ABSD in Singapore: how the tiers actually work

Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty is charged on the higher of the purchase price or the market value, and the rate depends on two things only: your residency status and how many residential properties you will own once the purchase completes. Everything else people worry about is downstream of those two facts.

Who pays what

Rates are set by IRAS and have been revised several times. Always check the current table on the IRAS site before you commit to a number — anything you read on a property website, including this one, is a summary of a rule that can change at Budget.

The timing trap that costs upgraders the most

If you buy your next home before selling your current one, you own two properties at completion and ABSD applies. Married couples where at least one spouse is a Singapore Citizen may apply for remission if the first property is sold within the prescribed window, but the remission is an application with a deadline, not something that happens automatically.

The practical consequence is that a sale and a purchase have to be sequenced together, not treated as two separate transactions that happen to be near each other. That sequencing is part of what the pricing file is for.

What this does not cover

Decoupling, trusts, and purchases through entities each carry their own duty treatment and legal cost, and the arithmetic changes with your specific circumstances. Take those to a conveyancing lawyer rather than to any website.