The honest answer first: in Singapore you cut your income tax by lowering your taxable income with the reliefs and deductions you already qualify for. Resident rates are progressive, from 0% up to 24%, so every dollar of relief saves you tax at your top rate. The catch is that all your personal reliefs added together are capped at $80,000 a year, so the goal is to fill that space with the reliefs that give you the best bang for your buck. Here is a practical toolkit.
💰 Top up your CPF (RSTU)
The Retirement Sum Topping-Up scheme lets you top up your own Special or Retirement Account in cash and claim tax relief of up to $8,000 a year. You can top up family members too — parents, grandparents, spouse, siblings — for a further $8,000, giving up to $16,000 in total relief.
The trade-off is real: topped-up money is locked away for retirement and cannot be used for housing. So only top up what you genuinely will not need before then. If you are weighing it up, our CPF top-up guide walks through who benefits most.
🏦 Contribute to your SRS
The Supplementary Retirement Scheme is the most flexible lever. Every dollar you put in is deductible from your taxable income, up to $15,300 a year if you are a Singapore Citizen or PR, or up to $35,700 if you are a foreigner.
SRS also helps you later: withdrawals from the statutory retirement age can be spread over up to 10 years, and only 50% of each withdrawal is taxable. Pull money out early, though, and you face a 5% penalty plus 100% of it being taxed. To see whether the lock-up suits you, read our SRS guide.
🩺 MediSave, parent and NSman reliefs
A few more reliefs are worth knowing about, even if you do not control all of them:
- Voluntary MediSave contributions — topping up your MediSave can attract relief while building your healthcare savings.
- Parent and handicapped-dependant reliefs — if you support elderly parents, grandparents or a dependant with disabilities, you may qualify.
- NSman relief — given to operationally ready national servicemen, and also to their wives and parents.
- Qualifying Child Relief and Working Mother’s Child Relief — for parents, with extra benefits aimed at working mothers.
One important warning: Course Fees Relief has lapsed from YA2026, so do not count on it any more when planning your reliefs.
❤️ Give to charity
Donations to approved Institutions of a Public Character earn a 250% tax deduction (a concession in place for donations made up to 31 December 2026) — for every $100 you give, $250 comes off your assessable income. Unlike most reliefs, donations are a deduction rather than a personal relief, so they sit outside the $80,000 relief cap and stay useful even when you have maxed out everything else. Keep your receipts and make sure the charity is an approved IPC.
🧮 A worked example on $100,000
Say you earn $100,000 a year. Suppose your existing reliefs (CPF, earned income and so on) already bring your taxable income down to about $80,000. Now you add two deliberate moves:
- A $8,000 cash top-up to your own SA or RA under RSTU.
- The full $15,300 SRS contribution as a Citizen or PR.
Together that is $23,300 shaved off your taxable income, bringing it down to roughly $56,700. Because these dollars come off the top of your income, you save tax at your highest marginal rate rather than the average — which is exactly why filling relief space matters. Just remember the $80,000 relief cap applies to your personal reliefs combined, so beyond a point, stacking more top-ups gives you no further tax benefit even if you have the cash.
🔎 Try the numbers for yourself
Reliefs interact, and the right mix depends on your income, family situation and how much you can afford to lock away. Plug in your own figures with our Income Tax calculator to see your bill, then use the Tax Relief Optimizer to find the combination that fits your $80,000 cap and saves you the most.