Seller’s stamp duty on a new launch: count the four years

Seller’s stamp duty (SSD) in Singapore on a residential property bought on or after 4 July 2025 is 16% of the price or market value (whichever is higher) if you sell in the first year, 12% in the second, 8% in the third and 4% in the fourth, IRAS says. Once more than four years have passed, no SSD is payable. IRAS’s page was last updated on 13 August 2026; we read it on 3 October and again on 17 October 2026. URA’s own buying page still gives a three-year period for purchases from 11 March 2017, as our deadlines page notes; this guide follows IRAS’s later-dated page.

Two dates decide the bill, not the year the building is finished: the date of purchase (in most instances, the date you accept the option to purchase or the date of the sale and purchase agreement, S&PA) and the date of your own sale. On a new launch the start date can fall years before handover, so the four years may run out before or after the keys arrive.

This page covers the seller’s side only; buyer’s and additional buyer’s stamp duty are in our new-launch stamp duty guide, and our free BSD and ABSD calculator works out the buyer’s side from IRAS’s tables (it does not work out SSD). The other cost guides sit under comparisons. It is general information, not tax or legal advice: your lawyer confirms the dates and the amount for a particular sale.

Which dates does IRAS count as the purchase and the sale?

IRAS says that in most instances the date of purchase is one of these (our new launch glossary explains the terms):

• the date you accept the option to purchase (an option that is subject to signing the S&PA is excluded);
• the date of the S&PA;
• the date of the agreement for lease, for a new HDB flat;
• the date of transfer to a beneficiary, where the property was originally held on trust for beneficial owners who cannot be identified; or
• the date of transfer, where none of the above applies.

The date of sale is read the same way: the date the buyer accepts the option to purchase on the seller’s offer to sell (again excluding an option that is subject to signing the S&PA), the date of the S&PA, or the date of transfer where neither applies. IRAS’s FAQ adds that an option granted before 4 July 2025 but accepted on or after it falls under the four-year schedule, because the period runs from acceptance. For a developer purchase, ask your lawyer which document fixes your start date; our option to purchase guide sets out what each date starts.

What if the home was inherited, transferred after a divorce or bought in part-shares?

Some transfers carry an earlier start date with them. IRAS sets out three:

• Inheritance: the date the deceased acquired the property. In IRAS’s example, a seller whose late father bought on 1 September 1999 sold the inherited home on 1 October 2018 and owed no SSD.
• Transfer after a divorce that meets the matrimonial proceedings remission rules: the later of the date of the marriage that ended and the date the transferor acquired the interest.
• Transfer of an HDB flat within the family that meets the remission rule: the earliest date any existing owner acquired the flat, if that owner has held an interest continuously.

A gift outside those rules starts a new clock. In IRAS’s example, a wife gave her half share of a home bought in 2005 to her husband on 10 March 2018, and he sold on 1 September 2018: he owed SSD at 12% (the first-year rate for acquisitions between 11 March 2017 and 3 July 2025) on the half share he acquired from her. Parts of a property acquired at different times each have their own holding period, and a partial interest is charged on the higher of its price or market value. Other duties on adding or removing a name are in our guide to changing names on a title.

Is a sale on the fourth anniversary free of seller’s stamp duty?

On IRAS’s own Example 3, yes. The rate table puts a sale “more than 3 years and up to 4 years” after purchase at 4% and one “more than 4 years” at nil, which on our reading does not by itself settle a sale on the anniversary day. IRAS’s worked examples do: Example 3 has a purchase on 7 July 2025 and adds that if the sale is on or after 7 July 2029, no SSD is payable. Examples 1 and 2, for the older schedules, use the same “on or after” wording.

Here is the arithmetic for an illustrative, fictional purchase: an option accepted on 2 November 2026, and a later sale at S$2,000,000 (or market value, if higher). The band boundaries are the anniversaries of 2 November 2026.

• Year one, to the first anniversary, 2 November 2027: 16% of S$2,000,000 = S$320,000
• Year two, to 2 November 2028: 12% = S$240,000
• Year three, to 2 November 2029: 8% = S$160,000
• Year four, up to 1 November 2030, the day before the fourth anniversary: 4% = S$80,000
• On or after 2 November 2030, the fourth anniversary: nil, following IRAS’s Example 3

One day can separate S$80,000 from nothing: a sale on 1 November 2030 is inside the fourth year, and on IRAS’s example a sale on 2 November 2030 is outside it. Our inference: because IRAS lists the date of transfer as the sale date only where there is no option or S&PA, a sale agreed in the last weeks of year four but completed after the anniversary keeps its earlier sale date; confirm that with your lawyer.

Does the four-year window end before a new launch is finished?

It depends on the project’s dates. Far East’s page for The Serra Residences, a 133-home freehold development at 7 Bassein Road, lists an Expected Vacant Possession Date of 1 September 2031 and an Expected Legal Completion Date of 1 September 2034 in a block headed “Disclaimer and Legal Details”, which also carries the line “Subject to change without prior notice”. The page shows no “last updated” date; we read it on 3 and 17 October 2026, and the dates had not changed. Far East’s release of 2 October 2026, which slated the official sales launch for Friday 16 October 2026, expects the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) in the fourth quarter of 2030.

Set those dates against the fictional 2 November 2026 option. The four-year window would close on 2 November 2030: within the quarter in which Far East expects TOP, 303 days before the expected vacant possession date and 3 years and 303 days before the expected legal completion date. Our inference, from date arithmetic and not from IRAS or Far East: a sale agreed on or after 2 November 2030 would fall outside the window, and one agreed before it inside, whether or not the building is finished, because IRAS’s page does not mention building completion.

The Serra is used only because Far East states these dates; 2 November 2026 is invented and is not a Serra booking. If a project’s vacant possession date fell before the fourth anniversary of a buyer’s start date, a sale soon after handover could still carry SSD (our inference). For the completion milestones, see our TOP guide; for the project, our Serra Residences guide.

Which sellers are exempt from seller’s stamp duty?

IRAS lists these exemptions under the Stamp Duties Act, and sellers do not need to apply to the Commissioner of Stamp Duties for them:

• Licensed housing developers selling residential properties they developed.
• Public authorities such as HDB and JTC, when exercising their functions and duties.
• Owners whose properties are acquired by the Government under the Land Acquisition Act.
• Individuals adjudged bankrupt who must sell because of the bankruptcy, and companies selling on involuntary winding up.
• Foreigners who must sell under the Residential Property Act.
• Several HDB cases, such as flats returned to HDB on repossession or under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme.

A seller adjudged bankrupt only after selling does not qualify, IRAS’s FAQ says, and the list does not mention selling because of a job move, a growing family or a loan that has become hard to service. We did not read IRAS’s pages on appeals, refunds, reliefs and remissions, so check them before assuming no relief exists.

How does a collective sale change the dates?

For a collective sale, IRAS treats the date of disposal as the date the collective sale contract is executed between the sellers, represented by the collective sale committee, and the buyer. That is often the date of the letter accepting the winning bid, but IRAS tells sellers to check the date with their lawyer. Owners who did not consent are liable too: in IRAS’s example, a non-consenting owner who bought on 4 September 2017, with the contract executed on 26 February 2018, owed 12%, the first-year rate in IRAS’s table for purchases between 11 March 2017 and 3 July 2025.

When is seller’s stamp duty due, and what if it is late?

SSD must be paid within 14 days from the date of the executed sale contract, IRAS says, and there is no deferment. A penalty applies for late stamping and payment: IRAS gives it as 5% per annum, calculated daily until the duty is paid. The SSD page does not say what the 5% is charged on and points to a separate late-payment page we did not read, so we do not compute a penalty. IRAS’s general stamping rules give 30 days after receiving a document in Singapore, instead of 14 days after signing, if it is signed overseas; the SSD page states only the 14 days, so ask your lawyer which period applies if anyone signs abroad.

The seller’s law firm must complete IRAS’s Seller’s Stamp Duty for Residential Properties Declaration Form and is advised to keep it for at least five years from the date of sale; it need not be sent to IRAS. IRAS says payment can be made through the myTax Portal (Stamp Duty Login). Because the 14 days run from the executed contract, ask your lawyer early how the duty will be paid.

What to check before you accept an offer to sell

• The start date on your documents, and whether your option was subject to signing the S&PA.
• Any part of the property acquired later by gift, divorce transfer or inheritance, and its own start date.
• The date four years after the start date, against the sale date you are heading for (option acceptance or S&PA date; IRAS lists the date of transfer only where neither applies).
• Whether an exemption in IRAS’s list applies, and where the duty will come from within 14 days of the contract.
• Whether IRAS has updated its page since 13 August 2026.

Common questions