Quick answer
Businesses in Singapore deduct the cost of training their employees, and the Enterprise Innovation Scheme lifts the deduction to 400% on the first S$400,000 of qualifying training a year until Year of Assessment 2028. A sole proprietor’s or partner’s own training is not deductible against business income, and the personal course fees relief that used to soften that lapsed from Year of Assessment 2026. GST on Singapore training is claimable as input tax.
Is professional development tax deductible in Singapore?
For staff, yes. Training employees is an ordinary business expense incurred in the production of income, and course fees, assessment and certification fees, and the trainer’s costs are deductible under section 14. Singapore then goes further than any other jurisdiction on this site. Under the Enterprise Innovation Scheme, a business can claim 400% tax deduction on the first S$400,000 of qualifying training expenditure per Year of Assessment from YA 2024 to YA 2028, with 100% on anything above that. Qualifying expenditure means course fees paid to a SkillsFuture Singapore funded course provider, including certification and assessment fees, net of any government grant or subsidy received for the course. Companies with little taxable income can convert part of the qualifying spend into a cash payout instead.
For the owner personally, the answer is the opposite. IRAS’s list of disallowable expenses for the self-employed includes training expenditure incurred by the sole proprietor or partner, with the single exception of a non-equity salaried partner, who is treated as an employee. Until Year of Assessment 2025 the owner could at least claim course fees relief in the personal return, up to S$5,500 a year for approved courses, but Budget 2024 announced that relief would lapse from Year of Assessment 2026 in favour of SkillsFuture Credit and direct course subsidies. A sole proprietor doing a S$3,000 professional course in 2026 therefore gets no tax relief for it through either route.
The structure matters more than elsewhere as a result. A business run through a company that trains its director-employee deducts the cost; the same person trading as a sole proprietor cannot. Employees who are sent on job-related training by their employer are not taxed on the benefit.
How much can you claim?
Staff training: the full cost, and 400% of qualifying expenditure under the Enterprise Innovation Scheme. Worked example: a Singapore accounting firm (a private company) spends S$18,000 in its 2026 financial year on SkillsFuture-funded courses for staff, after deducting S$6,000 of course subsidies, plus S$4,000 on an overseas conference for two managers. The S$18,000 qualifies for the enhanced deduction, giving S$72,000 of deductions, and the conference is deducted at S$4,000. Total deductions S$76,000 against S$22,000 of actual spend, worth S$12,920 at 17% before partial exemption. The firm’s sole-proprietor competitor spending S$3,000 on her own CPD claims nothing.
| Scenario | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Employee training, SkillsFuture-funded course | 400% deduction on first S$400,000 per YA to YA 2028 |
| Employee training, other providers | 100% deduction |
| Employee conference or seminar | Deductible |
| Sole proprietor’s or partner’s own training | Not deductible |
| Non-equity salaried partner’s training | Deductible, treated as employee |
| Employee’s own course fees | No deduction; course fees relief lapsed from YA 2026 |
| Travel and accommodation for staff training | Deductible with the course |
Travel to overseas training follows the Singapore travel rules.
GST on training
Training supplied in Singapore is standard-rated at 9%, and a GST-registered business claims the input tax on staff training used for making taxable supplies, with a full tax invoice for amounts of S$1,000 or more. Government subsidies reduce the amount you pay but the supplier’s invoice determines the GST. Online courses from GST-registered overseas providers are charged 9% under the overseas vendor registration regime unless you supply your GST registration number. The Singapore GST guide covers the mechanics.
Record-keeping requirements
Keep course invoices, the SkillsFuture course reference, attendance records, and evidence of any subsidy received, because the Enterprise Innovation Scheme deduction is computed net of grants. Keep the course outline to show the training is job-related. Records must be kept for five years from the relevant Year of Assessment. The Singapore record-keeping guide covers electronic records.
How to claim, step by step
- Confirm the trainee is an employee; an owner’s own course is disallowable unless they are a non-equity salaried partner.
- Check whether the course is SkillsFuture Singapore funded; if so, flag it for the Enterprise Innovation Scheme.
- Deduct the net course cost in the tax computation and claim the 300% enhanced deduction on qualifying expenditure in Form C-S or Form C.
- Decide whether to convert qualifying expenditure to a cash payout if the business has little taxable income.
- Claim input tax on Singapore course fees with a full tax invoice for S$1,000 or more; give overseas providers the GST number.
- Keep course references, subsidy records, and attendance evidence for five years.
Common mistakes
- A sole proprietor deducting their own course fees as a business expense.
- Claiming course fees relief in the personal return for 2026, when it no longer exists.
- Computing the 400% deduction on the gross fee rather than net of subsidies.
- Assuming any training qualifies for the enhanced deduction; only SkillsFuture-funded courses do.
- Paying GST to an overseas course provider instead of giving it the GST number.
Software that helps
- Dext captures course invoices and subsidy statements and files them together.
- ExpenseFlow reads training invoices with frontier vision AI, states the deductibility test under each line (whether it is for staff or for the proprietor personally), lowers its confidence so a reviewer decides when the invoice does not show the course or the attendee, and syncs the result to Xero or QuickBooks with the document attached.
- Xero tracks training spend by employee for the Enterprise Innovation Scheme schedule.
FAQ
See the answered questions above for the owner’s own training, staff training, course fees relief, employer-paid courses, and GST.
From ExpenseFlow
GST coding on autopilot
ExpenseFlow reads every receipt, assigns the right GST treatment and account code, and syncs to Xero or QuickBooks Online once you approve.