The Business Times
business-time-50

‘Economic substance’ matters in taxing of foreign asset sales

google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
    • Foreign-headquartered MNEs in Singapore would certainly fall within the scope of the proposed tax change, but the impact could vary widely.
    • Foreign-headquartered MNEs in Singapore would certainly fall within the scope of the proposed tax change, but the impact could vary widely. PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN, BT

    Daniel Ho, Chua Kong Ping and Loh Eng Kiat

    Published Thu, Jul 13, 2023 · 05:00 AM

    “SINGAPORE does not tax capital gains” – while this is often cited as a positive feature of Singapore’s tax regime, soon it may no longer be true in certain instances.

    On Jun 6, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) issued a call for public feedback on the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2023. It flagged a key proposed amendment: to tax gains from the sale of foreign assets that are received in Singapore by businesses “without economic substance” locally.

    While this proposed revision can result in additional taxes, it is not necessarily an attempt to increase Singapore’s tax base, and should not be conflated with the government’s ongoing study of introducing a global minimum tax.

    TaxesInternational tax reform

    TRENDING NOW

    Liang’s net worth more than doubled to US$36 billion, from around US$16.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

    DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng becomes the world’s richest AI model creator

    Employees may grumble about long hours, difficult clients or demanding deadlines, but often the biggest push factor is how they are treated.

    What makes a good job? Feeling that you matter

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (far left) and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent listening as President Donald Trump (centre) speaks to the media on the sidelines of a Nato summit in Ankara, July 8, 2026.

    A new kind of ‘ceasefire’ between US and Iran where talks, strikes are part of the same process

    Andrew Burych, managing partner and head of East Asia for Brookfield’s real estate group, is still bullish on industrial assets in Singapore.

    Brookfield eyes further Singapore acquisitions after investing close to S$900 million

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More