Parent / grandparent relief.
Parent relief
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Tax saved
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Your breakdown
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A relief built for the sandwich generation
Plenty of working Singaporeans in their thirties and forties are funding a mortgage, raising children, and quietly topping up an ageing parent’s expenses at the same time. IRAS recognises that last part through Parent Relief, and it is one of the more generous reliefs on the books because it rewards a real cash commitment you are already making. The catch most people miss is that it is not a flat figure. It steps up sharply if your parent lives under your roof, and it is meant to be split when more than one child chips in.
The dependant must be a parent, grandparent, parent-in-law, or grandparent-in-law, aged 55 or above, and their own annual income cannot exceed $4,000. That income test trips up families whose retired parent still draws a small pension or part-time wage. If the parent is genuinely dependent because of a physical or mental condition, the age and income conditions are waived and you claim Handicapped Parent Relief instead, which this tool handles when you tick the box.
Why the roof matters so much
Living arrangement is the single biggest lever here. Support a parent who lives elsewhere and the relief is $9,000 per dependant. Have that same parent stay with you for the year, and it jumps to $14,000. The logic is that housing a dependent parent carries a far larger real cost than sending money across town, so IRAS sets the bar higher. The handicapped figures follow a similar split, $10,000 if living apart and $14,000 if living together. Every dollar of relief simply lowers the chargeable income on which your tax is worked out, so the cash benefit is the relief multiplied by whatever marginal band you sit in.
Two parents at home, on a $120,000 salary
Say you support both your mother and father, both live with you for the full year, neither is handicapped, and your top dollar of income falls in the 11.5 percent band. The tool multiplies two dependants by the $14,000 living-together rate, then applies your marginal rate to estimate the tax you avoid.
So the relief itself is $28,000, and at the 11.5 percent band that hands back $3,220 in tax. The bars below show chargeable income shrinking by the relief, with the shaded slice being the part you no longer pay tax on.
Sharing it fairly between siblings
This is where families either save money or leave it on the table. Only one set of relief exists per parent, and if two or more children support the same parent they must agree on how to apportion it. The shares have to add up to 100 percent, no more. A common and sensible move is to weight the larger share to whichever sibling sits in a higher tax band, because the relief is worth more to them in dollars. A sibling earning chargeable income in the 7 percent band saves far less per dollar of relief than one in the 15 percent band, so splitting it fifty-fifty out of fairness can quietly waste real money. If you cannot agree, IRAS will apportion it equally for you, which is rarely the optimal outcome.
One practical tip: the relief is claimed in the Year of Assessment after the year you supported the parent, and IRAS often pre-fills a recurring claim. If your living arrangement changed during the year, for example a parent moved in halfway through, do not assume the pre-filled figure is right. Update it, because the living-together rate only applies if they actually stayed with you.
Can I claim Parent Relief and Grandparent Caregiver Relief on the same person?
No. Grandparent Caregiver Relief is a separate $3,000 relief for a working mother whose parent or in-law looks after her child, and it sits alongside Parent Relief only if a different person is being claimed. You cannot claim both reliefs on the same grandparent in the same year. Decide which one fits, and if the grandparent is also financially dependent on you, Parent Relief is usually the larger benefit.
What if my parent earned just over $4,000 from a part-time job?
Then standard Parent Relief is off the table for that year, because the income test is a hard cliff at $4,000, not a taper. There is no partial relief. The only route back in is Handicapped Parent Relief, which ignores the income test entirely, but that requires the parent to genuinely have a disability. If the over-the-limit income was a one-off, you may simply be eligible again the following year.