CARF Is Coming to Singapore In 2027: What Digital Asset Businesses Should Note

On 11 August 2026, Singapore enacted the Income Tax (International Tax Compliance Agreements) (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework) Regulations 2026 (S 551/2026), giving the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) legal effect domestically from 1 January 2027. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has since published its own CARF e-Tax Guide alongside the Regulations. 

If you run an exchange, custodian, fund, or token project with a Singapore footprint, the real work starts well before that date, not on it.

While this isn’t a tax bulletin, as a Singapore-licensed Corporate Service Provider (CSP) that specialises in accounting and governance for funds and businesses that deal with digital assets, we can offer a clear, sourced picture of what CARF actually requires operationally, who it touches, and where most teams we see are underprepared.

CARF is an OECD-developed international standard for the automatic exchange of information on crypto-assets for tax purposes. 

It extends the same logic used in the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for bank accounts into digital assets and Singapore has committed to implementing it with the first exchange of information covering calendar year 2027 activity scheduled for September 2028.

This is the part most founders skip past, and it’s the part that determines how much work is actually involved. Under the Regulations, an in-scope provider (a “Reporting SGCASP” – Reporting Singaporean Crypto-Asset Service Provider) must:

• Run due diligence on every Crypto-Asset User it has a relationship with – determining their tax residence(s) via a valid self-certification, and, for entity customers, the tax residence of their Controlling Persons.
• Report on “Relevant Transactions”–
  • Exchanges between crypto-assets and fiat;
  • Exchanges between different crypto-assets;
  • And transfers of “Relevant Crypto-Assets” (which excludes Central Bank Digital Currencies and “Specified Electronic Money Products” –  a defined category of single-currency-pegged, redeemable e-money tokens that are carved out and handled separately, the same way CBDCs are).
• Separately capture “Reportable Retail Payment Transactions” – crypto used to pay for goods or services, where the value exceeds USD 50,000.
• Report annually to IRAS by 31 May of the year following the calendar year in which the relevant transactions took place (so 2027 activity is due by 31 May 2028). IRAS then transmits the data to the tax authorities of each Reportable User’s jurisdiction of tax residence, under the relevant Competent Authority Agreements.

The Regulations apply to Reporting SGCASPs – this includes, broadly, exchanges, brokers, and certain custodians and intermediaries facilitating crypto-asset exchange or transfer for customers, with a Singapore nexus.

If you become a Reporting SGCASP at any point in a calendar year, you must register with IRAS and nominate a point of contact for CARF matters by 31 March of the following year 

(For example, becoming one during 2027 means registering by 31 March 2028). 

Whether a specific business falls into scope is a facts-and-circumstances question tied to your actual activities and structure, not a blanket rule, it’s worth getting a proper scoping assessment rather than assuming either way.

There’s already a fair bit of noise about what CARF means for Singapore-based crypto businesses. Here’s what we’d correct, and what’s still genuinely worth tracking.

❌ 1: “CARF will tell me – or my exchange – what tax I owe.”

Fact: CARF is a data-exchange standard, not a tax calculator. It standardises what gets collected and shared with tax authorities. It does not set a rate or determine anyone’s liability that stays with domestic tax law and your own advisor.

❌ 2: “CARF is a new tax on crypto.”

Fact: CARF creates no new tax and no new rate. Whether, and how, a transaction is taxed already depends on the nature of that transaction under existing tax law, exactly as it does today. CARF doesn’t change that analysis; it only changes what transaction data gets collected and shared.”

❌ 3: “CBDCs and every stablecoin or NFT get swept up the same way as crypto trading.”

Fact: Central Bank Digital Currencies are explicitly carved out of the “Relevant Crypto-Asset” definition. 

So are “Specified Electronic Money Products” – certain single-currency-pegged, redeemable e-money tokens – which are handled the same way. NFTs are generally only in scope when used as investment or payment instruments, not as a blanket category.

❌ 4: “If my platform isn’t Singapore-licensed, none of this touches me.”

Fact: CARF works through automatic exchange between participating jurisdictions under Competent Authority Agreements. Activity on a platform based elsewhere can still be reported back to your tax residence once that jurisdiction is in the network and the framework travels with the participating countries, not with one license.

Beyond the myths, a few things are worth actively tracking rather than assuming:

• Registration and reporting deadlines run on the calendar-year cycle described above (31 March registration, 31 May reporting) – these are fixed points, not soft targets.
  
• How your entity gets classified as a Reporting SGCASP is a facts-and-circumstances call, especially for custodial or DeFi-adjacent hybrids ≠ get a proper scoping check rather than assuming either way.
  
• IRAS will likely publish more supporting materials like CARF FAQs and lists of Reportable and Partner Jurisdictions on its CARF webpage.
• Treat the Regulations and e-Tax Guide as the baseline, and check for updates before relying on any single detail long-term.
• CARF sits alongside, not instead of, existing AML/KYC obligations and (where applicable) CRS/FATCA reporting – expect some overlap to manage, not a clean replacement.

Want a printable version of this, plus our CARF infographic?

Not sure which of these applies to your setup? 

In our work with digital asset businesses across Singapore, BVI, Cayman, and Hong Kong, the same three gaps show up again and again:

• Fragmented data – customer activity scattered across exchanges, wallets, on-chain activity, and OTC deals, with no single reconciled source of truth to run due diligence and reporting off.
• Governance debt – entities incorporated fast, for speed rather than reporting-readiness, where registers, cap tables, and related-party flows haven’t been kept audit-clean.
• Accounting hygiene – bookkeeping that doesn’t yet classify and reconcile crypto transactions consistently, which turns the 31 May reporting deadline into a scramble instead of a formality.

The businesses that handle CARF smoothly will be the ones treating it as an extension of governance and accounting hygiene they should have had in place anyway – not a scramble in the last quarter of 2026.

We’re a Singapore-licensed Corporate Service Provider (CSP) and accounting firm that’s built for funds, fintechs and businesses that deal with digital assets and / or operate multi jurisdictional businesses across Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, offshore jurisdictions and more. 

While we don’t provide tax rulings or legal opinions, we can help with the operational and structural groundwork like entity mapping, transaction reconciliation, monthly accounting discipline, and coordination with your tax and legal advisors. 

✅  Map your entities, licenses, and Singapore touchpoints against Reporting SGCASP criteria.

✅ Assist with SGCASP reporting and meeting statutory deadlines 2027.

✅ Reconcile records of your business transaction activity across your venues and wallets.

✅ Bookkeeping all your crypto transactions.

Want a printable version of this, plus our CARF infographic?

For more information on CARF, Digital Assets for corporates, and accounting in Singapore

Primary sources: Income Tax (International Tax Compliance Agreements) (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework) Regulations 2026 (S 551/2026), Government Gazette, 11 August 2026; IRAS Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework e-Tax Guide.

Disclaimer: No proprietary client workflows are disclosed. The information contained in this article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, financial, or professional advice. All advice is educational and risk-managed. While Berru.co endeavours to ensure that the information presented is accurate and up to date at the time of publication, laws and regulations — including those applicable in Singapore — may change and may vary depending on jurisdiction and individual circumstances.

This article references the Income Tax (International Tax Compliance Agreements) (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework) Regulations 2026 (S 551/2026) and the IRAS Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework e-Tax Guide as at their date of publication. IRAS may issue further guidance, FAQs, or updated jurisdiction lists after this article is published, and this article should not be treated as a final or complete statement of the law. Whether any particular business, transaction, or individual is subject to reporting under CARF, and what tax, if any, is payable, are fact-specific questions that this article does not and cannot answer.

Readers should conduct their own independent due diligence and seek appropriate professional advice from qualified advisers before making any business, legal, or financial decisions. Reading this article, or contacting Berru.co in response to it, does not create an advisor-client relationship or any duty of care, which arises only once a formal engagement is agreed in writing.