About Stax

2024: The $3,200 Mistake

I'm a cybersecurity professional by day. Like most Singaporeans, I filed my taxes every April, paid what IRAS said I owed, and moved on. I assumed the system was optimized for me.

It wasn't.

In 2024, I paid $8,500 in taxes on a $120,000 salary. That felt... high. So I started digging.

Turns out I could have:

• Contributed $15,300 to SRS → Saved $1,760
• Topped up $8,000 to CPF → Saved $920
• Claimed parent relief I didn't know I qualified for → Saved another $500

Total missed savings: $3,180.

All because I didn't know what I didn't know.

The Bigger Problem

I started asking friends and colleagues. Almost everyone was overpaying.

• The developer earning $90K who'd never heard of SRS
• The manager earning $150K who didn't know CPF top-ups were deductible
• The freelancer who had no idea about expense claims

The tax system isn't designed to help you optimize. It's designed to be accurate — which means if you don't claim your reliefs, you just... pay more.

The information is out there. But it's scattered across dense IRAS PDFs, scattered blog posts, forums with conflicting advice, and financial advisors who want to sell you products.

There had to be a better way.

Why I Built Stax

Over the Christmas period in 2025, I started building Stax on nights and weekends.

The goal was simple: Create a tax calculator that doesn't just tell you what you owe — it shows you exactly how to pay less. Legally. Ethically. Without selling you anything you don't need.

Core principles:

1. Privacy First — Your income is your business. All calculations happen in your browser. We don't store your data, period.
2. Transparency — We show our work. Every number, every assumption, every calculation. No black boxes.
3. Education — Tax optimization shouldn't require a finance degree. We explain the "why" behind every recommendation.
4. Independence — No conflicts of interest. We're not trying to sell you insurance or investment products. We just want you to pay less tax.

What Makes Stax Different

Most tax calculators: Give you a number. End of story.

Stax: Calculates your tax, shows you exactly where you're overpaying, runs what-if scenarios (SRS contributions, CPF top-ups, reliefs), explains trade-offs in plain English, and helps you plan for next year (not just this year).

We don't just tell you what you owe. We help you keep more.

The Reality Check

Tax optimization isn't just for the rich.

If you earn $60,000/year, optimizing your taxes could save you $1,000. That's a flight to Tokyo. A month's groceries. A new laptop.

If you earn $150,000/year, you could save $5,000+. That's serious money.

The system rewards those who understand it. Stax exists to level the playing field.

What's Next

Stax launched in February 2026. Here's what we're working on:

• Multi-year planning: See how today's decisions affect your taxes in 2027, 2028, and beyond
• Life event tools: Marriage, property purchase, having kids — all affect your taxes
• Freelancer/expat guides: Specialized content for non-standard situations
• More education: Articles, guides, and explainers to make tax optimization accessible

The goal hasn't changed: Help Singaporeans keep more of their hard-earned money.

A Note on Monetization

Yes, Stax needs to make money to survive. Here's how we do it:

1. Free forever: Core tax calculator will always be free
2. Premium features: Advanced planning tools for power users ($29/year)
3. Advisor matching: If you want professional help, we can connect you with licensed advisors (we get a referral fee, but only if you choose to work with them)
4. Affiliate links: We recommend tools we actually use (like robo-advisors for SRS investing). We disclose these and only partner with services we'd use ourselves.

We're not here to get rich. We're here to build something useful. If we can do both, great.

Get In Touch

Questions? Feedback? Just want to say hi?

• Email: hello@stax.sg
• Telegram: (coming soon)

We read every message. Seriously.

Try Stax

Enough about us. Let's see how much you can save.