Tenancy Agreement Stamp Duty in Singapore: How Much and Who Pays (2026)

It is the smallest bill in the whole tenancy and the one most often forgotten. Stamp duty is a few hundred dollars on a typical Singapore lease, but leaving it unpaid quietly weakens the one document you will need if the deposit or the reinstatement bill is ever argued about. Here is exactly what it costs in 2026, who owes it, and what happens if it is late.

What is stamp duty on a tenancy agreement?

The certificate matters more than most tenants realise. It is the artefact that turns a signed piece of paper into a document a Singapore court or tribunal will look at. Everything else in your lease, including the reinstatement clause and the deposit terms, sits on top of it.

One exception worth knowing: IRAS notes that a genuine licence agreement, common for letting a food stall in a coffee shop or hawker centre, may not attract stamp duty, as long as it is truly a licence and is not executed in connection with a lease.

How much stamp duty do you pay on a tenancy agreement in Singapore?

AAR is the higher of the average annual contractual rent and the annualised market rent, and it includes other consideration paid under the lease. Source: IRAS, Renting a Property.

What does that look like at real 2026 rents?

Because the rate applies to the total rent across the lease, a two-year lease costs exactly twice as much to stamp as a one-year lease at the same rent.

The HDB example shows the rounding rule at work: 0.4% of S$76,800 is S$307.20, and IRAS rounds that down to S$307. The room example clears the exemption easily, because S$900 a month is an AAR of S$10,800, well above the S$1,000 threshold. In practice, essentially every residential tenancy in Singapore is dutiable, since the exemption would need rent of roughly S$83 a month or less.

Who pays stamp duty, the tenant or the landlord?

If you are negotiating, this is one of the eight items worth settling in writing before you sign. Our guide to tenancy agreement clauses every renter should know covers the rest, from the minor repair cap to the notice period.

When must a tenancy agreement be stamped?

The 30-day rule is the one that catches relocating tenants and their agents. If an expat signs the lease before flying in, the clock runs from when the document arrives in Singapore, not from the signature date. Agents handling overseas signings should record both dates in the file.

What happens if you stamp a tenancy agreement late?

On the S$432 condo lease above, stamping four months late means a penalty of S$1,728 on top of the S$432 duty, so S$2,160 in total for a bill that was originally S$432. IRAS can also appoint your bank, employer or lawyer as an agent to recover unpaid duty, issue a Travel Restriction Order stopping you from leaving Singapore, or take legal action.

There is a route back. Under the IRAS Voluntary Disclosure Programme, a qualifying voluntary disclosure reduces the penalty to 5% of the late or underpaid amount for each year of non-compliance, calculated on a daily basis. That is dramatically cheaper than being found out, which is the whole point of the programme.

Can an unstamped tenancy agreement be used in a deposit dispute?

This is where stamp duty stops being paperwork and starts costing real money. If a landlord withholds part of the deposit for reinstatement and the matter goes to the Small Claims Tribunals, the tenancy agreement is the primary evidence of what was actually agreed. An unstamped lease has to be stamped, with penalty, before it can be relied on, and that penalty lands on whoever was liable to stamp it.

For how those claims actually run, see security deposit disputes and the Small Claims Tribunal and who actually decides a deposit dispute in Singapore.

Do you pay stamp duty again when you renew or extend a lease?

IRAS also lists variations that attract no duty at all: changing the permitted use with no additional payment, lifting restrictions with no additional payment, adding an option to renew, or bringing forward or deferring the start of a lease without changing the term or the gross rent. A renewal at the same rent for a fresh term, though, is a new dutiable lease.

Tenants exiting early under a diplomatic clause sometimes ask about a refund. Stamp duty already paid is not automatically returned when a lease ends early, so treat it as a sunk cost of the term you committed to.

How do you stamp a tenancy agreement in Singapore?

1. Agree who stamps. Confirm the clause in the tenancy agreement before signing, not after.
2. Note both dates. Signature date, and if signed overseas, the date the document arrived in Singapore.
3. Compute the duty. Total rent across the full term, times 0.4%, rounded down. Include any fixed additional consideration.
4. e-Stamp within 14 days at the IRAS portal and pay immediately.
5. File the Stamp Certificate with the signed lease, the move-in inventory and your handover photos. That bundle is what settles arguments later.

Agents running back-to-back tenancies can fold step 4 into the same workflow as the keys, utilities and inventory handover. Our end-of-tenancy handover checklist for agents sets out the full 30-day sequence.

How does stamp duty affect your deposit at handover?

Tenants who stamp on time and photograph the unit at both ends almost always argue from the stronger position, because nothing about their paperwork can be challenged before the merits are even reached. For the practical side of that exit, start with our guide to getting your full rental deposit back.