Practical consequences for investors and their advisers

The EDB as negotiating partner

For a company considering a significant investment in Singapore, the EDB remains the first point of contact. Its officers present the location, coordinate with other agencies and negotiate incentives. The relationship has a contractual character. Incentives are granted for defined activities and periods. They are typically tied to commitments on investment, employment or business spending. Advisers should treat an incentive award as a bargain to be documented and monitored, with the same care as a commercial contract.

The history of the EDB also explains the expectations of the agency. Since the 1960s it has measured projects by their contribution to value added, skills and employment in Singapore. Lee Hsien Loong stated in 1991 that the Board sought to maximise value added for the economy as a whole, beyond the profits of individual investors.¹ A proposal framed in these terms is more likely to succeed than one that emphasises tax savings.

Checklist for investors

Approach the EDB early, before key location decisions are made, and prepare a business case that sets out investment, jobs, skills and value added in Singapore.
Check whether the group falls within the Multinational Enterprise (Minimum Tax) Act 2024, since a classic tax holiday may be neutralised by the domestic top-up tax.
Compare the Refundable Investment Credit with traditional incentives under the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act 1967 and the Income Tax Act 1947.
Document every incentive award with its conditions, milestones, reporting duties and clawback provisions, and assign internal responsibility for compliance.
Take into account the role of JTC as landlord of industrial land and the leasehold character of most industrial property, which follows from the land policy described above.
Plan for the tripartite labour framework, including the guidelines of the National Wages Council and the coverage of the Employment Act 1968, when budgeting wage costs.
Review the effect of the investment on the group’s financial and treasury structure in Singapore, where the banks, fund managers and advisers of the financial centre are located.

Notes

Speech by BG Lee Hsien Loong, 1 August 1991, op. cit., p. 12: “EDB’s objective is to maximise not just profits for investors, but value added for the economy.” ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

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SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

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