Singapore: Refundable Investment Credit (RIC)

Refundable Investment Credit (RIC) is a refundable tax credit. It is designed to be consistent with the Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules for Qualified Refundable Tax Credits. 

RIC is available to all companies that make significant new investments that contribute to Singapore’s economy and/or advance Singapore’s capabilities in globally leading or new growth industries. The applicant must be a company incorporated in Singapore or a branch of a foreign company registered in Singapore.

RIC is awarded on qualifying expenditures that are incurred in carrying out qualifying activities in respect of the proposed project during the qualifying period.

The company may either:

• Use RIC to offset Corporate Income Tax (CIT), including domestic top-up tax and multinational enterprise top-up tax, levied on or due from the company under the Singapore Income Tax Act 1947 or the Multinational Enterprise (Minimum Tax) Act 2024; or
• Elect to receive the RIC as a cash payout. Upon election, the company will receive the RIC as a cash payout within four years from the claim application date, with disbursements based on the stipulated schedule.

If the company chooses to offset CIT, unutilised RIC will be carried forward to offset tax liability in subsequent years, up to the stipulated payment date. Any remaining unutilised RIC will be refunded in cash to the company by the stipulated payment date, which shall be no later than four years from when the company makes the claim application in respect of qualifying expenditures incurred. The company may nominate group entities that can use the RIC to offset taxes levied on or due from them.

Qualifying expenditures

Qualifying expenditures are those incurred in Singapore in carrying out qualifying activities during the qualifying period. This will be determined upfront before the commencement of the project and may cover the following, depending on the type and scale of the project:

• Manpower
• Capital expenditure
• Where relevant, professional fees, freight and logistics costs, materials and consumables, intangible asset costs, training costs, and financing costs if the project involves R&D, innovation, commodity trading, or ecosystem development.

Qualifying activities

RIC supports six types of qualifying activities:

• Investing in new productive capacity  
• Expanding or establishing the scope of activities in digital services, professional services, and supply chain management  
• Expanding or establishing headquarters activities or centres of excellence  
• Carrying out R&D and innovation activities  
• Implementing solutions with decarbonisation objectives 
• Setting up or expanding activities by commodity trading firms

Qualifying activities must be in support of the proposed project and in line with Singapore’s priority economic growth areas, such as advanced manufacturing, international trade, supply chain management, mobility, digitalisation & artificial intelligence, and green economy.

Qualifying period

The qualifying period depends on the duration of the proposed project and is limited to no more than 10 years for each RIC award. Only qualifying expenditures incurred during the qualifying period are supportable under the RIC.

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Reference/Citation

Refundable Investment Credit | Enterprise Singapore | https://www.enterprisesg.gov.sg/-/media/esg/files/financial-assistance/grants/for-local-companies/ric/ric-factsheet.pdf