Why Your Property Tax Rose Without a Tenant: How Annual Value Is Set
7 min read
The figure on your January bill is not rent anyone pays you. It is IRAS's estimate of the gross annual market rent your property would command if it were let, worked out from the estimated market rentals of similar or comparable properties rather than from any rental income actually received. Property tax is assessed on all residential property, whether owner-occupied, vacant or rented out, so you pay on that estimate even when no tenant ever appears. [1]
So the useful first move is a comparison exercise rather than a complaint. Read the Valuation Notice for the figure and its effective date, look up your own AV history, test the number against rents of genuinely comparable homes — treating those published rents as a general guide, not a one-for-one benchmark — and then decide, inside the 30-day window, whether the gap is worth an objection. [1] [2]
What the Annual Value is, and what it leaves out
Formally, the Annual Value of a building is the estimated gross annual rent of the property if it were to be rented out, excluding furniture, furnishings and maintenance fees. It is not a valuation of your home in the way an agent would appraise it, and it is not a record of what you could actually charge a tenant this month. It reflects what the letting market says a home like yours is worth per year. [1]
In setting it, IRAS considers rentals of similar or comparable properties in the vicinity, the size of the property, its location, its condition, and other relevant physical attributes. Floor area is therefore one input among several, which is why two units of identical size can carry different AVs. [1]
What never comes off is your own running cost. The AV cannot be reduced to take into account expenses such as interest, utilities, insurance and taxes, because it is defined as the estimated gross annual rent at which the property could be let on a yearly basis with the landlord paying for repairs, insurance, maintenance and upkeep. Those costs are assumed to sit inside the rent rather than to be subtracted from it. [2]
Market context explains why a figure moves. URA data reported in September 2024 showed Singapore's rental price index had risen by 55 per cent from end-2020 to end-2023. A comparable-based assessment tracks that underlying market, so an owner who has never let a flat can still see a rising bill when the letting market rises. [3]
Why the number moved, and how to see its history
IRAS reviews the AV of properties yearly to reflect changes in the market rental values of comparable properties, and will amend it if the latest market rent data no longer supports the existing figure. If your property undergoes a physical change that could materially affect its rental value, IRAS will also revise the AV from the date of that change. [1]
When a figure moves, IRAS sends property owners a Valuation Notice informing them of the adjustment, whether upward or downward, and the date from which it takes effect. That notice is the document that starts the 30-day clock, so it is worth keeping rather than filing away with the January bill. [1]
You can also check the AV of the current year and up to the past four years yourself using IRAS's View Property Summary digital service. A trend is often more useful than a single figure: a step change you cannot explain from your own knowledge of the unit is a better subject for a query than an assessment that moved steadily with the market. [1]
Check the comparables before you spend your objection
IRAS points owners to two published rental sources: rents of private residential properties made available on the URA website, and rents of HDB flats on the HDB website. It also publishes case studies — for a private condominium unit and for a newly built house — illustrating how AV is determined based on rents of similar properties in your neighbourhood. The case studies are the better starting point, because they show the adjustment logic in a form you can mirror. [2]
One caution matters. IRAS notes that those rental figures are intended only as a general guide and should not be used as a direct one-to-one comparison with your specific property, since AV also reflects property-specific factors such as location, condition and size. Treating a headline asking rent as though it settles the question is the weakest possible foundation for an objection. [2]
As optional preparation, you might assemble a short list of lets from your own building and the two or three closest ones, noting for each the size, the condition, whether furniture is included and when the rent was agreed. If those adjusted comparables still sit meaningfully below your AV, you have something specific to state. If they sit close to it, you probably do not.
The windows that matter: objection and appeal
You may object to the Annual Value and/or its effective date within 30 days from the date of the Valuation Notice. The objection goes through IRAS's Object to Annual Value digital service, and in it you state your desired AV, the effective date you are contesting, your grounds and the evidence supporting the figure you say it should be. Tax rates are a separate matter and cannot be objected to at all. [1]
If you do not receive a Valuation Notice, you can object to the AV at any time in the year if you can show that market values have dropped to below the AV. [1]
Before filing, note the grounds IRAS does not accept and will reject: high tax rates, financial difficulties, and the fact that you are not receiving rental income because the property is vacant or owner-occupied. That last one is the reflex objection for an owner-occupier, and it is not a ground. [2]
If the objection is disallowed or only partly allowed, you may appeal to the Valuation Review Board within 30 days of the notice of that decision. Throughout, property tax remains payable even if you have filed an objection or appeal — the process runs alongside your bill, not in place of it. [2]
So the decision is narrower than it feels. The question is not whether the number seems unfair; it is whether you can show, with comparable lets adjusted for size, location, condition and other physical attributes, that a lower figure is supportable. Hardship, vacancy and tax rates are grounds IRAS will not accept. [2] [1]
If the evidence is thin, paying the bill and watching your AV history is a reasonable position, because a comparable-based figure is reviewed yearly. If the gap is wide and the evidence is clean, file within 30 days of the Valuation Notice — and keep paying while the objection and any appeal run. This describes IRAS's published rules rather than advising on your assessment; for a specific figure, a tax practitioner can work through your comparables with you. [1] [2]
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