How to calculate stamp duty on a tenancy agreement

The rate

Lease stamp duty is 0.4%. What changes is the amount you apply it to.

• Four years or shorter — 0.4% of the total rent for the whole lease.
• Longer than four years, or no fixed end date — 0.4% of four times the average annual rent.

If the average annual rent is $1,000 or less, you pay nothing. That's about $83 a month, so it rarely comes up outside of nominal family arrangements.

A worked example

A two-year lease at $3,500 a month:

• Total rent: $3,500 × 24 = $84,000
• Lease is under four years, so duty applies to the full $84,000
• Duty: 0.4% × $84,000 = $336

Your lease

Who pays and when

The tenant pays, within 14 days of signing in Singapore, through the IRAS e-Stamping portal. Landlords sometimes offer to handle it, but the liability still sits with the tenant unless the agreement says otherwise.

Where people get this wrong

• Applying 0.4% to one year's rent instead of the total across the lease. On a two-year lease that halves the figure.
• Skipping stamping on a short lease. The penalty runs to four times the duty, and it's a few hundred dollars to do it properly.
• Forgetting to re-stamp on renewal.

The steps, in order

1. Add up the total rent. Multiply the monthly rent by the number of months in the lease. Include any fixed additional charges written into the agreement.
2. Check the lease length. Four years or shorter uses the total rent. Longer than four years, or an open-ended lease, uses four times the average annual rent instead.
3. Check the exemption. If the average annual rent is $1,000 or less, no duty is payable.
4. Apply 0.4%. Multiply the dutiable amount by 0.4%. IRAS rounds the result down to the nearest dollar.
5. Pay within 14 days. The tenant stamps the agreement through the IRAS e-Stamping portal within 14 days of signing in Singapore.