The channel
Singapore — the numbers, dated
Guides on this subject contradict each other on thresholds because they publish once and never re-verify. Every figure below carries its date; when one drifts, it is corrected in the open. Verified 2026-08-27
What this page is forThis is the reference card. When a banker, lawyer, or uncle quotes you a Singapore number — a family-office minimum, a tax rule, a residency threshold — check it here in one minute, with its date and primary source. Forward it instead of arguing. The reading starts in the case files; the checking happens here.
Tax
Estate duty: abolished — for deaths on or after 15 February 2008 (Budget 2008); no inheritance, gift, or net-wealth tax (as of 2026-08-27; source: IRAS)
Capital gains: none* — *Section 10L (from 1 Jan 2024) can tax gains on foreign assets sold by entities lacking economic substance in Singapore (as of 2026-08-27; source: IRAS)
Family office incentives (13O / 13U)
13O: S$5m minimum — 13O minimum in Designated Investments at every financial year-end (not merely at approval); 2 investment professionals, ≥1 non-family — conditions effective 1 Jan 2025; funds approved under earlier tests must comply by 2027 (as of 2026-08-27; source: MAS)
13U: S$50m minimum — 13U minimum in Designated Investments; 3 investment professionals (as of 2026-08-27; source: MAS)
Sunset: 31 Dec 2029 — 13O/13U lapse unless extended (MAS circular, Oct 2024) (as of 2026-08-27; source: MAS)
>2,000 SFOs — single family offices awarded tax incentives by end-2024, from ~400 in 2020 (as of 2026-08-27; source: MAS parliamentary replies)
Seen a different 13O minimum quoted elsewhere — S$10m, S$20m? Why the guides disagree, and which regime each number belonged to.
Residency (Global Investor Programme)
Option C: S$200m AUM — GIP family-office route; S$50m into equities listed on MAS-approved Singapore exchanges (rule effective 21 Feb 2025) (as of 2026-08-27; source: EDB)
Trusts
100 years perpetuity — Trustees Act 1967 perpetuity period; Section 90 shields Singapore trusts from foreign forced-heirship claims; no public trust register (as of 2026-08-27; source: Singapore Statutes Online)
What Singapore does not solve
Home-country estate and gift tax (Taiwan taxes worldwide estates of domiciliaries), forced heirship and faraid where they apply, and family alignment. A structure built here holds what is settled into it — it does not decide who your family becomes after the funeral. That part is the conversation, not the jurisdiction. See where to start and your country page.