On 18/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 18/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 18/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 18/04/2013.
13S.
—(1) Subject to subsections (1B) and (4), there shall be exempt from tax the income derived by an approved shipping investment enterprise —
(a)
from the chartering or finance leasing of any sea-going ship, acquired by the approved shipping investment enterprise before or during the period of its approval referred to in subsection (3), to —
(i)
a person who is neither resident in Singapore nor a permanent establishment in Singapore; or
(ii)
an approved international shipping enterprise,
for use outside the limits of the port of Singapore;
(b)
from the chartering or finance leasing of any sea-going Singapore ship, acquired by the approved shipping investment enterprise before or during the period of its approval referred to in subsection (3), to a shipping enterprise within the meaning of section 13A for use outside the limits of the port of Singapore;
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
(c)
for the year of assessment 2009 and subsequent years of assessment, from foreign exchange and risk management activities which are carried out in connection with and incidental to the activities referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b); and
[34/2008 wef 01/04/2008]
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
(d)
on or after 1st June 2011 from —
(i)
the sale of a sea-going ship;
(ii)
the assignment to another of all its rights as the buyer under a contract for the construction of a sea-going ship; or
(iii)
the sale of all of the issued ordinary shares in a special purpose company of the approved shipping investment enterprise where, at the time of the sale of the shares, the special purpose company owns any sea-going ship or is the buyer under a contract for the construction of any sea-going ship.
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
(1A) Subsection (1), in relation to income referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of that subsection, shall continue to apply to a shipping investment enterprise the approval of which has expired or been withdrawn, but which continues to derive such income in relation to a sea-going ship acquired before or during the period of the approval, provided that the enterprise has by the date of the expiry or before the withdrawal, fulfilled all the conditions referred to in subsection (3); and any reference in this section to an approved shipping investment enterprise shall be construed accordingly.
[34/2008 wef 01/04/2008]
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
(1AA) Subsection (1)(d) does not apply to —
(a)
any income of an approved shipping investment enterprise as a lessor of a sea-going ship under a finance lease that is treated as a sale under section 10D; or
(b)
any income of an approved shipping investment enterprise from carrying on a business of trading in sea-going ships or of constructing sea-going ships for sale.
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
(1B) Subsections (1) and (1A) shall apply to income derived by an approved shipping investment enterprise in relation to a sea-going ship acquired before the period of its approval, if and only if the enterprise is approved on or after 1st April 2008.
[34/2008 wef 01/04/2008]
(2) The Minister or such person as he may appoint may, at any time between 1st March 2006 and 31st May 2016, approve a shipping investment enterprise for the purposes of subsection (1).
[22/2011 wef 20/12/2011]
[29/2010 wef 22/11/2010]
[7/2007]
(3) The approval under subsection (2) shall be subject to such conditions as the Minister may specify, and shall —
(a)
where the approval is granted during the period between 1st March 2006 and 28th February 2011, be for such period not exceeding 10 years, as the Minister may specify; and
(b)
where the approval is granted during the period between 1st March 2011 and 31st May 2016, be for such period not exceeding 5 years, as the Minister may specify,
except that the Minister may extend the period so specified for such further periods as he thinks fit.
[29/2010 wef 01/03/2011]
[22/2011 wef 20/12/2011]
(4) The Minister or such person as he may appoint may, in respect of any sea-going ship or class of sea-going ships, specify the period during which the income of the sea-going ship or class of sea-going ships may be exempted from tax under subsection (1) not exceeding —
(a)
in the case of any ship used for the carriage of goods or passengers, towage or salvage, a period of 30 years; or
(b)
in the case of any dredger, seismic ship or any ship used for offshore oil or gas activity, a period of 40 years.
[7/2007]
(5) In determining the amount of the income of an approved shipping investment enterprise which is exempted under subsection (1), the allowances provided for in sections 16, 17, 18, 18B, 18C, 19, 19A, 20, 21, 22 and 23, other than allowances made to a lessee of a sea-going ship under regulations made under section 10D —
(a)
shall be taken into account notwithstanding that no claim for those allowances has been made; and
(b)
shall only be deducted against the income referred to in subsection (1), and the balance of those allowances shall not be available as a deduction against any other income, except that any balance remaining unabsorbed at the end of the tax exempt period of the enterprise shall be available as a deduction against any other income for the year of assessment which relates to the basis period in which the tax exemption ceases and for any subsequent year of assessment in accordance with section 23.
[7/2007]
[29/2010 wef 23/02/2010]
(6) Where an approved shipping investment enterprise incurs a loss during the tax exempt period in respect of any activity referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (1), that loss —
(a)
shall be deducted in accordance with section 37; and
(b)
shall only be deducted against the income referred to in any of those paragraphs, and the balance of such loss shall not be available as a deduction against any other income, except that any balance remaining unabsorbed at the end of the tax exempt period shall be available as a deduction against any other income for the year of assessment which relates to the basis period in which the tax exemption ceases and for any subsequent year of assessment in accordance with section 37.
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
(6A) Where an approved shipping investment enterprise incurs a loss on any sale or assignment referred to in subsection (1)(d) in any basis period falling, in whole or in part, within the tax exempt period, that loss shall only be deducted against the gains derived from another sale or assignment referred to in subsection (1)(d) in that same basis period, and the balance of the loss shall not be available as a deduction against any other income.
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
(7) The Comptroller shall for each year of assessment for which the income of an approved shipping investment enterprise is exempt from tax under subsection (1) issue to the enterprise a statement (to be included in a notice of any assessment served on the enterprise under section 76) showing the amount of income exempt from tax under subsection (1); and Parts XVII and XVIII (relating to objections and appeals) and any rules made under this Act shall apply, with the necessary modifications, as if such statement were a notice of assessment.
[34/2008 wef Y/A 2009 & Sub Ys/A]
[7/2007]
(8) Subject to subsection (9), where any statement issued to an approved shipping investment enterprise under subsection (7) has become final and conclusive, the amount of income shown therein shall not form part of the statutory income of the enterprise for the year of assessment to which the statement relates and shall be exempt from tax.
[7/2007]
(9) The Comptroller may, before any such statement has become final and conclusive, treat a specified amount of the income of an approved shipping investment enterprise as exempt from tax pending such statement becoming final and conclusive.
[7/2007]
(10) As soon as any amount of the income of an approved shipping investment enterprise, being a company, has been exempted from tax under subsection (1), the amount of the income exempted shall be credited to a special account (referred to in this section as the account) to be kept by the enterprise for the purpose of this section.
[7/2007]
(11) Where the account of an approved shipping investment enterprise is in credit at the date on which any dividends are paid by the enterprise out of the amount credited to that account, an amount equal to those dividends or to that credit, whichever is the less, shall be debited to the account.
[7/2007]
(12) So much of the amount of any dividends debited to the account under subsection (11) as is received by a shareholder of an approved shipping investment enterprise shall, if the Comptroller is satisfied with the entries in the account, be exempt from tax in the hands of the shareholder.
[7/2007]
(13) Any dividends debited to the account shall be treated as having been distributed to the shareholders of the approved shipping investment enterprise or any particular class of the shareholders in accordance with the proportion of their shareholdings in the enterprise.
[7/2007]
(14) Section 44 shall not apply to any dividends or part thereof which are exempt from tax under this section.
[7/2007]
(15) Where an amount of dividends exempt from tax under this section has been received from an approved shipping investment enterprise by a shareholder, then, if that shareholder is a company, any dividends paid by that company to its shareholders, to the extent that the Comptroller is satisfied that those dividends are paid out of that amount, shall be exempt from tax in the hands of those shareholders; and section 44 shall not apply to any such dividend or part thereof.
[7/2007]
(16) Notwithstanding subsections (12) and (15), no dividend paid on any share of a preferential nature shall be exempt from tax under this section in the hands of the shareholder.
[7/2007]
(17) An approved shipping investment enterprise shall deliver to the Comptroller a statement of the account made up to any date specified by him whenever called upon to do so by notice in writing.
[7/2007]
(18) Notwithstanding anything in this section, where it appears to the Comptroller that —
(a)
any income of an approved shipping investment enterprise which has been exempted from tax under subsection (1); or
(b)
any dividend which has been exempted from tax in the hands of any shareholder,
ought not to have been so exempted for any year of assessment, the Comptroller may, at any time within 6 years (if that year of assessment is 2007 or a preceding year of assessment) or 4 years (if that year of assessment is 2008 or a subsequent year of assessment) after the expiration of that year of assessment —
(i)
make such assessment or additional assessment upon the enterprise or any such shareholder as may appear to be necessary in order to make good any loss of tax; or
(ii)
direct the enterprise to debit the account with such amount as the circumstances may require.
[7/2007; 53/2007]
(19) Parts XVII and XVIII (relating to objections and appeals) and any rules made under this Act shall apply, with the necessary modifications, as if an assessment or a direction under subsection (18) were a notice of assessment.
[7/2007]
(19A) In this section, a reference to the leasing of a sea-going ship by a shipping investment enterprise approved on or after 1st March 2011 excludes the leasing of a sea-going ship which has been treated as though it had been sold pursuant to regulations made under section 10D(1).
[29/2010 wef 01/03/2010]
(20) In this section —
“approved international shipping enterprise” means an international shipping enterprise approved by the Minister or such person as he may appoint, subject to such conditions as he may impose;
“finance leasing” means the leasing of any sea-going ship which has the effect of transferring substantially the obsolescence, risks or rewards incidental to ownership of the sea-going ship to the lessee;
“international shipping enterprise” has the same meaning as in section 13F(6);
“registered business trust” has the same meaning as in the Business Trusts Act (Cap. 31A);
“sea-going ship” includes any dredger, seismic ship or any vessel used for offshore oil or gas activity;
“shipping investment enterprise” means —
(a)
a company incorporated and resident in Singapore; or
(b)
a registered business trust;
“Singapore ship” has the same meaning as in section 13A(16);
“special purpose company”, in relation to an approved shipping investment enterprise, means a company that is wholly owned by the enterprise and whose only business or intended business is the chartering or finance leasing of sea-going ships;
[Act 29 of 2012 wef 01/06/2011]
“tax exempt period”, in relation to an approved shipping investment enterprise, means ––
(a)
in a case where the enterprise is approved on or after 1st April 2008 and has acquired a sea-going ship for use outside the limits of the port of Singapore before the date of its approval, the period from the date of its approval to the date where no income of any sea-going ship of the enterprise is eligible for exemption from tax under subsection (1); or
(b)
in any other case, the period from the date the enterprise first acquires, during the period of its approval, a sea-going ship for use outside the limits of the port of Singapore to the date where no income of any sea-going ship of the enterprise is eligible for exemption from tax under subsection (1).
[7/2007]
[34/2008 wef 01/04/2008]