The latest revision of development charge (DC) rates were released for the next half-year period.
DC is a tax levied when planning permission is granted by the government to allow developer to build a bigger project on a site or to enhance the use of the site.
On average, DC rates have declined by 3.6 per cent for commercial use, 0.8 per cent for non-landed residential use, 7.8 per cent for hotel/hospital use and 0.9 per cent for industrial use.
Hotels and commercial property, having been most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, are the use groups with the largest cuts in DC rates. The largest fall of 15% in hotel DC rates applies to sectors that include Hill Street, City Hall, Marina Center, Fullerton Road, Marina Bay and the Tanglin/Cuscaden locale. For commercial DC, the steepest cuts are applied on tourist-dependent retail locations such as Marina Bay, Bayfront, Orchard and Somerset.
DC rates for the non-landed residential and industrial use groups which are relatively less scathed by the virus outbreak, saw more modest declines.
The Ministry of National Development (MND) revises the rates on 1 March and 1 September each year, in consultation with the chief valuer (CV) at the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). They are stated according to use groups across 118 geographical sectors in Singapore.
