- Singapore has no capital gains tax. IRAS generally views profits from buying and selling digital tokens as personal investments, which are not taxed.
- If your activity amounts to trading, IRAS taxes the gains as income. It decides this on the facts, using the “badges of trade”.
- Taxable income of tax residents is taxed at progressive rates from 0% to 24% (from year of assessment 2024). Non-residents generally pay 24% on income other than employment income.
- Mining as a hobby, airdrops you did nothing for and tokens from a hard fork are generally not taxable when you receive them. IRAS publishes no income tax guidance on staking or DeFi.
This page covers income tax for private individuals who hold or trade crypto in Singapore. When and how to file is on filing and deadlines, and companies are on business tax. It is general information, not tax advice.
How it works
IRAS says that gains from the sale of property, shares and financial instruments are generally not taxable, and that “profits or losses derived from the buying and selling of shares or other financial instruments (including digital tokens) are generally viewed as personal investments”. On its page for businesses it adds that “there are no capital gains taxes in Singapore”.
The exception is trading. Under the IRAS e-Tax Guide on digital tokens (30 January 2026), buying a payment token is not a taxable event. A gain or loss when you dispose of it is taxable or deductible only if the disposal is “revenue in nature”, which IRAS decides with the badges of trade. This applies whether you sell the token for money or swap it for another token. A fair-value gain that is not yet realized is not taxable.
Taxable income is assessed on a preceding-year basis: year of assessment (YA) 2026 covers income earned from 1 January to 31 December 2025. For tax residents, chargeable income (income after expenses, donations and personal reliefs) is taxed at these rates from YA 2024 onward:
| Chargeable income (from YA 2024) | Rate | Tax on the band | Total tax at the top of the band |
|---|---|---|---|
| First SGD 20,000 | 0% | SGD 0 | SGD 0 |
| Next SGD 10,000 (to 30,000) | 2% | SGD 200 | SGD 200 |
| Next SGD 10,000 (to 40,000) | 3.5% | SGD 350 | SGD 550 |
| Next SGD 40,000 (to 80,000) | 7% | SGD 2,800 | SGD 3,350 |
| Next SGD 40,000 (to 120,000) | 11.5% | SGD 4,600 | SGD 7,950 |
| Next SGD 40,000 (to 160,000) | 15% | SGD 6,000 | SGD 13,950 |
| Next SGD 40,000 (to 200,000) | 18% | SGD 7,200 | SGD 21,150 |
| Next SGD 40,000 (to 240,000) | 19% | SGD 7,600 | SGD 28,750 |
| Next SGD 40,000 (to 280,000) | 19.5% | SGD 7,800 | SGD 36,550 |
| Next SGD 40,000 (to 320,000) | 20% | SGD 8,000 | SGD 44,550 |
| Next SGD 180,000 (to 500,000) | 22% | SGD 39,600 | SGD 84,150 |
| Next SGD 500,000 (to 1,000,000) | 23% | SGD 115,000 | SGD 199,150 |
| Above SGD 1,000,000 | 24% | – | – |
Non-residents pay a flat 24% on income other than employment income from YA 2024 (22% before). IRAS granted a personal income tax rebate of 60% of tax payable, up to SGD 200, for YA 2025; its rates page lists no rebate for YA 2026 at the time of writing (October 2026).
A worked example
Our own example, using the IRAS resident rates: a tax resident with SGD 80,000 of chargeable employment income in 2025 (YA 2026) who also made SGD 20,000 of crypto gains in 2025.
| Situation | Chargeable income | Calculation | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| IRAS sees the gains as personal investment | SGD 80,000 | Tax on the first SGD 80,000 | SGD 3,350 |
| IRAS sees the gains as trading income | SGD 100,000 | SGD 3,350 + 11.5% × SGD 20,000 | SGD 5,650 |
So the question whether you are trading decides whether the SGD 20,000 costs you nothing or SGD 2,300 in tax. This is an illustration, not a tax calculation for your situation. Expenses you can deduct against trading income, and losses, change the result.
Trading or investment: the badges of trade
IRAS says that whether gains from disposing of digital tokens are trading or capital gains “depends on the facts and circumstances of each case”, and names purpose, frequency of transactions and holding periods. Its general list of badges of trade is:
- Nature of the asset and length of ownership: the shorter you hold it, the more likely it is held for trading.
- Frequency of transactions: many similar transactions point more to trading than one isolated sale.
- Supplementary work and circumstances of the sale, for example being forced to sell for urgent cash.
- Motive and mode of financing: short-term financing points more to trading than long-term financing.
No single factor is conclusive. IRAS looks at your intention when you bought the token. If you trade, it accepts the first in, first out (FIFO) or weighted average cost method to work out the gain on tokens bought at different prices, but not last in, first out (LIFO). IRAS does not prescribe how to value tokens; the exchange rate you use must be reasonable and verifiable, for example an average of rates on exchanges, and you must apply the same method every year.
Mining, salary in crypto and other income
- Mining. IRAS treats an individual who mines as a hobbyist at first sight: gains from selling the mined tokens are capital gains and not taxable, and mining expenses are not deductible. If you show “a habitual and systematic effort to make a profit”, you may be carrying on a vocation of a miner, and your profits from selling mined tokens are taxed when you dispose of them, not when you mine them.
- Mining for others. Fees you receive for mining on behalf of customers are taxable.
- Salary in tokens. Wages paid in payment tokens are taxable based on the value of the employment services, when the income accrues. If the tokens come with a moratorium (a lock-up), they are taxable when the moratorium is lifted.
- Paid in tokens for services. If you are self-employed and paid in tokens, IRAS treats it as a barter trade and taxes the value of the services you performed.
Staking, DeFi, airdrops and NFTs
Airdrops. According to the IRAS e-Tax Guide, an airdrop of payment tokens that you did not receive in return for goods or services is not income and not taxable. If the airdrop was given “in return for, or in expectation of a service”, it could be taxable.
Hard forks. A second token you receive through a hard fork is not taxable when you receive it. If you trade in payment tokens, gains when you later sell airdropped or forked tokens are taxable.
Staking, lending and DeFi. The IRAS e-Tax Guide on digital tokens does not mention staking rewards, lending or decentralized finance (DeFi), and we found no other IRAS income tax guidance on them (October 2026). Licensed providers in Singapore may not stake or lend a retail customer’s tokens; see regulation.
NFTs. IRAS publishes no income tax guidance on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). For GST it says NFTs that represent rights to specific property, such as digital artwork, are not digital payment tokens (see business tax).
Moving to or from Singapore
Your tax residence decides which rates apply. IRAS treats you as a tax resident for a year of assessment if you are a Singapore citizen or permanent resident who normally resides in Singapore, or a foreigner who stayed or worked in Singapore for at least 183 days in the previous calendar year, or continuously for three consecutive years. There is also a two-year concession for foreign employees whose stay straddles two calendar years and totals at least 183 days. Tax residents are taxed on income earned in Singapore; foreign-sourced income they receive in Singapore is generally exempt (except income received through a partnership in Singapore).
Because there is no capital gains tax, crypto you bought as an investment does not become taxable when you arrive or leave. We found no exit or departure tax on crypto in the IRAS sources we used. When a foreign employee stops working in Singapore or leaves, the employer must notify IRAS at least one month in advance on Form IR21 and withhold money due to the employee (tax clearance). The country you move to may tax crypto differently; see its page in our country guides.
Singapore has no estate duty for deaths on or after 15 February 2008, so crypto in an estate is not taxed as such. We do not yet have a guide to crypto inheritance in Singapore.
Upcoming changes
We found no announced change to the income tax treatment of digital tokens for individuals (October 2026). IRAS updated its e-Tax Guide on 30 January 2026, but only to renumber provisions and make editorial changes. What will change is reporting: Singapore intends to start exchanging data on crypto users with partner countries from September 2028 under the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF); see filing and deadlines.
Sources
- IRAS: Income Tax Treatment of Digital Tokens (e-Tax Guide, 30 January 2026) (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: Gains from sale of property, shares and financial instruments (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: Taxable and non-taxable income (badges of trade, digital tokens) (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: Individual income tax rates (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: Working out my tax residency (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: Basic guide for new individual taxpayers (tax clearance) (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: GST, Digital Payment Tokens (e-Tax Guide, third edition, 30 January 2026) (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: Estate duty (last checked October 2026)
- IRAS: Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), overview and latest developments (last checked October 2026)
This page is general information, not tax advice. Rules and rates change, so check the official sources above before you act.