Singapore COE Rebate Calculator 2026 — Pro-Rated Certificate of Entitlement Refund on Deregistration: Exact Date-Based Months Remaining, Monthly COE Decay Rate, Forward Comparison & Optimal Deregistration Timing

The Singapore COE (Certificate of Entitlement) rebate is calculated using the formula: COE Rebate = (Months remaining in COE / 120) × Original COE premium paid. For a 5-year renewed COE, the divisor is 60 instead of 120. The formula gives a linear, straight-line rebate that decays by exactly S$COE/120 every month. Example: S$95,000 COE with 36 months remaining → (36/120) × S$95,000 = S$28,500 COE rebate. This rebate is paid by LTA when the vehicle is deregistered (scrapped or VPIS exported). The COE rebate is paid alongside the PARF rebate (if within 10 years of first registration) as the total scrap value.

If the COE has already expired (past the expiry date), the COE rebate is S$0 — there are no remaining months to refund. The COE expired means you have used the full 10-year (or 5-year, if renewed) entitlement. However, the PARF rebate may still apply if the vehicle is still within 10 years of its first Singapore registration date. The 10-year clock for PARF starts from the original first registration date, not the COE expiry date (which is also 10 years from first registration for an original COE). So in practice, if the original COE has expired without renewal, both COE rebate and PARF eligibility would end at roughly the same time — there would be no COE rebate and no PARF rebate after year 10.

For a 5-year COE renewal, the rebate formula uses the Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) paid at renewal and divides by 60 months (not 120). COE Rebate = (Months remaining in renewal period / 60) × PQP paid. This means: the “clock” resets to 60 months at renewal, and the monthly decay rate is PQP/60 per month (roughly twice as fast as an original COE of similar value). Note: renewing the COE also permanently forfeits the PARF rebate, which can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. The COE rebate on a renewed vehicle is calculated separately from PARF — after renewal, only the pro-rated COE rebate (on the renewal period) applies, not PARF.

The COE rebate (along with the PARF rebate) is paid by LTA to the registered owner of the vehicle at the time of deregistration. If you are selling your car to a dealer, the dealer typically factors the scrap value (PARF + COE rebate) into the offer they make for your car. However, you can choose to deregister the car directly with LTA (rather than selling to a dealer) and receive the PARF + COE rebate directly. When selling to a dealer, be aware that the dealer’s offered “scrap value” may be lower than the actual LTA payout — they take a margin. For the highest return, you can deregister directly and receive the full LTA payout.

Yes — this calculator shows exactly how much COE rebate you lose at +3, +6, and +12 months from today. The loss is simply monthlyDecay × months waited. Monthly decay = COE premium / 120 (for original COE) or COE premium / 60 (for renewed). Example: S$95,000 COE → S$792/month decay. Waiting 6 more months: lose S$4,750. This is the opportunity cost of delayed deregistration. Compare this against: annual road tax savings per month if not deregistering, estimated maintenance costs over the period, and whether the used car market offers a better price for the car now vs later. If selling to a buyer (not scrapping), the full scrap value may not be the most relevant metric — the used car market price includes a premium above scrap value.

For most individual car owners in Singapore, the COE rebate (and PARF rebate) received upon deregistering a private car is not treated as taxable income for personal income tax purposes. These rebates are essentially a return of capital — you paid for the COE upfront, and the rebate is the unused portion being refunded. Singapore’s IRAS does not generally tax car-related proceeds for individual taxpayers. However, for businesses that use cars as business assets and have claimed capital allowances, the tax treatment may differ — the deregistration proceeds could affect the capital allowance claims. Businesses should consult a tax professional or the IRAS Business Tax Service for clarity on how COE rebate proceeds should be treated in their specific circumstances.

To claim the COE rebate through deregistration, you need: the original LTA Vehicle Registration Certificate (VRC); NRIC or business registration for the registered owner; vehicle must be free of outstanding road tax, fines, and financing charges (loan must be discharged). For scrapping via an LTA-approved Vehicle Processing Facility (VPF): bring the vehicle and VRC to the VPF. The VPF handles the LTA deregistration process on your behalf. For VPIS export: the VPIS operator manages the export and LTA paperwork. LTA processes the PARF + COE rebate payment within a few working days after deregistration. If there is an outstanding car loan, the loan provider must release the vehicle first — the rebate proceeds typically go to discharge the loan balance first.

If you have an outstanding hire purchase (car loan) secured against the vehicle, the lender holds a charge over the vehicle registration document. To deregister the car, you must first obtain a letter of release or discharge from the finance company. Upon deregistration, LTA pays the PARF + COE rebate proceeds. These proceeds go first to pay off the outstanding loan balance. Any surplus after settling the loan is paid to you. If the PARF + COE rebate is less than the outstanding loan balance (you’re “underwater”), you must pay the shortfall out of pocket to obtain the loan discharge before deregistration can proceed. This situation can arise if the car has depreciated faster than the loan has been paid down, especially for high-COE cars in falling COE market conditions.

Yes — the pro-rated COE rebate applies to motorcycle COE (Category D) in the same way as car COE. The formula is identical: (Months remaining / 120) × Cat D COE premium paid. Motorcycle COE (Cat D) is significantly cheaper than car COE — approximately S$10,000–S$15,000 in 2026 — so the monthly decay is much lower (approximately S$83–S$125/month) and the absolute COE rebate amounts are smaller. Motorcycle PARF also applies using the same 80%/70%/60% of ARF rates by age. For motorcycles with relatively low COE and ARF values, the PARF portion of scrap value is often more significant than the COE rebate.

Yes — in a private sale, the COE rebate entitlement transfers to the new registered owner. The PARF and COE rebate belong to whoever deregisters the vehicle. When you sell the car privately (transfer of ownership via LTA), the new owner becomes the registered owner and would receive the PARF + COE rebate when they eventually deregister. In a private sale negotiation, the remaining PARF + COE rebate value is a key factor in pricing the car. A car with higher remaining PARF and COE rebate commands a higher used car price, as the buyer can eventually recover this value. The “paper value” concept (total scrap value of a car) is what our OMV vs Paper Value calculator (coming soon) explores in detail.

Exporting a Singapore car (via VPIS — Vehicle Processing Industry Scheme or direct export) qualifies for the same PARF + COE rebate as scrapping. The export must be properly processed through LTA-approved channels. Upon approved export, LTA pays the pro-rated COE rebate (and PARF if applicable) to the registered owner. Many Singapore car owners export to Malaysia when the local scrap value exceeds what a local buyer would pay. The VPIS operator manages the export logistics and LTA paperwork. Note: there are VPIS processing fees, and the COE rebate is the same calculation regardless of whether the car is exported or scrapped — (months remaining / 120) × COE premium.

If a COE was transferred to a different vehicle during its validity (COE transfer is no longer available in Singapore, but was historically possible), the rebate is based on the COE premium originally paid and the remaining months. For purposes of used car transactions, the COE rebate calculation uses the original QP (Quota Premium) paid in the COE bidding exercise, not any adjusted or transferred value. The LTA vehicle registration document states the original COE QP — use this figure for the COE rebate calculation. If you are buying a used car and want to verify the COE premium paid, check the vehicle details via LTA OneMotoring using the registration number, or request the original registration document from the seller.

The COE rebate is one component of the total scrap value, but not the same as scrap value or paper value. Total scrap value = PARF rebate + COE rebate. “Paper value” is a related but distinct Singapore car term — it refers to the total scrap value of a car in the used car market, which represents the minimum price below which sellers would not agree to sell (since they could deregister and receive scrap value instead). Paper value is essentially the floor of the used car market. “Scrap value” and “paper value” are often used interchangeably in Singapore’s used car market, though some market participants use “paper value” to include additional dealer considerations. Our COE rebate calculator shows the COE component; use our PARF Rebate Calculator for the full scrap value.

This calculator uses your exact COE expiry date to calculate the precise number of months remaining from today. A month is calculated as approximately 30.4375 days (365.25/12), and the result is rounded down to whole months (floor). This is more accurate than manually estimating “3 years remaining = 36 months” — especially for cars near the end of their COE where even a single month makes a meaningful difference. Example: if your COE expires in 14 months and 20 days, the calculator uses 14 months (floored), not 15. Always use your exact LTA-documented COE expiry date for the most precise results.

Yes — since the COE rebate formula uses whole months remaining (floored to the nearest month), deregistering early in a month versus late in the same month gives the same rebate. But deregistering before versus after a month boundary makes a one-month difference in the rebate. Example: deregistering on 30 June vs 1 July — the car registered on 1 July has one fewer month remaining than the car deregistered on 30 June, meaning S$792/month less COE rebate (for a S$95,000 COE). This has a practical implication: if you’re planning to deregister anyway, deregister at the start of a month rather than the end to maximise the COE rebate by capturing that month’s value. The difference is small in absolute terms but is financially precise.

The maximum COE rebate occurs when a car is deregistered as early as possible — theoretically, a car deregistered in Year 1 of a S$125,000 COE with 119 months remaining would receive (119/120) × S$125,000 = S$124,000 in COE rebate. However, deregistering very early also means losing most of the PARF rebate potential relative to usage time, plus all the transaction costs of buying and immediately deregistering. In practice, the highest realistic COE rebates in Singapore are seen for high-COE cars (Category B or E, approximately S$120,000–S$130,000 in 2026) deregistered early in their COE period — perhaps 5–7 years in, with 3–5 years (36–60 months) remaining, yielding COE rebates of S$36,000–S$65,000. Combined with PARF rebates, total scrap values can reach S$100,000–S$200,000 for premium cars.