An Ultimate Guide to Road Tax in Singapore

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Did you know that the upfront vehicle cost in Singapore is not the retail price you see at the dealerships? On top of that figure, you will have to pay a vehicle registration fee, an additional registration fee, quota premium for a Certificate of Entitlement, excise duty and, of course, road tax. Road tax in Singapore is the tax you pay to the country’s government for owning and driving a vehicle on Singapore’s roads which majorly goes into transport infrastructure building, maintenance, traffic personnel salaries and more. Just like other taxes, the payment is recurring, that is, you will have to renew your road tax after a specific interval and it is illegal to drive a vehicle without clearing the road tax and.

If things seem daunting to you, fret not. We have compiled this comprehensive guide on road tax SG where we answer the common questions that frequently come up around the topic and elaborate on all the requisites – renewals, deadlines, road tax calculations and more. So, here’s the quick crash course on Singapore’s road tax policies.

How does the road tax system work in Singapore?

You are required to pay a road tax in Singapore every 6 or 12 months, upon which you will receive a payment receipt that will serve as your proof of road tax payment. At the end of that span, you will receive a notice about your road tax is due for renewal. Pay again for 6 or 12 months and you are set until the next renewal. This recurring cost will stay throughout your vehicle ownership period.

How to calculate road tax in Singapore?

Here are 3 factors that affect the road tax payable in Singapore.

• Engine capacity
• Vehicle’s age
• Fuel used

Based on these, the road tax in Singapore is calculated as per the following tables.

Engine Capacity (EC) for petrol and diesel cars:

Vehicle Engine Capacity	Road Tax Formula for 12 months
EC <= 600cc	S$400*0.782
600cc < EC <= 1000cc	[S$400+0.25*(EC-600)]*0.782
1000cc < EC <= 1600cc	[S$500+0.75*(EC-1000)]*0.782
1600cc < EC <= 3000cc	[S$950+1.5*(EC-1600)]*0.782
EC > 3000cc	[S$3050+2.0*(EC-3000)]*0.782

Engine Capacity for electric cars:

Vehicle Power Rating (PR)	Road Tax Formula for 6 months
PR <= 7.5 kW	S$200*0.782
7.5 kW < PR <= 30 kW	[S$200+2*(PR-7.5)]*0.782
30 kW < PR <= 90 kW	[S$250+3.75*(PR-30)]*0.782
90 kW < PR <= 230 kW	[S$475+7.5*(PR-90)]*0.782
EC > 230 kW	[S$1525+10*(PR-230)]*0.782

Vehicle Age:

Vehicle Age	Annual Surcharge (% of Road Tax)
Less than 10 years	No Surcharge, standard road tax
More than 10 years	10%
More than 11 years	20%
More than 12 years	30%
More than 13 years	40%
More than 14 years	50%

Fuel Type:

No extra charge is levied for petrol vehicles. However, if you own a diesel vehicle, S$1.25 is charged per cubic centimetres or cc of the engine capacity for Euro IV or below standards. That figure drops to S$0.40 per cc for Euro V or above standards. For fully electric cars, you will have to pay an additional $700 per year as flat component fee.

How do you pay your initial road tax?

While buying a new vehicle, your dealer would work the car road tax in Singapore into your overall cost price. You should receive the road tax receipt from the dealer. However, if you are buying a used vehicle from an individual seller, he/she would have paid the road tax to keep the vehicle operable and it is transferrable to you as the new owner. No matter the path you take, you will have to think about road tax renewals. We will cover that next in this article.

How do you know that the road tax is up for renewal?

The good news is that you will not have to keep track. The Land Transport Authority of Singapore of LTA will send you a notice 1 month before your road tax expiry to remind you about the renewal. Once you receive the notice, you can start the payment process to renew road tax in SG as soon as possible.

What do you need for road tax renewal?

The LTA requires you to have the following pre-requisites sorted out before you can proceed to pay your road tax in Singapore.

Vehicle Insurance

According the regulations, your car or motorcycle should be insured for the entire period for which you want to pay the road tax. For instance, if you have 15 months left in your insurance, you can pay road tax for up to 12 months. However, if your insurance is due for renewal after 9 months, you cannot make the same road tax payment and you will have to go for the 6-month road tax duration instead.

Additionally, the LTA requires that your vehicle insurance must cover third-party liabilities and physical injuries. So, your basic TPO plan will be enough to renew your road tax. Anything higher will both clear road tax requirements and get you better coverage.

Vehicle Inspection

LTA also expects you to get your vehicle inspected when it is time for road tax renewal. If you received your inspection notice the month before receiving the road tax notice, you will have to complete the inspection and carry the all-clear report while paying your car or motorcycle road tax in Singapore even when you have 3 months buffer to get the vehicle inspected.

Outstanding Dues Cleared

You can only pay and renew your road tax in Singapore if you do not have any outstanding dues or fines with the Land Transport Authority, Housing and Development Board, Traffic Police or Urban Redevelopment Agency. We recommend that you check with the respective authorities for any outstanding fines before renewing your road tax as the dues will get in the way of tax payment.

How to pay road tax in Singapore?

You can choose any of the following four ways to pay your motorcycle or car road tax in SG.

Pay directly at the Road Tax Collection Centres

This is the quickest way to renew your vehicle’s road tax on the spot. Simply carry the associated documents of all the pre-requisites to your nearest road tax collection centre or SingPost, make the payment and you are done. You will receive the payment receipt on spot with no waiting time.

Renew through your GIRO account

If you wish for the road tax to be deducted automatically by the LTA from your GIRO account, you need to send in the GIRO application form 1 month before the tax renewal deadline. It takes time for LTA to process your application but you should have no issues if you have successfully filed the application on time. When approved, the LTA will deduct the road tax, inform you and send you the payment receipt.

Pay at AXS Stations

However, if you do not like standing in queues of filling out forms, you can visit your nearest AXS machine or pay over AXS e-Stations or m-Stations to renew road tax in Singapore. You can use ATM card or credit card to make the payment. AXS Stations also has internet banking facilities and accepts DBS Paylah and MasterPass.

Lastly, renew online

We recommend this method as you can complete your road tax formalities from anywhere without travelling extra for the same. OneMotoring allows you to renew road tax online in Singapore throughout the day, except between 12 AM to 1 AM. You can use internet banking, debit and credit card or UOB to make the road tax payment. However, online processing generally takes 3 days. So, be sure to renew online at least 3 days before your road tax deadline.

What if you fail to renew road tax before its expiry?

One, you will not be permitted to drive your vehicle in Singapore until you renew the road tax. Two, you will have to pay a fine to the LTA depending on the delay between the expiration date and the date of renewal. We have tabulated the late charges here for you.

Motorcycles:

Engine Capacity (EC)	Renewed < 1 month of expiration	to 2.5 months	>2.5 months	>6 months
EC<300cc	S$10	S$30	S$50	S$130
EC>=300cc	S$10	S$60	S$80	S$230

Cars:

Engine Capacity (EC)	Renewed < 1 month of expiration	1 to 2.5 months	>2.5 months	>3 months
<=1000cc	S$10	S$60	S$80	S$230
1000cc<EC<=1600cc	S$20	S$70	S$90	S$240
1600cc<EC<=2000cc	S$30	S$80	S$100	S$250
2000cc<EC<=3000cc	S$40	S$90	S$110	S$260
EC>3000cc	S$50	S$100	S$120	S$270

What if you decide to sell your vehicle?

Road taxes must be paid and renewed before you can deregister or sell your vehicle and transfer the same to the new owner. Naturally, you should factor in the road tax amount inside the car’s price as you cannot sell without the road tax renewed.

There you go! That brings us to the end of this ultimate guide to road taxes in Singapore. We recommend that you also think about your vehicle insurance renewal while going about your road tax renewal since the road tax cannot be paid without a functioning insurance.

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