January 2026 third edition
This fifteen-page guide explains whether an asset qualifies as machinery or plant under sections 19/19A. It addresses classification, not a universal depreciation rate. An asset must first qualify before the Sixth Schedule’s useful-life periods are applied. Section 22 can cover existing-building alterations incidental to installation.
Follow the three-step decision
Stock bought for resale is not plant. Otherwise ask whether the item functions as durable apparatus for carrying on this business; then whether it is instead the premises or part of them. Annex A rejects a Yes to stock, No to business apparatus, or Yes to premises. An operational structure can exceptionally be plant on its facts.
Business function, not mere convenience
A petrol-pump canopy merely sheltering customers fails the functional test. Prefabricated school laboratories/gymnasiums and a ship used as a floating restaurant are premises, whereas a dry dock or operational grain silo can be apparatus. Commercial desirability or special construction alone is insufficient.
Setting and decoration depend on the trade
Ordinary setting lamps failed, but commercially necessary movable office partitions, building-society window displays and hospitality decor creating the atmosphere sold to customers can perform a business function. A setting item is not automatically excluded or accepted. Examine the actual trade and use.
Four premises indicators
Even a useful trade embellishment must pass the premises test. Ask whether it visibly retains a separate identity, how permanently it is attached, how complete the building is without it, and whether it is intended to remain or be replaced soon. An inseparable permanent structural finish normally fails.
Installation costs and professional fees
Qualifying expenditure normally includes delivery, erection and installation. Professional fees need a direct nexus to installing qualifying machinery/plant. If that nexus is proved but specific allocation is impracticable, IRAS may accept reasonable apportionment such as project-cost proportions. General project fees are not automatically wholly plant costs.
Annex B: building systems and fittings
The indicative list includes air-conditioning/mechanical systems, building automation, built-in storage/dispensers, blinds/curtains, carpets, special grease systems, non-general cold-water tanks, telecommunications/data wiring, security/alarms, sprinklers, electrical appliances, emergency lights, escalators/travellators, fire installations, generators, hot-water systems, lightning protection and public-address/intercom systems. Electrical distribution/control/cabling qualifies where attributable to identifiable plant, rather than general building supply.
Annex B: tools, equipment and separate fixtures
The list also includes trade-reference books, goods-transport containers, non-structural furniture, industrial machinery, salon/fitting mirrors, commercial/goods vehicles and bicycles/motorcycles, office computers/printers/copiers/fax/telecoms, children’s playground equipment serving the business, removable ramps, security/vehicle-control/window-cleaning equipment, signs and specialist display lights. Movable partitions exclude walls/ceilings; ornamental freestanding lamps need another illumination source. Door mechanisms differ from doors; fountain machinery differs from the fountain; pool pumps differ from pools. Lifts exclude shafts unless section 22 applies.
Annex B: hospitality decoration
Artwork, tapestries, posters, paintings/frames, removable decorative pillars/columns and ornamental finishes/murals commonly serve a hospitality function. Separate quasi-structural removable items receive a functional analysis. Other industries must demonstrate their own apparatus function rather than borrow hospitality conclusions.
Annex C: ordinary structural items
Normally excluded are awnings; doors/handles/stoppers/closers/automatic sliding doors; tiles/raised floors/ceilings; fountains; non-statutory garbage systems; gates; general gas supply; landscaping; general lighting/electricity; setting items such as container offices, portable toilets and car-wash canopies; fixed ramps; building refuse chutes; renovation/refurbishment works; roller shutters; sanitary fittings; restaurant sewers; stairs; walls/finishes; and general water/waste pipe systems and their tanks. Water pumps and hot-water heating machinery are separately assessed.
Dormitories, sports facilities and specialised lighting
Demountable prefabricated labour quarters ordinarily remain premises. A dormitory operator’s temporary, easily relocatable structure on a short-term site lease can qualify under the stated exception. Indoor/outdoor sports structures and surfaces—including pools, courts, pitches and stands—are excluded, while pool pumps are separate machinery. Trade-specific sports floodlights may qualify unlike general changing-room/public-area illumination.
Use examples as guidance, not guarantees
The annex lists are extensive but not exhaustive and express typical treatment, subject to facts and degree. Durable business equipment, operational structures, atmosphere-providing decor and trade-specific installations require evidence of their actual functions. The 2011 update clarified the dormitory exception; January 2026 updated the disclaimer.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
Read the official PDF ↗