Singapore Buyer's Stamp Duty and ABSD: rates for every buyer profile

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Kooky

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Two people can agree to buy identical flats in the same Singapore block, at the same price, on the same day, and owe the state very different sums. One may pay a duty of about 3% of the price. The other may pay more than 60%. The difference has nothing to do with the home. It comes from who the buyer is and how many homes that buyer already owns.

That is the logic of the two duties a buyer meets in Singapore: Buyer's Stamp Duty, known as BSD, which every purchaser pays on a sliding scale, and Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty, or ABSD, which depends on the buyer's profile. This guide sets out the rates in force, as published by the Ministry of Finance, shows how each is applied step by step, works through examples at several price points, and says plainly which practical details the sources used here do not settle. It describes the general rules only: the duty on a real purchase depends on the facts of that purchase.

Ministry of Finance: BSD rates from 15 February 2023, ABSD rates from 27 April 2023.

Three duties attached to a property document

The Ministry of Finance defines stamp duty as a tax on dutiable documents relating to immovable property in Singapore and to stocks or shares. The wording matters. The duty is not charged on the home as an object, or on the buyer's income. It is charged on the document that records the deal.

According to the ministry's stamp duty policy page, last updated on 3 November 2025, three stamp duties apply to immovable property. Buyer's Stamp Duty is levied on all purchases of property, whether residential, commercial or industrial. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty is applied on top of BSD on purchases of residential property. Seller's Stamp Duty falls on the other side of the transaction, on certain sales made within a holding period, and is outside the scope of this guide.

The ministry also states what the duty is computed on: the consideration or the market value of the asset, whichever is higher. In a sale between unrelated parties at the going price, the two are normally the same figure. Where a property changes hands for less than it is worth, the rule means the duty follows the market value and not the lower price written into the document. A buyer cannot reduce the duty simply by agreeing a low figure.

The same page explains the purpose. The ministry describes stamp duty as serving as a wealth tax or as a property market cooling measure. BSD does the first job: its rates rise with the value of the property. ABSD does the second: the ministry says it aims to moderate investment demand for residential property, and that its latest revision was made to manage that demand and to give priority to housing for owner-occupation.

How Buyer's Stamp Duty is calculated

BSD is a marginal scale, built like an income tax table. Each rate applies only to the slice of the price that falls inside its band, never to the whole price. The scale below is the one the Ministry of Finance announced on 14 February 2023 for properties acquired on or after 15 February 2023. The ministry's policy page records no later change to it.

The bands add up in a way worth keeping in mind. The first two slices take the scale to S$360,000. The third takes it to S$1 million. The fourth ends at S$1.5 million, and the fifth at S$3 million. So a residential purchase is taxed at 4% only on the part between S$1 million and S$1.5 million, at 5% only on the part between S$1.5 million and S$3 million, and at 6% only on whatever lies above S$3 million.

The Central Provident Fund Board gives an example in its guide to housing expenses, published on 28 April 2026. For a resale flat sold at S$700,000, the first S$180,000 is charged at 1%, giving S$1,800. The next S$180,000 is charged at 2%, giving S$3,600. The remaining S$340,000 is charged at 3%, giving S$10,200. The total is S$15,600. The board adds two details: BSD is rounded down to the nearest dollar, and there is a minimum duty of S$1.

The same method can be carried up the scale. The figures that follow are worked examples computed from the published rates, each assuming a residential purchase at a price equal to market value; they are illustrations, not market data.

• At S$1 million, the first three slices are used in full: S$1,800, S$3,600 and 3% of S$640,000, which is S$19,200. BSD comes to S$24,600.
• At S$1.5 million, the 4% slice adds S$20,000 on the S$500,000 above S$1 million. BSD comes to S$44,600.
• At S$2 million, the 5% slice adds S$25,000 on the S$500,000 above S$1.5 million. BSD comes to S$69,600.
• At S$3 million, the 5% slice is used in full and adds S$75,000 to the S$44,600 already reached at S$1.5 million. BSD comes to S$119,600.
• At S$4 million, the 6% tier adds S$60,000 on the S$1 million above S$3 million. BSD comes to S$179,600.

Read as a share of the price, BSD in these examples moves from about 2.2% at S$700,000 to about 3% at S$1.5 million, about 4% at S$3 million and about 4.5% at S$4 million. The headline rates of 5% and 6% are never the rate on the whole purchase, because the cheaper slices at the bottom are always charged first.

The 2023 change and non-residential property

The scale in use today is the result of the Ministry of Finance's announcement of 14 February 2023. Before it, the residential scale stopped at 4%. The 5% and 6% tiers were new. A buyer of a home at or below S$1.5 million therefore pays exactly what the earlier scale would have charged; the increase is felt only on the part of a price above that level.

A worked example shows the size of the change. Under a scale ending at 4%, a S$3 million home would carry 4% on everything above S$1 million, which is S$80,000, added to the S$24,600 reached at S$1 million: S$104,600 in all. Under the current scale the same home carries S$119,600. The difference is S$15,000, which is the extra 1% on the S$1.5 million between S$1.5 million and S$3 million.

For non-residential property, the ministry's release says the top rate had been 3%. From 15 February 2023 the part of a price between S$1 million and S$1.5 million is charged at 4%, and the part above S$1.5 million at 5%. There is no 6% tier for non-residential property.

The release also set a transitional rule, which shows how the date of a purchase is fixed for duty purposes. The earlier rates still applied where three conditions were all met: the Option to Purchase had been granted by the seller on or before 14 February 2023; it was exercised on or before 7 March 2023, or within its validity period if that ended sooner; and it had not been varied on or after 15 February 2023. In other words, a deal already under option on the eve of the change kept the old rates only if it then went ahead promptly and unchanged.

Because BSD is levied on every purchase of property, a buyer of a shop, an office or a factory unit pays it too. Only the top of the scale differs. Up to S$3 million, the two columns of the table give the same result: a worked example at S$2 million produces S$69,600 for a non-residential property, the same as for a home.

Above S$3 million the paths separate. Taking a non-residential purchase at S$4 million as a worked example, the first S$1.5 million carries S$44,600 and the remaining S$2.5 million is charged at 5%, which is S$125,000. BSD comes to S$169,600, against S$179,600 for a residential property at the same price. The S$10,000 gap is the 1% that the residential scale adds above S$3 million.

The larger difference lies elsewhere. The Ministry of Finance describes ABSD as applying to purchases of residential property. A purchase of purely commercial or industrial property is charged BSD alone, whoever the buyer is.

Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty by buyer profile

ABSD was introduced on 8 December 2011, according to the Ministry of Finance, and its rates were last revised on 27 April 2023. Where BSD asks what the property is worth, ABSD asks two other questions: what is the buyer's residency status, and how many residential properties does the buyer already own.

The current rates were announced on 26 April 2023 in a joint release by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Development and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. They replaced a schedule that had applied from 16 December 2021.

Three things stand out. A Singapore Citizen buying a first home pays no ABSD at all, and a Permanent Resident buying a first home pays 5%; neither rate moved in April 2023. The rates for second and later homes rose by three to five percentage points. And the rate for foreigners doubled, from 30% to 60%, while the rate for entities and trusts went from 35% to 65%.

The joint release explained who would feel the change. On 2022 data, first-home purchases by citizens and permanent residents made up about 90% of residential transactions, and the higher rates were estimated to affect about 10%. The stated aim was to promote a sustainable property market and to give priority to housing for owner-occupation by managing investment demand in advance.

As with BSD, there was a transitional rule. The earlier ABSD rates applied where the Option to Purchase had been granted on or before 26 April 2023, was exercised on or before 17 May 2023 or within its validity period if that ended sooner, and had not been varied on or after 27 April 2023.

Counting properties and buying jointly

Since the rate depends on whether a purchase is a first, second or third property, the way properties are counted decides a great deal. The Ministry of Finance's release is explicit: the count includes properties owned wholly, partially or jointly with others. A share in a home counts as a home. A buyer who holds a part interest in one residential property, for instance as a co-owner with a relative, is buying a second property when purchasing another, and is charged at the second-property rate for that profile.

In practice this rule means the profile of every person named on a purchase matters, not only that of the person paying most of the price. Take, as a worked example, two Singapore Citizens buying a home together. One owns no property. The other already owns one. Read on its own terms, the rule gives a rate of 20% for the purchase, because that is the rate for the co-buyer for whom it is a second property. The first buyer's 0% does not dilute it.

The same reading applies across residency status. A purchase is a first property for a citizen at 0% and for a Permanent Resident at 5%; if the two buy jointly, the higher of the rates applicable to them is the one the rule points to, unless a remission applies. The ministry's releases refer to remissions for married couples without setting out their full conditions, which is why the next section matters for couples and why the outcome of a joint purchase always depends on the case.

One home, six different bills

The effect of the profile is easiest to see by holding the home constant. The worked example below takes a residential property at S$1.5 million, with the price equal to the market value, and assumes that ABSD is charged at its flat rate on that whole figure and that no remission applies. BSD is S$44,600 for every buyer. Only the ABSD changes.

The arithmetic behind each bar is one multiplication and one addition. A Permanent Resident's first home carries 5% of S$1.5 million, which is S$75,000. A citizen's second home carries 20%, which is S$300,000. A Permanent Resident's second home carries 30%, which is S$450,000; that is also what a citizen pays on a third home, so the total there is the same S$494,600. A foreigner's 60% is S$900,000, and the 65% for an entity or trust is S$975,000. Each is added to the S$44,600 of BSD. A Permanent Resident's third home, not shown, carries 35%, or S$525,000, for a total of S$569,600.

For the entity or trust, the two duties together exceed two thirds of the price. For the foreigner, the April 2023 revision alone added S$450,000 to the bill on this example, the difference between 30% and 60% of S$1.5 million. For the citizen buying a second home, the same revision added S$45,000, the difference between 17% and 20%.

Married couples, HDB flats and executive condominiums

The joint release of April 2023 kept one concession in place for households that are moving home, not adding one. Married couples with at least one Singapore Citizen spouse, who jointly buy a second residential property, can apply for a refund of ABSD, subject to conditions. The condition the release spells out is a deadline for selling the first home: within six months of the date of purchase of the second property if that property is completed, or within six months of the issue of its Temporary Occupation Permit or Certificate of Statutory Completion, whichever is earlier, if it is still being built.

The word refund describes the order of events. The duty is paid on the second purchase, and the couple applies to have it returned once the first home has been sold within the time limit. On the S$1.5 million worked example, a citizen couple replacing their home in this way would be looking at ABSD of S$300,000 at the 20% rate on the second purchase, with the possibility of applying for its return if the first home is sold in time and the other conditions are met. A couple who miss the six-month window fall outside the condition the release describes. The release does not list every condition, so the full terms have to be read from the tax authority's own material for the case in hand.

The release also dealt with public and subsidised housing. Purchases of Housing and Development Board flats, and of executive condominium units bought from housing developers with an upfront remission, were stated to be unaffected by the April 2023 increases where at least one of the joint buyers is a Singapore Citizen.

Entities, trusts, developers and share deals

An entity buying a residential property, or a purchase made into a trust, is charged ABSD at 65% from 27 April 2023, whatever the number of properties held. The Ministry of Finance's release notes that a separate ABSD rate for trusts had applied from 9 May 2022 until 26 April 2023, and that the trust category leaves out certain trustees who are already covered under the entity or housing developer rules.

Housing developers are the exception to the 65% rate. The release defines them as entities in the business of building and selling housing units for the property concerned. According to the joint release published by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, their treatment did not change in April 2023: ABSD of 35%, which may be remitted subject to conditions, and a further 5% that is not remittable. For a developer, the 5% is a firm cost of acquiring residential land, and the 35% depends on meeting the conditions attached to the remission.

A buyer might ask whether the duties can be sidestepped by buying the company that owns a home instead of the home itself. A separate charge answers that question. Additional Conveyance Duties for Buyers apply to qualifying acquisitions of equity interest in property-holding entities, defined in the ministry's release as entities where at least 50% of total tangible assets are prescribed immovable properties in Singapore. The maximum rate moved in step with the two duties it mirrors: from up to 44% to up to 46% when BSD rose on 15 February 2023, and from up to 46% to up to 71% when ABSD rose on 27 April 2023. The current ceiling of 71% equals the sum of the top BSD rate of 6% and the entity ABSD rate of 65%.

Paying the duty with cash or CPF savings

Stamp duty is an upfront cost. The Central Provident Fund Board's guide for flat buyers says BSD must be paid at the start, together with the legal fees, and that savings in the Ordinary Account may be used to pay stamp duty and legal fees in full.

The route depends on the state of the property. For a completed property, the board says the buyer can pay in cash first and be reimbursed from the Ordinary Account later. For a property still under construction, stamp duty can be paid directly from the account. A buyer of a completed home therefore needs the cash in hand on the day the duty falls due, even when the savings to cover it sit in the fund.

The board adds a point that is easy to overlook. When the flat is later sold, the Ordinary Account money used for the purchase, including the sums spent on legal fees and stamp duty, must be refunded to the account. Duty paid from the fund is not gone from the member's retirement savings for good; it returns to them out of the sale proceeds.

The board's guide is written for buyers of Housing and Development Board flats. Whether and how fund savings can be used for the ABSD on a private purchase is not covered by it.

Putting the calculation in order

For any purchase, the general method reduces to three stages.

Each stage has its own trap. At the first, a price set below market value does not lower the base. At the second, the top rate is not the rate on the whole price. At the third, a part share in another home counts as a property, and a co-buyer with a higher rate sets the rate for everyone.

What these sources leave open

Several practical points are not settled by the documents this guide rests on, and it would be wrong to fill them from memory.

The first is timing. The ministry's releases and the Central Provident Fund Board's guide establish that duty is paid upfront, but they do not give the number of days a buyer has to pay after signing, or describe the stamping procedure. Both belong to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, which administers the duties and to which the ministry's policy page refers readers for rates and detail.

The second is remission. The releases mention a refund for married couples and an upfront remission for executive condominium buyers, without the full conditions. They say nothing about any special treatment of nationals of particular countries under trade agreements, and they do not define who counts as a foreigner or as an entity for ABSD purposes.

The third is currency. The statement that ABSD rates were last revised on 27 April 2023 comes from a Ministry of Finance page last updated on 3 November 2025. The BSD scale comes from the February 2023 release, and the same page records no later revision to it. Both 2023 revisions took effect the day after they were announced.

Buyer's Stamp Duty measures the property. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty measures the buyer, and every name on the purchase counts.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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