Income tax question: what will you do in this situation?

Based on current calculations, I will have to pay 6400 in tax.

If top-up SRS 15k = pay 4700 tax.(saved 1700)
Total pay 19,700. (4.7k gone. 15k in SRS)

If pay 5k donation = pay 5000 tax (pay 5k save 1400).
Total pay 10000. (10k gone)

If top-up SRS 15k and 7k MA = pay 3900 tax (pay 22k save 2500)
Total pay 25900. (3.9k tax gone. 15k in SRS, 7k to MA)

If 15k SRS + 5k donate + 2k MA = pay 3k tax (pay 22k save 3.4k)
Total pay 25000. (3k tax + 5k donation = 8k gone. 15k in SRS, 2k to MA)

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Discussion (16)

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Elijah Lee

15 Nov 2019

Senior Financial Services Manager at Phillip Securities (Jurong East)

Hi anon,

I think you meant that you were going to top up 7K in SA instead of MA?

Based on your figures, your taxable income after reliefs is approximately $106.5K. If it was me, I would just work to bring myself out of the 11.5% tax bracket, and hence contribute what is necessary to do so ($26.5K). Once I'm out of that tax bracket, it feels less straining to me to meet my tax obligations.

In this case I would use a combination of SRS ($15.3K), CPF SA top up ($7K) to bring me to $22.3K and then make up the rest from donations ($1.68K). Alternatively, you can also do CPF SA top up to a loved one ($4.2K) to bring yourself out of the tax bracket.

This is based on my belief that

CPF is the cornerstone of my retirement and I should strive to have a decent sum in it
I intend to use SRS for long term investments and only withdraw after 62

A 7% rate of tax is still acceptable to me. I'm actually getting yields from my investments to meet my income tax obligations, and a 7% yield is more realistic (REITs, high yield bonds) than trying to get an 11.5% yield.

Hopefully you will an alternative perspective after reading my thoughts.

If you have queries feel free to reply to this post.

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