Stamp Duty Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Purchase price or market value. IRAS charges duty on whichever is higher. On an open-market sale that is the price you agreed. On a transfer between family members it usually is not, so use the valuation.
2. Citizenship status. The single biggest lever on this page. A foreigner pays sixty cents of ABSD on every dollar of the price; a citizen buying a first home pays none.
3. Properties owned before this purchase. Count residential property in Singapore, held in any share. A quarter share of an inherited flat counts as one.

The result updates as you type.

Two duties, not one

Buying residential property in Singapore attracts up to two separate duties, and they behave nothing alike.

BSD — Buyer's Stamp Duty. Everyone pays it, on every residential purchase, whoever they are and however many properties they hold. It is tiered, so the rate climbs through six bands as the price rises rather than jumping at a threshold. On a S$1.2 million home it comes to S$32,600 — about 2.7%.

ABSD — Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty. A flat percentage of the whole price, charged on top of BSD, set by two things: your citizenship and how many residential properties you already hold. There are no bands. One rate hits the entire price from the first dollar, which is why ABSD moves in steps of tens of thousands rather than hundreds.

The gap between them is the point. BSD is a cost of buying property. ABSD is a policy instrument, and it is deliberately large enough to change your mind.

How we calculate it

BSD — six bands, each rate applied only to its own slice.

A common mistake is to read this as "a S$1.2 million home is taxed at 4%". It is not. Only the slice between S$1,000,000 and S$1,200,000 is taxed at 4%. In full:

180,000 × 1% + 180,000 × 2% + 640,000 × 3% + 200,000 × 4% = S$32,600

ABSD — one rate, applied to the whole price. No tiering, and no allowance. On a S$1.2 million second home a citizen pays 20% of S$1,200,000 — S$240,000 — not 20% of the amount above some threshold.

Rates last revised April 2023. Your total duty is BSD plus ABSD, and nothing else.

Run a few what-ifs

The number on its own tells you less than the gaps between numbers.

Buy your second before selling your first. A citizen's ABSD goes from zero to 20%. On a S$1.2 million home that is S$240,000 you would not otherwise pay, due within a fortnight of signing. The married-couple remission can give it back, but you pay first and reclaim afterwards — the cash still has to exist on the day.

Move the price across a band. Between S$1,000,000 and S$1,200,000 every extra S$10,000 of price costs S$400 in BSD. Past S$3,000,000 it costs S$600. Worth knowing when you decide how hard to negotiate: a S$20,000 discount is worth rather more than S$20,000.

Buy as an entity rather than a person. 65% of the price, from the first dollar, with no first-property allowance at all. Whatever the structuring argument is, it has to be worth six figures before it starts.

Change nothing but the buyer. The comparison above the button does this for you. Same flat, same price, same number of properties already owned — and the duty moves by more than most people's down payment.

What this calculator leaves out

This tool applies the two rate tables and stops there. Three things it does not model, each of which can move your figure by a lot:

Remissions. The married-couple remission on a second property, transfers between spouses, and several developer and en-bloc reliefs. All are conditional, and the conditions are not things a calculator can check.

Free trade agreement treatment. Nationals of a small number of countries are assessed for ABSD as Singapore Citizens rather than as foreigners. If that might be you, the foreigner row above is not your row.

Seller's Stamp Duty. A separate duty, paid by the seller when a property is sold within three years of buying it. If you are selling, that is the one to ask about — and it is not on this page.

Questions people ask

Can I pay stamp duty from CPF, or does it have to be cash?

Both, with a catch. You can use your CPF Ordinary Account for stamp duty on a residential purchase, but on a resale the timing rarely lines up: the duty falls due within a fortnight and CPF disburses on completion. Most buyers pay cash and reimburse themselves afterwards, so budget for it as cash.

When do I have to pay it?

Within 14 days of signing the document in Singapore, or 30 days if it was signed overseas. Late payment attracts a penalty. It is a short deadline, and it catches people who assumed duty was settled at completion along with everything else.

Does ABSD apply to commercial property?

No. ABSD is residential only. Commercial and industrial property attract BSD at their own rates plus GST, which is a different calculation and not one this tool does.

I own a property overseas. Does that count?

No. Only residential property in Singapore counts towards the property count that sets your ABSD rate. A share of one counts as one, though — a quarter share of an inherited flat still makes your next purchase a second property.

What if I am buying with someone else?

The duty is assessed on the buyer profile that attracts the highest rate, not on shares. Two buyers holding 99% and 1% are assessed identically to two holding half each. A citizen buying with a foreign spouse is assessed at the foreigner rate unless a remission applies.

Are there any remissions?

Several, and none of them are in this calculator. The married-couple remission is the common one: a couple with at least one Singapore Citizen can reclaim ABSD on a second property if they sell the first within six months of buying it. There are also reliefs for certain transfers between spouses. If you think one might apply, that is a conversation to have before you sign, not after.