Income Tax (Exemption of Interest and Other Payments on Economic and Technological Development Loans) Notification 2004

No. S 17

Income Tax Act

(Chapter 134)

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 13(4) of the Income Tax Act, the Minister for Finance hereby makes the following Notification:

Citation

1. This Notification may be cited as the Income Tax (Exemption of Interest and Other Payments on Economic and Technological Development Loans) Notification 2004.

Exemption

2.—(1) Subject to paragraph 3, there shall be exempt from withholding tax the interest payable under a loan by a shipping enterprise to a lender outside Singapore in respect of any ship registered by the shipping enterprise as a Singapore ship during the period from 1st November 2003 to 31st December 2008 (both dates inclusive) if —

(a)	the purpose of the loan is to finance the acquisition of the ship; and
(b)	the shipping enterprise has satisfied the requirements specified in the Schedule under the Block Transfer Scheme administered by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and such terms and conditions as that Authority may impose.

(2) In this paragraph —

“interest” includes any front-end and commitment fees payable under a loan to a lender outside Singapore;

“shipping enterprise” and “Singapore ship” have the same meanings as in section 13A(16) of the Act.

Withdrawal of exemption

3.—(1) The Minister may withdraw the exemption granted under paragraph 2 to a shipping enterprise in respect of any Singapore ship if —

(a)	the ship ceases to be registered as a Singapore ship; or
(b)	the certificate of registry of the Singapore ship is suspended for any reason.

(2) Any withdrawal under sub-paragraph (1) shall not affect the exemption granted under paragraph 2 to a shipping enterprise in respect of any other ships that are registered as Singapore ships by the shipping enterprise.

THE SCHEDULE

Paragraph 2(1)(b)

Requirements under Block Transfer Scheme

First column

Second column

Number of ships registered as Singapore ships by shipping enterprise

Aggregate net tons of Singapore ships registered by shipping enterprise

40,000

30,000

20,000

5 or more

any amount.

Made this 7th day of January 2004.

LIM SIONG GUAN

Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Finance,
Singapore.

[MF(R) R32.12.01 Vol. 27; AG/LEG/SL/134/2002/11 Vol. 2]