Moving from the US to Singapore
Singapore's central attraction — no capital gains tax — is the one thing a US citizen cannot fully capture, because the US taxes citizens on worldwide gains regardless of residence.
The mismatch is specific and expensive
Singapore charges no capital gains tax and no inheritance tax. The US charges long-term gains at 0/15/20% plus 3.8% NIIT, and estate tax at 40% above the USD 15,000,000 exemption, on citizens wherever they live.
A local exemption does not establish a US exemption. Moving assets to a spouse, trust or company requires separate US ownership, gift, reporting and anti-deferral analysis; a foreign wrapper is not an assumed tax solution.
Employment income is where the saving is real
Employment income needs a combined US and Singapore calculation using the actual income currency, tax year and applicable reliefs. Check any foreign tax credit and foreign earned income exclusion separately; neither is automatic.
Foreign work-pass holders make no CPF contribution — the 20% employee rate applies only to citizens and PRs.
No regime to apply for
The NOR scheme was discontinued after 2020 and no personal HNW regime replaced it. The Global Investor Programme is an immigration route, not a tax one: SGD 10M into a business plus 30 hires, SGD 25M into an approved fund, or a family office with at least SGD 200M AUM.
Before you move
- US citizens should not assume Singapore's CGT exemption reaches them; it does not.
- The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the USD 15M estate exemption permanent, which changes long-horizon family planning in this corridor.
- Singapore tax residency is 183 days; US citizenship-based taxation has no day count at all.
Continue your research
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Tax rates are only the first screen. Residency, ownership, treaty position and succession can change the outcome.
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