Singapore legislation
Regulation 2A
of Income Tax (Exemption of Income of Foreign Trusts) Regulations
Regulation 2A
Foreign trust to which Regulations apply
Subregulation 1
Subject to paragraph (2), a trust shall be regarded as a foreign trust for the purposes of these Regulations if —
it is a trust created in writing and every settlor and every beneficiary thereof are —
individuals who are neither citizens of Singapore nor resident in Singapore; (ii)foreign companies; (iii)persons (other than those mentioned in sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii)) who are neither resident in Singapore nor constituted or registered under any written law in Singapore;
trustees of other trusts which are regarded as foreign trusts for the purposes of these Regulations; or
trustees of philanthropic purpose trusts where ––
if they are settlors of the trust referred to in sub-paragraph (a), funds and assets from the foreign accounts of the philanthropic purpose trusts are injected into that trust; or
if they are beneficiaries of the trust referred to in sub-paragraph (a), distributions from that trust accrue to the foreign accounts of the philanthropic purpose trusts; or
it is a unit trust and the whole value of the unit trust fund is beneficially held, directly or indirectly, by —
individuals who are neither citizens of Singapore nor resident in Singapore; (ii)foreign companies; or
persons (other than those mentioned in sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii)) who are neither resident in Singapore nor constituted or registered under any written laws in Singapore;
trustees of other trusts which are regarded as foreign trusts for the purposes of these Regulations; or
trustees of philanthropic purpose trusts where the distributions from the unit trust accrue to the foreign accounts of those philanthropic purpose trusts.
Subregulation 2
For the purpose of paragraph (1)(a), a trust shall continue to be regarded as a foreign trust notwithstanding that any settlor or beneficiary of the trust who is an individual subsequently becomes a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore, if the following conditions are satisfied:
in the case of a settlor who subsequently becomes a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore —
no new assets are injected into the trust by the settlor from the day he becomes a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore;
the settlor neither receives nor enjoys any benefit under the trust and shall not exercise any power of appointment in favour of any person who is a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore; and
the settlor neither revokes the trust nor varies the terms of the trust so as to cause any benefit to be paid or otherwise made available to a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore;
in the case of a settlor who was previously a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore and the trust was constituted subsequent to the settlor ceasing to be a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore, the settlor does not within 5 years of last ceasing to be a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore resume being a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore; and
in the case of a beneficiary who subsequently becomes a citizen of Singapore or resident in Singapore —
the total value of all distributions made by the trustee to the beneficiaries who are citizens of Singapore or resident in Singapore is less than 20% of the cumulative value of all trust distributions made by the trustee for the trust; and
all beneficiaries who are citizens of Singapore or resident in Singapore are beneficially entitled to less than 20% of the assets of the trust.