The channel
Singapore for legacy planning — 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 — IRAS: 'Estate Duty has been removed for deaths on and after 15 February 2008' (as of 2026-09-13; 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 — Income Tax Act 1947 s10L(1)–(3): gains of an entity of a relevant group from a foreign asset sold on or after 1 Jan 2024 and received in Singapore are chargeable under s10(1)(g) unless the seller is an excluded entity with adequate economic substance (operations managed and performed in Singapore, adequate staff and premises, key decisions taken here) (as of 2026-09-13; source: Singapore Statutes Online)
Family office incentives (13O / 13U)
13O: S$20m minimum — 13O single-family-office fund: at least S$20m of AUM in Designated Investments at application and at the end of each basis period, for awards approved on or after 1 Aug 2026 (MAS Circular FDD Cir 05/2026, 31 Jul 2026); S$20m at application under the 5 Jul 2023 conditions before that, with existing awards tested at S$20m AUM in DI at each basis-period end from the YA whose basis period ends on or after 1 Aug 2026. Two qualifying investment professionals, at least one not a family member (may apply with one; the second must be employed by the end of the first YA). The family's operating-business stakes do not count toward the minimum (as of 2026-09-13; source: MAS Circular FDD Cir 05/2026)
13U: S$50m minimum — 13U single-family-office fund: at least S$50m of AUM in Designated Investments at application and at the end of each basis period; three qualifying investment professionals, at least one not a family member (may apply with two) (as of 2026-09-13; source: MAS Circular FDD Cir 05/2026)
Sunset: 31 Dec 2029 — the 13D/13O/13OA/13U schemes expire on 31 Dec 2029 unless extended after a Government review; funds holding an award as at that date continue to enjoy the exemption (MAS Circular FDD Cir 05/2026) (as of 2026-09-27; source: MAS Circular FDD Cir 05/2026)
>2,000 SFOs — single family offices receiving 13O/13U tax incentives as of end-December 2025 (MAS written reply, Parliament sitting 5 Aug 2026), up from ~400 at end-2020 (reply of 5 Feb 2025: 'over 2,000' at end-2024); Singapore AUM S$6.7 trillion at end-2025 (as of 2026-09-20; source: MAS written reply to Parliamentary Question on the number of Single Family Offices, 5 Aug 2026)
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 Option C (Family Office Principals): a Singapore-based single family office with AUM of at least S$200m, of which at least S$50m is transferred into Singapore on approval-in-principle and deployed in EDB specified investments (equities listed on Singapore approved exchanges, among others) within 12 months of final PR approval and maintained for the Re-Entry Permit (GIP Factsheet updated 5 May 2025; rule effective 21 Feb 2025) (as of 2026-09-20; source: EDB Global Investor Programme factsheet (updated 5 May 2025))
Trusts
100 years perpetuity — fixed perpetuity period under Civil Law Act 1909 s32, applied (with ss33–34) to trusts created on or after 15 Dec 2004 by Trustees Act 1967 s89; Trustees Act s90 shields a Singapore-law trust with Singapore-resident trustees from foreign forced-heirship claims where the settlor was neither a Singapore citizen nor Singapore-domiciled at creation (s90(3)); no public trust register; Trustees Act Part 7 (Transparency and Effective Control, in the Act since 2017) has since 20 Jun 2025 provided for a Commissioner of Trust Enforcement with investigation powers (Act 42 of 2024) (as of 2026-10-11; 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.