Rental Income Tax Calculator Singapore 2026

Free calculator with real-time results in SGD — estimate your IRAS rental income tax in seconds, using the 15% deemed expense scheme or your actual itemised deductions.

Understanding Rental Income Tax for Singapore Landlords

Any Singapore property owner who rents out a room, unit, or whole property must declare that income to IRAS — and pay tax on the net amount after allowable deductions. This applies whether you’re renting out a spare room in your HDB flat, a condo unit, or an entire landed property, and it applies even if the property is jointly owned with a spouse or family member (each co-owner declares their share of the net rental income individually). A surprising number of first-time landlords assume rental income is “passive” in the sense of being tax-free, or that it’s automatically captured through property tax — it isn’t. Property tax and income tax on rental income are two separate obligations under two separate IRAS regimes.

Not financial or tax advice. All figures are for educational reference only, based on IRAS rules and progressive resident tax rates as at Q3 2026. Always verify your actual filing position with IRAS or a qualified tax agent.

Who Needs to Pay Tax on Rental Income in Singapore?

Any individual — tax resident or not — who receives rental income from a Singapore property is required to report it in their annual income tax return, typically under “Other Income” or a dedicated rental schedule if the amount is substantial. There’s no minimum threshold that exempts small-scale landlords; even a single room rented out on a long lease must be declared. The distinction that matters most for your final tax bill is your residency status, since residents are taxed at progressive rates (0% to 24%) blended with their other income, while non-residents are taxed at a flat 24% on rental income with no personal reliefs.

Two Ways to Calculate Your Deductible Expenses

IRAS gives landlords of residential property two options for calculating deductible expenses against gross rental income. The first is the simplified “deemed expense” route: claim a flat 15% of gross rent as a stand-in for all rental-related costs (repairs, agent fees, fire insurance, etc.), on top of actual mortgage interest paid. The second is the itemised route: total up your actual allowable expenses — property tax, agent commission, repairs, fire insurance — plus mortgage interest, and deduct the real figure. Most landlords with lower running costs come out ahead using the 15% deemed method; landlords with high actual expenses (major repairs, high agent fees) often do better itemising. The calculator above lets you toggle between both and compare instantly.

How to Use This Rental Income Tax Calculator

1. Enter your gross annual rental income: The total rent collected over the year, before any deductions.
2. Choose your deduction method: Simplified 15% deemed expenses, or itemised actual expenses — switch between the two to see which lowers your tax more.
3. Enter your annual mortgage interest paid: This is claimable under both methods and is usually the single largest deduction for a mortgaged property.
4. If itemising, add your other actual expenses: Property tax, agent commission, fire insurance, and routine repairs — excluding capital costs like renovations, which IRAS does not allow.
5. Select your tax residency status: Singapore tax resident (progressive rates) or non-resident (flat 24%).
6. If you’re a resident, enter your other chargeable income: This determines the marginal tax bracket your net rental income falls into, since Singapore’s progressive system taxes your rental income at the rate applicable to your total chargeable income.

The calculator instantly shows your total deductions, net rental income, tax payable, effective tax rate on the rental portion, and your final take-home rental income after tax.

Pro tip: Cross-check your total tax position with our Singapore Income Tax Calculator, and see how property tax stacks on top with our Property Tax Calculator.

What Is Rental Income Tax in Singapore?

Rental income tax is simply the ordinary income tax IRAS levies on the net income you earn from renting out property — it is not a separate tax regime with its own rate table. For tax residents, net rental income is added to your other chargeable income (salary, freelance income, dividends where applicable) and taxed at Singapore’s progressive resident rates, which run from 0% on the first S$20,000 of chargeable income up to 24% on amounts above S$1,000,000. For non-residents, rental income is taxed at a flat 24%, regardless of the amount, with no access to the 0% starting band or personal reliefs. This means two landlords earning the identical S$30,000 a year in net rental income could pay very different amounts of tax depending purely on their residency status and their other income.

How Rental Income Tax Works: The Maths Behind Deductions

The calculation always starts with net rental income: gross rent collected, minus allowable deductions. For a resident landlord with S$36,000 gross rent, using the 15% deemed method (S$5,400) plus S$9,600 mortgage interest, total deductions come to S$15,000, leaving S$21,000 net rental income. That S$21,000 is then added on top of your other chargeable income to find the marginal bracket it falls into — the tax “attributable” to the rental income is the difference between your total tax bill with and without that S$21,000. If your other chargeable income is S$72,000 (landing you in the 11.5% bracket), most of that rental income would be taxed at 11.5%–15%, giving an effective rate meaningfully below the top marginal rate most landlords assume they’ll pay.

Deemed 15% vs Itemised Deductions: Which Saves More Tax?

The deemed 15% method is designed for simplicity, and for most landlords with a straightforward tenancy and modest running costs, it comfortably covers real expenses like minor repairs, occasional agent fees on renewal, and fire insurance. It becomes more attractive the higher your gross rent, since 15% of a larger number quickly outpaces what a typical unit actually costs to maintain. Itemising only wins when your actual documented expenses — property tax, a full agent commission on a new tenancy (typically half a month to one month’s rent), major repairs, or fire insurance on a larger property — genuinely exceed 15% of gross rent. A common example: a landlord who just paid a full month’s rent in agent commission plus had a S$3,000 aircon overhaul in the same year will often find itemising saves more than the flat 15%. IRAS does not let you mix the two methods within the same year for the same property, so it pays to compute both and pick the lower-tax option, which is exactly what the calculator above does when you toggle between them.

Best Ways to File and Optimise Your Rental Income Tax in Singapore

Most landlords file via IRAS’s myTax Portal during the annual filing season (typically March–April), where pre-filled rental income sections are increasingly common if your tenancy is registered via a stamped tenancy agreement. Keep digital copies of your tenancy agreement, mortgage interest statements, and any expense receipts for at least five years, since IRAS can request supporting documents during a review. Once you’ve worked out your after-tax rental income using the calculator above, many landlords choose to systematically reinvest that surplus rather than let it sit idle — platforms like Endowus and Syfe let you automate monthly investing of your net rental surplus into diversified portfolios, while FSMOne is a common low-cost choice for landlords who prefer picking individual unit trusts or bonds with their rental cashflow.

IRAS Rules Every Landlord Should Know: Co-Ownership, Vacancy & Short-Term Rentals

For jointly owned property, each co-owner reports their proportionate share of net rental income based on their share of legal ownership, not an arbitrary split — this trips up many couples who assume they can allocate income to whichever spouse is in a lower tax bracket. A property that sits vacant for part of the year is only taxed on rent actually received; you cannot deduct “lost” rent for vacant periods, but expenses incurred during a genuine effort to find a tenant (agent fees, advertising) generally remain deductible. Short-term and Airbnb-style rentals are treated as rental income for tax purposes too, though HDB flats and many condo developments in Singapore restrict or prohibit short-term letting entirely under URA and HDB rules — a compliance issue separate from, but often confused with, the tax treatment.

Rental Income as Part of Your Passive Income & Retirement Strategy

For many Singapore property investors, rental income is one leg of a broader passive income plan alongside S-REIT dividends, CPF LIFE payouts, and other investment income. Understanding your true after-tax rental yield — not just the gross figure most listings advertise — is essential for comparing a rental property honestly against other income-generating assets like S-REITs or dividend ETFs. Once you know your after-tax take-home rental income, plug it into our Retirement Planning Calculator to see how it contributes to your overall retirement income target, and see our Passive Income Guide for how rental income compares to other Singapore income streams on a risk-adjusted, after-tax basis.

Frequently Asked Questions

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