Investing from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan

• Hong Kong: stamp duty of 0.1% on every purchase and every sale of Hong Kong stock. Profits tax covers profits from a business carried on in Hong Kong, but not profits from the sale of capital assets. The Investor Compensation Fund covers up to HKD 500,000.
• Singapore: according to IRAS, gains from buying and selling shares are generally not taxable. Contributions to the SRS reduce taxable income; CPFIS lets you invest part of your CPF savings.
• Taiwan: gains on securities transactions have not been subject to income tax since 1990. The seller pays a 0.3% transaction tax on shares. You buy foreign shares through a domestic broker's 複委託 (sub-brokerage) or with a foreign broker.
• US dividends: 30% US withholding tax in all three markets, because none of them appears in the IRS treaty table.

Tax

According to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), profits tax applies to persons and companies carrying on a trade, profession or business in Hong Kong, on the profits arising in Hong Kong from it, excluding profits from the sale of capital assets. Profits arising abroad are not taxed, even if they are remitted to Hong Kong.

Stamp duty: since 17 November 2023 it is 0.1% of the consideration on every bought note and every sold note for Hong Kong stock. A purchase of HKD 100,000 therefore costs HKD 100, and a later sale for the same amount another HKD 100, 0.2% in total.

Tax deduction for retirement saving: voluntary contributions to a TVC account under an MPF scheme and premiums for qualifying deferred annuities reduce salaries tax, together by at most HKD 60,000 per year of assessment since 2020/21. The money goes into MPF funds or annuity policies, not into a brokerage account.

Investor protection

The Investor Compensation Company (ICC), recognised by the regulator SFC, administers the Investor Compensation Fund. It pays investors of any nationality who suffer a loss because a licensed intermediary or an authorised financial institution defaults, in relation to products traded on an exchange in Hong Kong. Since 1 January 2020 this also covers shares on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges traded through the northbound link of Stock Connect. The limit is HKD 500,000 per person for securities and a further HKD 500,000 for futures; on a joint account it applies to each holder. Whether a default involving US shares would be covered, the page does not say.

Providers

• [Saxo](/en/brokers/saxo-bank): the Hong Kong company states licences for regulated activities of types 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9 (CE number AVD061) and has a website in Traditional Chinese.
• [Webull](/en/brokers/webull): the Hong Kong company 微牛證券有限公司 describes itself as an SFC-licensed corporation with types 1, 2 and 4 (CE number BNG700); its website is in Chinese.
• [Interactive Brokers](/en/brokers/interactive-brokers): the Hong Kong company (盈透证券香港有限公司) has a Chinese-language website.
• Providers we do not compare: Futu Securities International (Hong Kong), CE number AZT137; Long Bridge HK (Longbridge), CE number BPX066; Tiger Brokers (HK) Global, CE number BMU940. The CE numbers come from the providers' own sites; the SFC register could not be retrieved.

Tax

IRAS generally treats profits or losses from buying and selling shares and other financial instruments as personal investments, so they are generally not taxable (page dated 27 February 2026). On that page IRAS qualifies this only for trading in property. One-tier dividends from a Singapore-resident company are generally not taxable, with an exception for co-operatives. Foreign dividends received in Singapore by resident individuals are not taxable, unless they come through a partnership in Singapore.

SRS (Supplementary Retirement Scheme)

• Caps: since 1 January 2016, SGD 15,300 a year for citizens and permanent residents and SGD 35,700 for foreigners.
• Tax relief: every dollar contributed reduces taxable income, within the SRS cap and the overall personal income tax relief cap of SGD 80,000.
• Returns: they are not taxed before withdrawal.
• Withdrawal: from the statutory retirement age that applied at your first contribution, only half of each withdrawal is taxable. Earlier withdrawals are fully taxable and carry a 5% penalty.

A withdrawal of SGD 40,000 after reaching retirement age is therefore taxable on SGD 20,000.

CPFIS (CPF Investment Scheme)

You can invest Ordinary Account savings after setting aside SGD 20,000 in the account, and Special Account savings after setting aside SGD 40,000. At most 35% of your investible savings may go into shares and 10% into gold. For the Ordinary Account you need a CPF Investment Account with DBS, OCBC or UOB. The CPF page does not state the tax treatment.

Supervision and providers

The regulator is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS); brokers serving retail clients hold a Capital Markets Services licence under the Securities and Futures Act 2001.

Investor protection: under Part 11 of the Securities and Futures Act, every approved exchange keeps a fidelity fund that compensates non-accredited investors for defalcation by an exchange member. SDIC insures Singapore-dollar deposits, SRS monies included, up to SGD 100,000 per depositor; shares and other securities are not covered.

• [moomoo](/en/brokers/moomoo): Moomoo Financial Singapore (CMS licence CMS101000) states that you can invest cash, CPF and SRS savings on one platform.
• [Webull](/en/brokers/webull) and [Saxo](/en/brokers/saxo-bank): both are regulated by the MAS in Singapore (Webull under licence CMS101150); whether they accept SRS funds we could not document.
• Providers we do not compare: Tiger Brokers (Singapore), licensed by the MAS, offers investing with CPF and SRS and linking a CDP account, according to its website. Endowus (CMS licence 101051) is an investment platform focused on SRS and CPF.

Tax

• Gains: since 1 January 1990 no income tax has been levied on gains from securities transactions, and losses are not deductible (Income Tax Act Art. 4-1, version of 11 September 2026).
• Domestic dividends: either included in consolidated income with a tax credit of 8.5%, capped at TWD 80,000 per household per year, or taxed separately at 28%, at the taxpayer's choice (Art. 15).
• Minimum tax (基本稅額): basic income includes income from sources outside Taiwan that is not in consolidated income, unless such income of a household totals less than TWD 1,000,000 for the year. The minimum tax is 20% of basic income after a deduction of TWD 6,000,000; tax paid abroad on that income is creditable with a tax certificate authenticated by a Taiwanese mission. The deduction is adjusted when consumer prices have risen by at least 10% since the last adjustment; we did not retrieve the amount that applies for 2026. That dividends and gains on foreign shares fall under this rule, whether held with a foreign broker or through 複委託, is our reading; the Act does not name them.

Transaction tax

On a sale, the seller pays 0.3% of the price on shares and 0.1% on corporate bonds and other approved securities. When a broker sells on a client's order, the broker collects the tax. A sale of shares for TWD 100,000 therefore costs TWD 300. Day trades in shares listed on the exchange or traded over the counter are taxed at 0.15% until 31 December 2027. On corporate and financial bonds and domestic bond ETFs the tax is suspended until 31 December 2026, except for leveraged and inverse bond ETFs.

複委託 and investor protection

Domestic brokers sell foreign shares through 複委託 accounts (sub-brokerage through a broker abroad). SinoPac Securities (永豐金證券) opens a 複委託 account together with its other accounts in one application, according to its website. Cathay Securities (國泰證券) offers 複委託 for US shares and ETFs, Hong Kong shares, Shanghai and Shenzhen Connect, and Japanese shares. We compare neither.

The regulator is the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC); its Securities and Futures Bureau supervises securities brokers. The Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center (SFIPC) manages a protection fund that compensates investors if a securities or futures firm cannot pay because of financial difficulties.

Voluntary labour-pension contributions of up to 6% of monthly wages are not taxed as salary; the money does not go into a brokerage account, and the statutes we retrieved provide no tax-advantaged one.

None of the three markets appears in the IRS table of tax treaties (May 2023 revision). The rate for all other countries therefore applies: 30% on US dividends. Whether any relief outside a treaty is in force for Taiwan we have not checked.

The directories for Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan show which brokers in our comparison accept customers from the three markets. Supervision and tax at a glance are on the market pages for Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, and the share rankings for Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

• Hong Kong: an IRD statement on dividends received by private individuals; exactly what the stamp duty legislation defines as Hong Kong stock.
• Singapore: any stamp duty on trades on the SGX; how SGX shares are held through the CDP; any per-investor cap of the fidelity fund; whether frequent share trading can become taxable.
• Taiwan: the SFIPC fund's limit per investor; the current minimum-tax deduction; whether Taiwan's transaction tax applies to foreign shares held through 複委託. We have not checked any provider in our comparison for features specific to Taiwan.

1. 1In Hong Kong, add 0.1% per purchase and per sale of Hong Kong stock to the commission.
2. 2In Singapore, ask whether your broker accepts SRS or CPF funds.
3. 3In Taiwan, track your household's income from abroad; from TWD 1,000,000 it counts towards basic income.

• Investor Compensation Company, Fund introduction and Compensation limit
• IRD Hong Kong, Profits Tax; GovHK, Stamp duty rates and TVC and annuity premiums
• IRAS, Gains from sale of property, shares and financial instruments and Dividends
• Singapore (retrieved 26 October 2026): SFA 2001, Part 11; SDIC coverage
• MOF Singapore, Supplementary Retirement Scheme; CPF, Investing your CPF savings
• Ministry of Finance, Taiwan, 所得稅法, 所得基本稅額條例 and 證券交易稅條例
• Securities and Futures Bureau; SFIPC, About
• IRS, Tax Treaty Table 1
• Saxo (zh-hk, en-hk, en-sg); Webull (HK, SG); Interactive Brokers (HK); moomoo (SG)
• Futu, futuhk.com; Longbridge, longbridge.com; Tiger Brokers (HK, SG); Endowus, SRS; SinoPac Securities, sinotrade.com.tw; Cathay Securities, cathaysec.com.tw

This article is for information only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice.