Need International Tax Advice

[Strong Eagle]

I have companies incorporated in Thailand and Malaysia as well as Singapore. What with tax rules covering the movement of money over the borders, my business structuring and planning is becoming more complex than ever.

I need a person who is familiar with the best way to structure business operations in the three aformentioned countries, obviously for tax minimization purposes.

Please drop me a note if you can provide assistance.

[tanzhiwei]

Hi good day Strong Eagle,

Great to hear that you have multiple businesses.
So interesting! Care to share more about the businesses you do?

Anyway, more about taxation planning (from my 2 cents worth),

1. U can check out Section 10 (25) of the Income Tax Act to find out more about Foreign Sourced Income.
This gives the definition of "income received in Singapore from outside Singapore".

2. It depends on the nature of your business income. There are certain Tax exemptions for certain foreign sourced income. The details are spelt out in Section 13 (9) & (12) of the Income Tax Act.

3. It depends on the business structure of your companies.
Eg. Do they qualify for Group Relief?

4. There are Tax Treaty Relief under Section 50A of Income Tax Act that may be claimed under certain conditions.
However, these tax treaty reliefs are also dependent on the prevailing agreements Singapore has with Malaysia and Thailand.
These reliefs are meant for the purpose of avoiding double taxation.

Unfortunately,
- The above mentioned really do go into alot of technical details and only for relevance in Singapore. Perhaps you might want to consider looking into all the details with a Subject Matter Expert to ensure you have covered all grounds with regards to tax planning.
- Tax Laws are territorial while i'm not familiar with Malaysia's and Thailand's tax laws.

I hope the information is helpful to strengthen with your future strategic business planning. Cheers. =D

[Strong Eagle]

I provide project managers for large scale IT infrastructure and software projects.

I am aware of the foreign income exclusion in Singapore but that is only part of it.

Besides corporate income tax in each country, both TH and MY also have a 15 percent repatriation tax to take money out of the country but their are exclusions. Each has a significant capital investment requirement in order to get work permits.

Add to that the fact that I may receive payment for work in one on the other countries or in Singapore and I may pay my project managers either in Singapore or the other country.

The number of tax combinations becomes mind boggling which is why I want an SME, as you say.