Tax and Import
Where Registration Tax Costs More Than the Car
Danish brackets reach 150 per cent and Singapore charges 320 per cent above a threshold, before the permit that costs 130,889 dollars and expires after ten years.
In most countries registration tax is a percentage that stings. In two it is the largest single number in the transaction. Danish brackets run to 150 per cent of taxable value, and Singapore charges an additional registration fee reaching 320 per cent on the portion of open market value above SGD 80,000, on top of a permit that must be won at auction before the car may be registered at all.
Denmark, three brackets
The 2026 structure charges 25 per cent up to DKK 76,400, 85 per cent from there to DKK 237,400, and 150 per cent above that. The 2025 thresholds were 72,900 and 226,500, so these are ordinary annual indexation rather than a policy change.
| Taxable value | Registration tax | As a share of value |
|---|---|---|
| DKK 500,000 | 549,850 | 110.0 % |
| DKK 1,500,000 | 2,049,850 | 136.7 % |
| DKK 3,000,000 | 4,299,850 | 143.3 % |
Those figures are the structure and not the final bill. A CO2 surcharge is added on top and a basic deduction of DKK 25,500 is applied afterwards, so a real invoice sits near these numbers rather than on them. What the table does establish is the shape: past the second threshold, every additional krone of value costs 1.50 in tax, so the tax grows faster than the car's price.
One caveat travels with these brackets and is frequently misapplied. Bill L 79 of November 2025 is often cited alongside them and does not touch them. It concerns zero emission vehicles: it postpones their phase in by a year, holds the effective rate at 60 per cent and the tax free threshold at DKK 419,300 for 2026, and leaves only 40 per cent of the calculated tax payable rather than the 48 per cent that had been scheduled. It matters for an electric car and not at all for a combustion one.
Singapore, where you buy the right to register
Before a car can be registered at all, a Certificate of Entitlement must be won at auction, and it is valid for ten years. Category B, covering larger engined cars, closed at SGD 130,889 in the first bidding exercise of July 2026, against SGD 110,890 in February 2026. That is a swing of 18.0 per cent in five months on the permit alone, before any car is bought.
The additional registration fee then applies in tiers on open market value, reaching 320 per cent on the portion above SGD 80,000. On the top tier alone, each additional SGD 100,000 of open market value carries SGD 320,000 of fee.
| Open market value | Portion above 80,000 | Fee on that portion at 320 % |
|---|---|---|
| SGD 150,000 | 70,000 | 224,000 |
| SGD 250,000 | 170,000 | 544,000 |
| SGD 400,000 | 320,000 | 1,024,000 |
That column covers only the top tier and excludes the lower ones and the permit, so a full landed figure is higher than it shows. The permit is the part that has no equivalent anywhere else: it is a consumable with a ten year life, so a car kept longer has to be renewed against the prevailing quota price rather than simply taxed once.
What this does to ownership
- The car and the cost of owning it decouple. Two identical cars, one in each country, can differ in landed cost by more than the value of the car itself.
- Resale is priced inside the same system. A used car in a high registration tax market carries the embedded tax, which supports used values in a way that has nothing to do with the model.
- Moving a car is not a way out. Registration tax attaches at registration in the destination, and a car brought in from a low tax country meets the same brackets on arrival.
- A permit that expires is a different asset from a tax that is paid. One is a sunk cost, the other is a recurring purchase.
Questions readers ask
Which countries charge the highest car registration tax?
Denmark and Singapore are the outliers. Danish brackets reach 150 per cent of taxable value above DKK 237,400, and Singapore charges an additional registration fee reaching 320 per cent on the portion of open market value above SGD 80,000, on top of a permit won at auction.
Can the tax exceed the price of the car?
Yes. On the Danish structure alone, a taxable value of DKK 1,500,000 produces 2,049,850 of tax, which is 136.7 per cent of the value, and at DKK 3,000,000 it is 143.3 per cent.
What is a Certificate of Entitlement?
A permit that must be won at auction in Singapore before a car may be registered, valid for ten years. Category B closed at SGD 130,889 in the first July 2026 exercise against SGD 110,890 in February 2026, a swing of 18.0 per cent in five months.
Are the Danish figures the final bill?
No. They are the bracket arithmetic on the structure. A CO2 surcharge is added and a basic deduction of DKK 25,500 is applied afterwards, so a real invoice sits near those figures rather than on them.
Did the 2025 bill change the Danish brackets?
No, and this is a common error. Bill L 79 concerns zero emission vehicles: it holds the effective rate at 60 per cent and the tax free threshold at DKK 419,300 for 2026 and leaves 40 per cent of the calculated tax payable. The combustion brackets are unaffected.
Does high registration tax hurt resale value?
Usually the opposite. Used cars in these markets carry the embedded tax, which supports used prices in a way that has nothing to do with the model itself and everything to do with what a replacement would cost to register.
Sources
- Motorstyrelsen, registration tax and rates, for the 2026 brackets of 25, 85 and 150 per cent, the DKK 76,400 and 237,400 thresholds and the basic deduction.
- Folketinget, Bill L 79 (2025 to 2026), for the zero emission vehicle provisions that are frequently misattributed to the combustion brackets.
- COE bidding results, for the Category B closing prices of SGD 130,889 in July 2026 and SGD 110,890 in February 2026.