7 January 2013

On 2 January 2013, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (‘IRAS’) issued the seventh edition of the e-Tax Guide, ” GST: Import GST Deferment Scheme (‘IGDS’)”.

The e-Tax Guide explains how IGDS works and sets out the qualifying conditions of IGDS as well as the responsibilities of an IGDS business.

IGDS allows an approved business to defer the payment of import GST until the submission of the GST return for the prescribed accounting period. This scheme is not applicable to customs or excise duties, which remain payable upfront at the point of importation.

As an approved IGDS business, businesses are required to account for the deferred import GST in the GST return for the period in which the import GST is payable. If the goods are imported for the business of making taxable supplies, they are entitled to claim the import GST as input tax in the same period.

IGDS will apply to both dutiable and non-dutiable overseas goods under the following circumstances:

• Direct imports into Singapore
• Imports released from Zero-GST/Licensed warehouses for local consumption

In this edition, certain paragraphs have been revised and updated, namely on the responsibilities of an IGDS business as well as on the application process for IGDS.

Source: This article was extracted from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) website. Visit http://www.iras.gov.sg for more information.