Income Tax Act 1947 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 12 · Deduction of Tax at Source
45D. Application of section 45 to gains from real property transaction
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2016. 2 amendments in all.
Where any person whose income arising from the disposal of any real property is chargeable to tax under section 10(1)(a) is a non‑resident person, any designated person must, before paying to the non‑resident person any money which is the whole or part of the consideration for the disposal of the real property, despite any other written law, immediately deduct therefrom tax at the rate of 15% on every dollar of such payment.
Any designated person who has deducted any money under subsection (1) must immediately give notice of the deduction of tax to the Comptroller and must, despite any other written law, pay the amount so deducted to the Comptroller by the 15th day of the second month following the month in which the deduction was made and every such amount is a debt due from the designated person to the Government and is recoverable in the manner provided by section 89.
The notice under subsection (2) must be given using the electronic service, except that the Comptroller may in any particular case or class of cases permit the notice to be given in any other manner.
electronic service
“electronic service” means the electronic service provided by the Comptroller under section 8A(1);
Section 45(2) to (8) applies, with the necessary modifications, to any designated person as those provisions apply to any person referred to therein.
For the purpose of payment of any tax due from any income which is chargeable to tax under section 10(1)(a) in respect of any disposal of any real property which is owned by 2 or more persons as joint owners, the designated person deducting the tax must retain such amount as is presumed under subsection (5) to be owned by any non‑resident person and pay over the tax due from such amount to the Comptroller.
Comptroller
“Comptroller” means the Comptroller of Income Tax appointed under section 3(1) and includes, for all purposes of this Act except the exercise of the powers conferred upon the Comptroller by sections 34F(9), 37L(7), 37M(5), 67(1)(a), 95, 96, 96A and 101, a Deputy Comptroller or an Assistant Comptroller so appointed;
It is presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the persons who own any real property as joint owners share the proceeds of disposal of the real property in equal shares.
This section does not apply to any payment made on or after 1 January 2015 by a designated person to a branch in Singapore of a company incorporated outside Singapore and is a non‑resident person.
company
“company” means any company incorporated or registered under any law in force in Singapore or elsewhere;
In this section —
“designated person”, in relation to any disposal of any real property —
in the case where an advocate and solicitor acts for the buyer of the real property in such disposal, means that advocate and solicitor; and
advocate and solicitor
“advocate and solicitor” means an advocate and solicitor within the meaning of the Legal Profession Act 1966;
in any other case, means the buyer of the real property;
“land” includes land of any tenure wherever situated in Singapore, whether or not held apart from the surface, and buildings or parts thereof (whether completed or otherwise and whether divided horizontally, vertically or in any other manner) and tenements and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, and any estate or interest therein;
“non‑resident person” means a person who is not known to be resident in Singapore to the designated person;
“real property”, in relation to a disposal of which the income is chargeable to tax under section 10(1)(a), means any land and any interest, option or other right in or over any land.