Singapore Expands Tax Breaks To Accountants And Lawyers

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

21 April 2004

The Singaporean government has extended tax breaks which are usually only available for corporations to partnerships, in an attempt to encourage more accounting, audit, and law firms to locate their headquarters in the country.

Under the Expansion Incentive for Partnerships scheme, unveiled at the end of last month, firms which are able to prove that they intend to expand their Singapore-based operations will receive a 50% tax exemption on qualifying overseas income over a certain amount (determined by the average of the partnership's profits for the provision of services in the region over the three years prior to the application).

Speaking to the LMG news service, Baker & McKenzie tax partner, Edmund Leow welcomed the move, observing that:

"Traditionally Singapore has always tried to attract foreign investment from multinational corporations with tax incentives. They have now realized that professional services firms are very important to the economy as well."

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