Road tax in Singapore: how much you pay
Six monthly and yearly road tax for petrol, hybrid and electric cars, from the formulas LTA publishes. Rules read on 24 October 2026.
Road tax for 12 months
$742
$371 for 6 months
| Road tax | $742 |
| Age surcharge (0%) | $0 |
| Additional flat component (electric) | $0 |
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · COE results read on 24 October 2026 (latest: 2nd exercise of October 2026)
Road tax on a petrol car depends on its engine capacity. A 1,496 cc car pays $681.90 a year, a 1,598 cc car $741.73, a 1,998 cc car $1,209.75 and a 2,998 cc car $2,382.75. The six monthly amount follows a formula in bands of engine size, multiplied by 0.782: for example $250 plus $0.38 for each cc above 1,000 in the band up to 1,600 cc. Electric cars pay on motor power instead, plus a flat component of $350 every six months, and a hybrid pays the higher of its engine and power figures. A car more than ten years old pays a surcharge of 10%, rising ten points a year to 50% beyond fourteen years. Road tax is renewed every six or twelve months; the calculator gives both.
Road tax by engine capacity
| Engine | Six months | One year | One year, car aged 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 996 cc | $195.11 | $390.22 | $468.26 |
| 1,197 cc | $253.27 | $506.54 | $607.85 |
| 1,496 cc | $340.95 | $681.90 | $818.28 |
| 1,598 cc | $370.86 | $741.73 | $890.08 |
| 1,798 cc | $487.58 | $975.15 | $1,170.18 |
| 1,998 cc | $604.88 | $1,209.75 | $1,451.70 |
| 2,494 cc | $895.78 | $1,791.56 | $2,149.87 |
| 2,998 cc | $1,191.38 | $2,382.75 | $2,859.30 |
| 3,500 cc | $1,583.55 | $3,167.10 | $3,800.52 |
The bands explain the jumps. Up to 600 cc a car pays a flat $200 before the factor. Between 600 and 1,000 cc each extra cc costs $0.125, then $0.375 up to 1,600 cc, $0.75 up to 3,000 cc, and $1 beyond. That is why a 2.5 litre car pays more than twice the tax of a 1.6 litre one, and a 3.5 litre car several times as much.
The age surcharge
| Age of the car | Surcharge | One year, 1,598 cc |
|---|---|---|
| More than 10 years | +10% | $815.90 |
| More than 11 years | +20% | $890.08 |
| More than 12 years | +30% | $964.25 |
| More than 13 years | +40% | $1,038.42 |
| More than 14 years | +50% | $1,112.60 |
A car keeps its normal road tax for its first ten years. After that the surcharge rises by ten points a year, reaching half of the road tax again beyond fourteen years. It is one of the costs to weigh when deciding whether to renew a COE or scrap the car.
Renewing your road tax
To pay for 12 months of road tax
$682
| Road tax | $682 |
| Age surcharge | $0 |
| Additional flat component (electric) | $0 |
| Late renewal fee | $0 |
Hybrids and electric cars
A petrol electric hybrid pays the higher of two calculations: one on its engine capacity, one on the power of its electric motor. For a 1,798 cc hybrid with a 100 kW motor, the engine gives $487.58 for six months and the motor $400.78, so the hybrid pays $487.58. Most hybrids end up taxed on their engine, but a plug in hybrid with a large motor can be taxed on power.
A fully electric car pays road tax on its maximum power, with steeper rates for larger motors, plus the additional flat component of $350 every six months, which replaces the petrol duty an electric car does not pay at the pump. The EV road tax page goes through the power bands.
Six months or twelve
The yearly amount is exactly twice the six monthly one, so renewing for twelve months saves nothing; it only saves a renewal. GIRO renews every six months by default and can be set to yearly. Weekend and off peak cars can only renew for twelve months at a time. Since 15 February 2017 there is no road tax disc to display: the record is held by LTA, and drivers heading to Malaysia should carry a copy of the road tax validity and the insurance certificate.
Road tax over the life of a car
Over ten years, a 1,496 cc car pays $6,819 of road tax and a 1,998 cc car $12,098. Those sums are small next to the COE and the ARF, which is why road tax rarely decides which car people buy. It starts to matter on older cars: kept to fifteen years after a COE renewal, the same 1,998 cc car would pay $1,815 in its fifteenth year alone, because of the age surcharge.
Checking the exact amount
OneMotoring shows the road tax due for a given registration number, or for an engine capacity and an age. The calculator above applies the same published formula and rounds to the cent, so the two should agree; if they do not, the LTA figure is the one you pay, and we would like to hear about the gap. Age counts from the original registration date.
What road tax does not cover
Road tax is only one of the yearly costs of a car. Insurance, which must cover the whole road tax period, parking, petrol or charging, ERP and servicing usually cost far more. The cost of owning calculator adds them to depreciation and road tax, and road tax renewal explains the prerequisites and the late fees.