To The Moon

1.Live Review Introduction

🔗 Unlocking Your SRS Potential

Tiger Brokers livestream hosted by Esther from Tiger Community, featuring Kenny Loh, Wealth Advisory Director and REITs specialist. This recap covers the practical core of the session: how SRS relief flows into your tax bill, how to read your Notice of Assessment, and two worked examples.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the guest speaker and do not represent the official views of Tiger Brokers or its affiliates. This content is strictly for education and discussion purposes and does not constitute financial advice.

Want to see more of the livestream recap? Check it out here>>

• Live Recap 1: SRS 101 — What It Is, Who Can Use It, and Where Singapore's $23.9bn Actually Goes

• Live Recap 2: The 0.05% Problem — What Idle SRS Cash Really Costs You

• Live Recap 4: Putting SRS Money to Work — ETFs, REITs, Insurance and Retirement Income

2.How the Relief Works — and the Dec 31 Rule

In IRAS's example, Mr Tan contributes $12,000 in the year. His SRS operator reports it to IRAS automatically, and $12,000 of relief appears in the following Year of Assessment. Kenny's practical warnings:

• The money must reach the account by Dec 31, and that has to be on a working day.

• Cut-off dates vary, so check with your operator.

• The $80,000 overall relief cap still applies.

3.Reading Your Notice of Assessment

Kenny walked through the three columns of the NOA: income, deductions and reliefs, and chargeable income. In the sample, $165,000 of income less $40,760 of deductions and reliefs leaves $124,240 chargeable, which reaches the 15% bracket. The goal is to claim every relief you're entitled to, so chargeable income (and the bracket) falls.

4.Example 1: Citizen/PR on $165,000

Contributing the full $15,300 lifts total reliefs from $40,760 to $56,060 and cuts chargeable income from $124,240 to $108,940. That pulls part of the income out of the 15% bracket and into 11.5%, saving about $1,908 a year. Over 10 years that adds up to roughly $19,000, and over 20 years to about $38,000.

5.Example 2: Higher-Earning Foreigner on $570,000

Foreigners can contribute up to $35,700. In Kenny's example, reliefs rise from $40,760 to $76,460 and chargeable income falls from $529,240 to $493,540. Part of the income drops from the 23% band into the 22% band, saving more than $8,000 a year. Kenny's point: the higher your bracket, the more each percentage point is worth.

6.The Trade-Off: Lock-Up vs. Lifetime Savings

If the annual tax savings were invested at 4%, Kenny's slide shows about $23,800 after 10 years and $59,100 after 20 for the first example. For the foreigner example, it shows over $100,000 after 10 years and over $250,000 after 20. His framing: to save ~$1,900 a year, you lock up $15,300 for retirement, but it's still your money, whereas tax paid is gone. He also said SRS is not an emergency fund, that you don't have to contribute the maximum, and that the right amount depends on your cash flow.

Closing Takeaway

Estimate your reliefs, estimate your tax, then decide how much to contribute by Dec 31. Contributions made this year count towards YA2027. Whether SRS is worth it comes down to your bracket and your cash flow.

7.Risk Reminder

Tax examples are illustrative, based on the speaker's assumptions and IRAS rates shown on the slides. Your own position depends on your reliefs and income. Please verify with IRAS or a qualified adviser. Viewers without sufficient foundational knowledge are advised to complete education modules before initiating live positions.

8.Post-Event Resources

Follow Kenny Loh on YouTube (Kenny Loh Financial Wisdom, @KennyLohFinancialWisdom), Tothemoon ( @Kenny_Loh / @REITsavvy), or via the REITsavvy website. The full livestream replay is available on the Tiger Trade app.