number of days you are in Singapore is irrelevant.
Yes, that is essentially correct. There are two aspects to taxation that are relatively universal and codified in tax treaty arrangements.thrilled wrote:Hello and appreciate your reply - you always give helpful feedback to others!
So you are saying, even if you are a tax resident (don't work in Singapore but staying more than 183 days per calendar day - I understand this is how you automatically getting a "tax resident" status in SG) they cannot tax any money that you put into a personal bank account in Singapore?Strong Eagle wrote:If your stay for business in Singapore was for less than 60 days you are not subject to personal income tax, but this would only be if you are working. Since you are not working, the number of days you are in Singapore is irrelevant.
I foresee to register a business in Singapore this year (still doing research on whether to do it in SG or perhaps HK or even BVI). Now, assuming I would have a business here but work remotely from another country (so not living here and not being a tax resident), will that change the situation? Will I need to pay taxes on this money?Strong Eagle wrote: Yes, that is essentially correct. There are two aspects to taxation that are relatively universal and codified in tax treaty arrangements.
You pay tax on active income where you are earning the money. Active income is salaries and fees for work performed. If you were working in Singapore, it wouldn't matter whether you deposited your salary in Singapore or Timbuktu... you pay tax on your reported earnings... not on money you put in the bank... hell, you may drink your paycheck up every week and not have any money to put in any bank... you still pay taxes on income earned.
The other aspect of taxation is passive income... income earned from investments such as property, stocks and bonds, etc. In general, taxes on passive income are paid in the country where the investment resides. So, if you've got a set of 400 unit apartment buildings throwing off cash in the USA, you pay taxes in the USA on passive income. You are then free to take all your profits and deposit them in a Singapore bank with no additional taxation.
I had this bank account for 3 years or so.PNGMK wrote:How long have you had those bank accounts? Large deposits (> $30,000) will raise questions about the source of funds IME. Be prepared to explain.
Tax is not the issue, having your funds locked up. SE Singapore is moving quickly away from being the Switzerland of Asia. Every day banks are rejecting customers, shutting down accounts and posting cheques out. Every 6 months the society account I run gets a request for validation of foreign signatories residency status. Even my damn Amex card account does the same yearly now. My Saxo account the same. People who have accounts here as non residents are genuinely concerned and trying to find alternative countries to open accounts in. Funnily enough Australia is turning into a place where they can open accounts quickly. The issue for the banks here is running a compliance check on a customer costs money - it's cheaper to shut the account down. I'm sure you know it's the same in the USA. One friend there has had 6 accounts closed down in the last few years.
I suspect the OP will time out - at some point his account will be too much compliance cost to run for the bank.
As mentioned, the account was opened around 3 years ago. Well, if one day they will message me, the first thing I will do is request to talk with their manager and fly over there immediately. It's not a problem for me to explain the source of the money and the reason I want to be it on my Singaporean bank account. Hope this will be enough for them.Strong Eagle wrote: Again, your biggest problem will be the "know your customer" rules. If you have a long standing relationship with a bank, not such a problem. If not, they really can't easily tell if you are smurfing, for example, and it's easier to just reject your deposits rather than doing extensive research on you... unless you have a lot of money.
WHAT MONEY?thrilled wrote:I foresee to register a business in Singapore this year (still doing research on whether to do it in SG or perhaps HK or even BVI). Now, assuming I would have a business here but work remotely from another country (so not living here and not being a tax resident), will that change the situation? Will I need to pay taxes on this money?
QFP.thrilled wrote:Hello all,
First of all, yes, I will seek for professional, legal advice and I am posting here just to get a feedback from others who were/are in similar situation.
I am not living/working in Singapore and just pop over there few times a year - length of my stay in total (a sum of) is less than 60 days per the calendar year.
I have a personal bank account in Singapore and I would like to transfer money to it (since I want to diversify my assets across multiple banks in different countries). The money is not earned in Singapore.
Now, two scenarios that I would like to know an answer for each:
1. The money is transferred by a locally registered company (think of it like a TransferWise, Stripe etc.). This could look like it's coming from a Singapore (?)
2. The money is transferred with an international transfer from overseas.
For each of these scenarios, should this money be declared and taxed?
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