IRAS issues e-Tax Guide: “GST: Import GST Deferment Scheme (2nd Edition)”

On By taxsgIn Goods and Services Tax

13 December 2014

On 10 December 2014, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) issued an updated e-Tax Guide, “GST: Import GST Deferment Scheme (2nd Edition)”.

The e-Tax Guide explains how Import GST Deferment Scheme (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, amendments were made to paragraph 5.3 (c) (Approved Purposes of IGDS status). A new paragraph 5.3(d) has also been inserted to reflect changes from 1 January 2015 where the IGDS status can be used to re-import goods which have previously sent abroad for value-added activities, belonging to local customers or GST-registered overseas customers, under s 33B.

The previous edition was published on 31 March 2014.

For full details, please refer the e-Tax Guide on the IRAS website.

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