No. S 478
Income Tax Act
(Chapter 134)
Income Tax (Further Deduction for Expenses Incurred in Relocation or Recruitment of Overseas Talent) Regulations 1999
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 14L of the Income Tax Act, the Minister for Finance hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation
1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Income Tax (Further Deduction for Expenses Incurred in Relocation or Recruitment of Overseas Talent) Regulations 1999.
Definitions
2.  In these Regulations —
“current employer”, in relation to a prescribed employee, means the person to whom the further deduction under regulation 3 is allowed in respect of the prescribed employee;
“prescribed employee” means —
(a)in relation to an employee who holds an employment pass, an employee —
(i)who is recruited from outside Singapore;
(ii)who is issued a P1 or P2 employment pass as endorsed in his passport or any other travel document by the Controller of Immigration; and
(iii)if he had previously been employed by any person in Singapore, who, at any time during the period from his last employment in Singapore to the time before his employment with the current employer, had been employed by any person who was not his current employer or a related employer;
(b)in relation to an employee who is a Singapore citizen or permanent resident of Singapore, an employee —
(i)who is recruited from outside Singapore;
(ii)who has, in the 18-month period immediately prior to being employed by the current employer, been employed by any person outside Singapore for a period or periods exceeding in the aggregate of not less than 12 months;
(iii)if he had previously been employed by any person in Singapore, who, at any time during the period from his last employment in Singapore to the time before his employment with the current employer, had been employed by any person who was not his current employer or a related employer; and
(iv)who is approved by the Ministry of Manpower to be of an employment status equivalent to that of an employee who is issued a P1 or P2 employment pass;
“prescribed expenses” means —
(a)in relation to a prescribed employee who is issued a P1 employment pass or is approved to be of such an equivalent employment status, relocation expenses and recruitment expenses, subject to a maximum of $15,000, incurred in respect of that employee; and
(b)in relation to a prescribed employee who is issued a P2 employment pass or is approved to be of such an equivalent employment status, relocation expenses, subject to a maximum of $5,000, incurred in respect of that employee;
“recruitment expenses” means any expenses incurred in recruiting a prescribed employee from outside Singapore to be employed in Singapore and includes —
(a)fees paid to an employment agency; and
(b)return air fare incurred in bringing the prescribed employee for recruitment interviews;
“related employer”, in relation to a current employer, means any person who, directly or indirectly, controls the current employer, or is controlled, directly or indirectly, by the current employer, or where both, directly or indirectly, are under the control of a common person;
“relocation expenses” means any expenses incurred in relocating a prescribed employee from outside Singapore to be employed in Singapore and includes —
(a)one-way air fare for the prescribed employee to come to Singapore to commence his employment with the current employer;
(b)one-way air fare to bring to Singapore any spouse and any unmarried child (below the age of 21 years) of the prescribed employee, in respect of one trip each for the spouse or child to be made within the period of one year from the date of commencement of his employment with the current employer;
(c)baggage allowance;
(d)expenses incurred in providing temporary accommodation to the prescribed employee for a period not exceeding 30 days in Singapore or an allowance for that purpose, before the prescribed employee obtains his own place of residence; and
(e)allowance for furnishing the prescribed employee’s place of residence in Singapore.
Further deduction of prescribed expenses
3.—(1)  Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, for the purpose of ascertaining the income of any person carrying on a trade, profession or business, there shall be allowed to the person a further deduction, in addition to the deduction allowed under section 14 of the Act, of the prescribed expenses incurred during the period from 1st October 1998 to 30th September 2003 by the person in recruiting or relocating any prescribed employee from outside Singapore to be employed in Singapore by the person.
(2)  For the purposes of the further deduction to be allowed to any person under paragraph (1) in respect of any prescribed employee, where the person is a recipient of any grant given under any Government assistance scheme to offset the recruitment or relocation expenses incurred in respect of the prescribed employee, the amount of further deduction to be allowed under that paragraph shall be reduced by the amount of the grant.
(3)  The total amount of further deduction to be allowed to any person under paragraph (1) for any year of assessment shall not in the aggregate exceed $150,000 in respect of all prescribed employees employed by the person in the basis period for that year of assessment.
Made this 21st day of October 1999.
LIM SIONG GUAN
Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Finance,
Singapore.
[MF R60.3.002 V3; AG/LEG/SL/134/97/9 Vol. 1]