To Tax Or Not to Tax

It seemed pretty confusing to pty owners & investors after a proposed change on taxing profits from pty sales was reported. It generated enough concerns to send pty stocks down and ytd, MOF (Ministry of Finance) has to come out to clear the air.

Generally, gains from pty sale is not taxable as it is a capital gain, unless a person is deemed to be a trader. This sometimes creates confusion to pty owners who are not sure if they would be taxed.

The proposed change is to provide certainty to owners who sell only 1 pty within a 4yr period. However, it does not mean those who have sold >1 pty within the 4yr period will automatically be taxed. IRAS will assess based on the facts and circumstances of each case.

* MOF-Tax , ST-Tax , IRAS-PtyTrader *

No Go for Bungalow

A couple went to High Court after URA rejected their application to convert a semi-D hse into a bungalow. The court dismissed their appeal and referred to a 2002 URA order that imposed restrictions on the redevelopment of semi-D hse.

The couple's hse sits on a 419 sqm plot, but the hse which it is attached to, has only 244.5 sqm of land. Thus their redevelopment would lead to a lop-sided hse which the 2002 circular was drafted to prevent such anomaly. Therefore the adjoining semi-D must also be on a >=400 sqm land and width of >=10m such that it can be developed into another detached hse, only then the bungalow will be allowed to erect.

* AsiaOne-Bungalow *

Tracking S'pore 2009 Economy - 1Q09 GDP

(1) GDP
1Q09 (qtr-qtr): -14.6%
1Q09 (yr-yr): -10.1% (LastQ: -4.2%)
2008: 1.1% (2007: 7.8%)
2009 Forecast: -9 to -6% (Revised fr: -5 to -2%)

(2) CPI
(A) Mth-Mth
May 09: 0.6%
Apr 09: -1.1%
Mar 09: -0.4%

(B) Yr-Yr
May 09: -0.3%
Apr 09: -0.7%
Mar 09: 1.6%

(C)
2008: 6.5%
1st 5mths of 2009: 1.1%

(3) Employment
1Q09p: -1.0k
4Q08: 21.3k
3Q08: 55.7k
2008: 227.2k (LastYr: 234.9k)

(4) Redundancies
- Retrenchment & Contract Workers
1Q09p: 12,600
4Q08: 9,410
3Q08: 3,180
2008p: 13,400 (LastYr: 7,675)

(5) Unemployment
1Q09p: 3.2%
4Q08: 2.5%
3Q08: 2.3%
2008: 2.3% (LastYr: 2.1%)

(6) Others
Apr09: Total trade -28.5%
Mar09: Industrial Production Index -33.9%
Mar09: Retail Sales -7.3%

* MTI-GDP *
* StatSing: CPI03 , CPI04, CPI05 *
* MOM-Employment *