Property Tax & Town Council with AI

Property tax is a wealth tax on the value of your property, not on your rental income. IRAS works out your Annual Value (AV) — the estimated yearly rent your home could fetch on the open market — and multiplies it by a tax rate. Owner-occupied homes pay the low owner-occupier rates: HDB flats pay nothing on the first S$12,000 of AV, and the rest is taxed at just 4%. Private homes pay a progressive rate that rises with AV. If you rent the place out instead, you move to non-owner-occupier rates, which start at 12%. In 2026, a one-off rebate softens the increase: 15% for owner-occupied HDB flats, and 10% capped at S$500 for private homes. One- and two-room HDB flats pay no property tax at all.

IRAS issues property tax bills in January for the year ahead. The bill shows your AV, the rate applied, and what you owe. If you have GIRO set up, it is deducted monthly. Let AI translate the bill:

🧾 Bill explainer

Here is my property tax bill summary: Annual Value S$[X], owner-occupied HDB flat, tax payable S$[X]. Explain how this number was calculated, whether the 2026 rebate was applied, and what my payment options are. Tell me what to verify on iras.gov.sg.

Keep it to the numbers — no property address needed for the calculation to make sense.

IRAS reviews AV regularly against market rents in your area, so a hot rental market can raise your AV even if you never rent out your home. If you believe the AV is wrong — say, your flat is in poor condition or the comparison flats are not similar — you can object via myTax Portal. AI can help you prepare the reasoning:

🏠 AV objection draft

Help me draft an objection to my property tax AV of S$[X] for my [flat type] in [area]. My reasons: [describe condition, lack of renovations, comparable rents in my block]. List what evidence IRAS typically accepts and what to include in the myTax Portal submission. Do not invent figures.

Your monthly Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) bill goes to your Town Council, not IRAS. It pays for the day-to-day running of your estate: cleaning, lifts, lighting, landscaping and minor repairs. Amounts vary by town and flat type, usually tens of dollars a month for HDB flats. If a lift is down, a light is out, or a corridor is dirty, the OneService app is the fastest way to report it — it routes your feedback to the right agency. AI can polish the report:

📝 Feedback writer

Draft a polite feedback message to my Town Council about [issue, e.g. broken lift at my block / faulty corridor light]. Include: what is wrong, where, since when, and what I would like done. Keep it short, factual and free of personal details.

Your tax rate follows how you use the property. If you stop living in your HDB flat and rent it out, you must inform IRAS, and your tax moves to the non-owner-occupier rates, which start at 12% of AV. The same applies when you move back in. HDB also has its own rules for subletting — you need approval and a minimum occupation period. AI can turn this into a checklist:

🔁 Moving checklist

I am [moving out of my HDB flat to rent it out / moving back in to live in it]. Build me a checklist of what to update: IRAS property tax status, HDB subletting approval, town council matters, and utility accounts. For each, name the official channel. Tell me what to verify on iras.gov.sg and hdb.gov.sg.

AI does not know your AV — only IRAS does — and property tax rates change with each Budget, so confirm every figure on iras.gov.sg before relying on it. Pay by the due date or set up GIRO; late payment attracts penalties. Keep your property address out of prompts if you can, and never paste your tax reference number. Property tax is one piece of your annual tax picture — our IRAS 2027 prep guide covers income tax, and the HDB financial planning guide covers the cost of owning the flat in the first place.