If you've ever been tempted by a "smart" ownership structure to save on ABSD, or if someone has pitched you a 99-1 arrangement as a perfectly legal workaround, you need to read this carefully. Because the courts have now made something very clear: what some agents marketed as clever tax planning is being treated as tax evasion, and the people caught in these schemes aren't just losing the ABSD savings. They're losing properties, paying surcharges, and racking up legal bills that dwarf the original "savings" they were chasing.
ABSD rates for Singapore Citizens are currently 20% on a second residential property and 30% on a third. On a S$3 million condo, that's S$600,000 in ABSD for a second purchase. That's not a small number, and I understand why buyers look for ways around it.
What some buyers did was use nominee or 99-1 arrangements. One common version involved an older buyer using a goddaughter as the named purchaser on a S$3 million apartment, with the real buyer funding the purchase behind the scenes. The court saw through it completely. The beneficial ownership followed the money, not the name on the title. IRAS can now recover the full ABSD avoided, plus a 50% surcharge on top of that. In the S$3 million case, the total exposure works out to roughly S$900,000, before you even count legal costs.
IRAS also has no time limit on stamp duty audits. That means a deal done five years ago, or ten, is still fair game. The agency has explicit powers to recharacterise transactions and there is no statute of limitations protecting you if they decide to look.
In my view, this is the most important property tax story in Singapore right now, and it's not getting enough attention from everyday buyers. Most people who entered these arrangements didn't think of themselves as criminals. They thought they were being financially savvy. Some genuinely didn't understand the difference between legal ownership and beneficial ownership. But the courts have now drawn a hard line, and ignorance is not a defence.
Here's the thing most people miss. The 99-1 strategy was being sold by some agents and advisers as a standard "sell one, buy two" approach for years. I watched it become almost normalised in certain circles. The pitch was simple: spouse A holds 99%, spouse B holds 1%. Then you transfer the 1% to spouse A, paying only stamp duty on 1% of the value. Spouse B is now a "first-time buyer" again and buys a second property without ABSD. What I'm seeing on the ground now is that many of those same people are extremely nervous, because the courts have confirmed this is a sham structure designed to evade tax.
In 25 years I've watched this pattern before, where a workaround becomes popular, everyone assumes safety in numbers, and then enforcement catches up all at once. The risk was always there. It's just that the consequences are now being tested in the highest courts, and the outcomes are not good for buyers who relied on these structures.
If you are a private condo investor or a multi-property buyer who has used a 99-1 or nominee arrangement in the past, the single most important thing you can do right now is get a proper legal and tax review. Don't wait for IRAS to knock. The 50% surcharge on top of the ABSD already owed can turn a S$600,000 liability into a S$900,000 one. Acting proactively is always cheaper than defending yourself after an audit.
If you are currently planning to buy a second or third property and someone is pitching you a creative ownership structure to reduce your ABSD, treat that as a red flag. There are legitimate ways to plan your property portfolio in Singapore, including decoupling when done properly and transparently with full duty paid, or structuring purchases around your actual life milestones. These take more planning and sometimes more upfront cost. But they don't come with the risk of losing the property itself or facing a six-figure surcharge.
If you are an HDB upgrader thinking about your first private condo purchase, this situation likely doesn't affect you directly. As a first-time private property buyer, there's no ABSD for Singapore Citizens. But it's a reminder that as you start building your portfolio beyond that first purchase, every structure you use needs to be clean and properly documented from day one.
The courts and IRAS have sent a message that is impossible to misread: sham arrangements to avoid ABSD are tax evasion, and the penalties extend well beyond simply paying what you owe. You can lose beneficial ownership of the property itself, pay surcharges that exceed the original "savings", and spend years in costly litigation. The ABSD rates are high, yes, but they are the cost of building a property portfolio in Singapore. The only real answer is to plan your purchases properly, pay what's due, and work with someone who can show you what's genuinely possible within the rules. If you want an honest conversation about your property situation and how to structure your next move correctly, WhatsApp me at +65 97501055 or visit keithtanboonkee.com.
25 years experience · 1,000+ transactions · 4,379 TOP units managed
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