Tax relief is the part of Singapore's income tax system that most people leave on the table. A relief lowers your chargeable income before IRAS applies the rate table, so a $4,000 relief is not a $4,000 refund. It saves you that $4,000 multiplied by your marginal rate, which for a salaried adult sits somewhere between 7% and 20%. For Year of Assessment 2026 (income earned in 2025), residents can stack reliefs for working, CPF top-ups, SRS, a non-working spouse, children, ageing parents, and NS, up to a hard ceiling of $80,000 across the lot. This guide lists every relief, the exact cap, who actually qualifies, and the order worth claiming them in.
A tax relief is a deduction from your assessable income. IRAS subtracts your total reliefs to arrive at chargeable income, then runs that figure through the resident rate table. Because the system is progressive, the saving from any relief equals the relief amount times the rate of the top band you sit in, not the headline rate.
Work an example. Someone earning $80,000 with no reliefs would be taxed on roughly $63,500 after standard CPF and earned income relief, sitting partly in the 11.5% band. A $7,000 CPF cash top-up shaves $7,000 off chargeable income and saves around $805 in tax, because that top slice was taxed at 11.5%. The same $7,000 relief for someone in the 7% band saves $490. The relief is identical; the saving tracks your rate.
This is why reliefs matter more as your income climbs, and why high earners hit the $80,000 relief ceiling that low earners never come close to. Run your own numbers in the income tax calculator before December, while you still have time to act.
These are the personal reliefs a Singapore tax resident can claim for YA2026, with the amounts confirmed against IRAS and the PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries as of June 2026. Caps are per Year of Assessment unless stated.
| Relief | Amount / cap | Who qualifies |
|---|---|---|
| Earned income relief | $1,000 (under 55), $6,000 (55 to 59), $8,000 (60 and above) | Anyone with employment, trade, or pension income; higher amounts for handicapped |
| CPF relief (employee) | Mandatory CPF on Ordinary Wages up to the $7,400/mth ceiling | Automatic for employees making compulsory CPF contributions |
| CPF cash top-up relief | Up to $8,000 (own RA/SA/MA) plus $8,000 (family members) | Cash top-ups that do not attract MRSS/MMSS grants |
| SRS relief | Up to $15,300 (citizen/PR), $35,700 (foreigner) | Anyone with an SRS account who contributes by 31 Dec |
| Spouse relief | $2,000 ($5,500 if handicapped) | Spouse's annual income not over $8,000 and supported by you |
| Qualifying child relief (QCR) | $4,000 per child ($7,500 if handicapped) | Child under 16 or in full-time education; child income not over $4,000 |
| Working mother's child relief (WMCR) | $8,000 / $10,000 / $12,000 for 1st / 2nd / 3rd+ child | Working mothers, for children born or adopted from 1 Jan 2024 |
| Parent relief | $5,500 (not living with) or $9,000 (living with); $10,000 / $14,000 if handicapped | Parent or grandparent aged 55+, income not over $8,000 |
| Grandparent caregiver relief | $3,000 | Working mother whose parent or in-law cares for her child |
| NSman (self) relief | $1,500 (non-key) or $3,000 (key appointment), plus $1,000/$3,000 if active that year | Operationally ready NSmen; $750 each for NSman wife and parents |
| Foreign domestic worker levy relief | 2x the levy paid | Married working women or those with dependants; concessionary levy applies |
| Life insurance relief | Up to $5,000 minus CPF contributions | Only if your annual CPF contribution is under $5,000 |
Two changes catch people out for YA2026. Course fees relief, which used to refund up to $5,500 of approved upskilling, has been removed from YA2026 onwards. If you paid for a course in 2025 expecting the relief, it no longer applies, so do not pencil it into your estimate.
The dependant income threshold for spouse and parent relief was doubled from $4,000 to $8,000. A retired parent drawing a modest pension or a spouse with small part-time earnings can now stay under the line and still let you claim. The Working Mother's Child Relief also shifted from a percentage of earned income to fixed dollar amounts for children born or adopted from 1 January 2024, which lowers the relief for high earners and raises it for lower earners.
Total personal reliefs are capped at $80,000 per Year of Assessment. Once your reliefs add up to that figure, every extra dollar of relief does nothing. This bites mostly working mothers stacking WMCR with QCR, CPF, and SRS, because those four alone can blow past $80,000.
The order you fund matters when you are near the ceiling. Reliefs that also build a real asset, like CPF cash top-ups and SRS, are worth prioritising over reliefs you would qualify for anyway, because the automatic ones already eat into the cap. If you expect to hit $80,000, there is no tax reason to make a voluntary SRS contribution that pushes you over it; the money locks up for no deduction.
IRAS pre-fills most reliefs in myTax Portal, but it does not stop you from over-claiming against the cap. Check the running total before you submit.
Earned income relief and employee CPF relief are automatic. The two reliefs you decide on each year are CPF cash top-ups and SRS, and they behave differently.
A CPF cash top-up to your own Retirement Account or MediSave gives up to $8,000 of relief, plus another $8,000 for topping up family members. The money earns 4% guaranteed (more on the first balances) but is locked for retirement or medical use. An SRS contribution gives relief up to $15,300 for citizens and PRs, stays investable in your own hands, and only 50% of withdrawals after the statutory retirement age are taxed.
Most reliefs are claimed when you file your return in the Year of Assessment through myTax Portal. The e-filing deadline for YA2026 is 18 April 2026; paper filing closed earlier, on 15 April. IRAS pre-fills employment income, CPF, and several reliefs under the No-Filing Service, but you still have to add or adjust reliefs it cannot know about, such as a new child, a parent you started supporting, or your SRS contribution.
Keep evidence even though you do not upload it: top-up records, the dependant's income, and your CPF contribution statement. IRAS can ask for proof within the statutory period, and a wrongly claimed relief is recovered with penalties.
If you compare CPF top-ups against SRS before deciding, the SRS vs CPF top-up comparison lays the two side by side on lock-in, returns, and tax saved.
Take a working mother earning $90,000 with one child born in 2024 and a retired mother she supports. Her automatic reliefs are earned income ($1,000) and CPF (around $18,000 on her wages). On top of that she can claim QCR ($4,000), WMCR ($8,000 for a first child), parent relief if her mother lives with her ($9,000), and a CPF cash top-up ($8,000) or SRS ($15,300).
Stacking QCR, WMCR, parent relief, and a top-up takes her well past the point where the marginal saving is large, since her top dollars sit in the 11.5% to 15% bands. The CPF and SRS portions are the ones she controls, and they are the last few thousand worth optimising before she risks the $80,000 ceiling. Her husband, with no WMCR, has far more headroom and should be the one to carry shared reliefs like parent relief where the rules allow a split.
Total personal income tax relief is capped at $80,000 per Year of Assessment for YA2026. Any reliefs beyond that ceiling give no further tax saving, so high earners stacking CPF, SRS, and child reliefs should track the running total before they file.
No. A relief lowers your chargeable income, not your tax bill directly. The actual saving is the relief amount multiplied by your marginal tax rate, which for most working adults falls between 7% and 20%, so a $4,000 relief typically saves between $280 and $800.
No. Course fees relief, which previously refunded up to $5,500 of approved upskilling costs, has been removed from YA2026 onwards. Money spent on courses in 2025 no longer qualifies, so leave it out of any tax estimate you build for this year.
Both must be funded by 31 December of the income year. A contribution made on 1 January is too late and counts only for the following Year of Assessment, so the working window for YA2026 reliefs closed on 31 December 2025, and the next one closes 31 December 2026.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.