What is the Parenthood Tax Rebate (PTR)?

PTR is a one-time tax rebate given to married Singaporean parents for each qualifying child. It directly reduces the income tax payable — not just the taxable income. Unused PTR can be carried forward to offset future tax liabilities until fully used.

How much is PTR for the 2nd child in 2026?

S$10,000. The PTR amounts in 2026 are: S$5,000 for the 1st child, S$10,000 for the 2nd, and S$20,000 each for the 3rd and subsequent children. PTR can be claimed by either parent or split between both, in any proportion.

Who is eligible for PTR?

Both parents must be Singapore Citizens at the time of the child's birth, or one parent must be a Citizen and the other a PR/foreigner. The parents must be lawfully married. The child must be a Singapore Citizen at birth or by the date of the PTR claim. Adoptive parents qualify if the adopted child becomes a Singapore Citizen.

Can PTR be carried forward?

Yes. Unused PTR can be carried forward indefinitely to offset future income tax payable, until fully utilised or until you die. You can split the rebate with your spouse — common when one spouse has higher income (and hence more tax to offset) than the other.

Is PTR the same as Working Mother's Child Relief?

No, they are separate. PTR is a tax *rebate* (reduces tax payable). WMCR is a tax *relief* (reduces taxable income). A working mother with two Singaporean children typically claims both — PTR from the lump-sum births and WMCR annually based on income.

← Back to Articles

Parenthood Tax Rebate 2026: PTR Amounts & Rules

verifiedBy Smart Calculator Editorial·Verified against official .gov.sg sources·12 May 2026

Complete Parenthood Tax Rebate guide for 2026 — S$5K / S$10K / S$20K rebate amounts by child order, how it offsets tax payable, and how to claim.

Try the Calculator

Tax Relief Calculator

Apply what you read — get an instant result.

Calculate →

The Parenthood Tax Rebate is one of Singapore's biggest pro-natal tax incentives. A couple having three children can collectively earn up to S$35,000 in cumulative tax rebates — and unused PTR carries forward forever, so it isn't "use it or lose it" the way most reliefs are.

Use the Tax Relief Calculator to see how PTR interacts with your other tax reliefs.

PTR amounts by child order (2026)

Child order	PTR amount
1st child	S$5,000
2nd child	S$10,000
3rd child	S$20,000
4th child	S$20,000
5th and beyond	S$20,000 each

These are per child, granted once at the birth (or year of legal adoption). The amounts have not changed since the 2008 enhancement.

How PTR works (rebate, not relief)

PTR is a rebate — it directly subtracts from your tax payable. Compare with reliefs:

Tax relief (e.g. earned-income relief, WMCR, CPF top-up): reduces taxable income → tax saving = relief × marginal tax rate
Tax rebate (PTR, parenthood-related): reduces tax payable → tax saving = full rebate amount, dollar-for-dollar

So a S$5,000 first-child PTR saves you S$5,000 in tax, regardless of your tax bracket. A S$5,000 relief would only save S$5,000 × 11.5% (or whatever your marginal rate) = S$575.

Worked example: 2-child family

Married couple, both SCs. Husband income: S$120,000/year. Wife income: S$80,000/year. They had:

Child A (1st child) born 2024
Child B (2nd child) born 2026

PTR available:

For Child A: S$5,000
For Child B: S$10,000
Total: S$15,000

The couple can split PTR between them. If husband claims all S$15,000:

Husband's gross tax (after standard reliefs): say S$8,500
Less PTR: S$8,500
Husband's net tax: S$0
Carry forward unused PTR: S$15,000 − S$8,500 = S$6,500 to next year

The S$6,500 stays available indefinitely. If wife had a higher income that year, splitting PTR (e.g. wife claims S$8,000, husband S$7,000) might fully use both immediately.

Splitting PTR between spouses

You and your spouse can split PTR in any whole-dollar proportion. The key strategy:

Split toward the higher-tax-paying spouse first. If husband owes S$8K tax and wife owes S$2K tax:

Allocate S$8K to husband (uses fully)
Allocate S$2K to wife (uses fully)
Carry forward remainder

But: if one spouse stops working, you may want to keep PTR with the working spouse. PTR cannot be transferred mid-year — it's allocated at filing time annually.

Eligibility checklist

Both criteria must be met:

Citizenship of parents:

Both Singapore Citizens at the time of the child's birth, OR
One Citizen + one PR / foreigner
Both PR doesn't qualify (until at least one becomes a Citizen)

Marriage status:

Lawfully married (a registered ROM marriage)
Includes same-sex marriages registered overseas? Currently NOT recognised for PTR — Singapore's Marriage Act covers heterosexual marriages only

Child citizenship:

Singapore Citizen at birth (most common — at least one parent is SC, child is SC by descent), OR
Becomes a Singapore Citizen by the date of the PTR claim (after foreigner-spouse pathway)

Child order:

Counted from the eldest qualifying child of the marriage
A child from a previous marriage of either spouse counts (but only for the spouse who is the parent)

How to claim PTR

PTR is auto-credited if your child is a Singapore Citizen at birth. You don't apply separately — IRAS pre-fills the rebate based on:

Birth registration data from ICA
Marriage records from ROM

When you file your annual income tax return:

Log in to IRAS myTax Portal at mytax.iras.gov.sg with Singpass
Income Tax → File Income Tax Return
PTR will appear under "Rebates" — already populated
Allocate between yourself and spouse (the system auto-suggests the optimal split, but you can override)
Submit

If PTR is missing (e.g., child became Singaporean after birth, e.g., naturalisation), submit a request via IRAS asking for PTR to be enabled, attaching the child's NRIC.

What happens to unused PTR over time

Unused PTR carries forward year-to-year. Examples:

Scenario 1: Two-child family, single income.

Year 1: PTR = S$15K, tax = S$8K. Unused = S$7K carried forward.
Year 2: PTR carry = S$7K, tax = S$8K. PTR fully used. Tax owed = S$1K.
Year 3 onward: no PTR.

Scenario 2: Three-child family, single high income.

Year 1 (3rd child born): PTR = S$5K + S$10K + S$20K = S$35K. Tax = S$15K. Unused = S$20K.
Year 2: PTR carry = S$20K, tax = S$16K. Unused = S$4K.
Year 3: PTR carry = S$4K, tax = S$17K. PTR fully used.
Year 4 onward: no PTR.

In Scenario 2, the family saves a cumulative S$35K in tax. If their marginal rate is 11.5%, this is equivalent to having ~S$300K in deductions over those years.

PTR + other family tax benefits

PTR stacks with these other family reliefs (different mechanism, doesn't conflict):

Working Mother's Child Relief (WMCR): For children born/adopted on or after 1 Jan 2024, fixed-dollar amounts of S$8,000 / S$10,000 / S$12,000 per child (1st / 2nd / 3rd+). For children born before 1 Jan 2024, the percentage regime (15% / 20% / 25% of earned income) is retained. Combined QCR/HCR + WMCR is capped at S$50,000 per child; per-mother cap is 100% of earned income.
Qualifying Child Relief (QCR): S$4,000 per qualifying child, claimed by either parent.
Handicapped Child Relief (HCR): S$7,500 per handicapped child.
CPF top-up tax relief on children's accounts: S$8,000 per child via RSTU (subject to the S$8,000 family-member top-up cap; MRSS-matched portions excluded from YA2026).

A maximally optimised parent can stack PTR + WMCR + QCR + RSTU child top-up for substantial annual relief.

Note: Foreign Domestic Worker Levy (FDWL) Relief LAPSED from YA2025 — final claim was YA2024. Older guides that include it in the family-relief stack are out of date.

Common PTR mistakes

Forgetting to allocate. If PTR is auto-allocated 100% to one spouse and that spouse has insufficient tax, the unused amount is held in carry-forward — but the other spouse loses the chance to use it that year. Always check the allocation at filing.
Mistaking child order from a step-relationship. PTR child order is based on the biological / legally-adopted child of the parent claiming. A step-child of the wife (her husband's biological child from a prior marriage) doesn't count for her PTR.
Foreign spouse without PR/Citizenship. If your spouse is a foreigner, the child must still be a Singapore Citizen for PTR — but the parent claiming PTR must be a Citizen.
Late filing. PTR cannot be backdated more than 4 years. If you missed claiming PTR for a 2020 child, you cannot claim it after the 2024 Year of Assessment closes.