Category: Goods and Services Tax Act

IRAS issues third edition of the GST guide on exports

On By taxsgIn Corporate Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Goods and Services Tax Act

19 September 2016

On 19 September 2016, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) issued the third edition of the e-Tax Guide, “GST: Guide on Exports (3rd Edition)”.

This Guide explains the various circumstances and documentary requirements for which a supply of goods can be zero-rated.

A general principle for zero-rating exports of goods is that the supplier must, at the point of supply (to be determined based on the time of supply rules), be certain that the goods supplied will be/ has been exported, and the supplier has/ will have the required export evidence to substantiate the zero-rating of this supply.

The onus is on the supplier who zero-rates his exports of goods to support his GST declarations with export evidence. This includes:

  • Commercial transaction documents (e.g. customer’s order, sale invoice, delivery note, packing list, insurance documents, and payment received), and
  • Commercial transport documents (e.g. bill of lading, air waybill, export permit, or any other documents specified by the Comptroller in the Guide).

However, the Comptroller may request for documents and/ or impose conditions not specified in the Guide to support the zero-rating of supplies if it is assessed to be necessary.

In the third edition, the requirement regarding the indication of vehicle number in the export permit for exports via land was updated. For exports via land, the vehicle number should be indicated at the time the export permit is declared. If the vehicle number is not known at the point of the export permit declaration, the vehicle number could be stated on the supporting documents (e.g. invoice, delivery order, packing list upon collection of the goods) subsequently after the permit declaration.

The previous edition was published on 11 February 2016.

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.

Goods and Services Tax Act (Amendment of Fifth Schedule) Order 2014 [S 119/2014]

On By taxsgIn Goods and Services Tax, Goods and Services Tax Act, Latest Tax News, Legislative Updates

10 March 2014

The Goods and Services Tax Act (Amendment of Fifth Schedule) Order 2014 was published in the Government Gazette, Electronic Edition, on 3 March 2014, and shall come into operation on that day.

The Order amends Part II of the Fifth Schedule to the Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) Act.

Following the amendment, the non-refundable application fee in respect of an application for an advance ruling will increase from S$535 to S$562 (inclusive of GST).  In addition, the further time-based fee will increase from S$133.75 to S$140.50 (inclusive of GST) per hour, for each hour or part-hour subsequent to the first four hours spent in consideration of the application by the Comptroller of GST (including any time spent by the Comptroller in consulting with the applicant).

Source: Government Gazette

Goods and Services Tax (General) (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2013 [No. S 845/2013] comes into operation on 1 January 2014

On By taxsgIn Goods and Services Tax, Goods and Services Tax Act, Latest Tax News, Legislative Updates

9 January 2014

The Goods and Services Tax (General) (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2013 was published in the Government Gazette, Electronic Edition, on 30 December 2013 and shall come into operation on 1 January 2014. Some of the amendments to the Goods and Services Tax (General) Regulations (Rg 1) are:

  • Regulation 46A (Approved refiner and consolidator scheme) is amended to require the purchaser to repay the GST chargeable on the supply, where the purchaser is ineligible for such a benefit at the time of supply.
  • Regulation 50B (Revocation of approval and recovery of refund made as tax due) is substituted to allow the Comptroller of GST and authorised officers to revoke any approval for a refund under the Tourist Refund Scheme and recover the refund. This applies to approvals for refund granted before, on or after 1 January 2014.
  • A new Division 5 — Seizure, etc., of goods and arrest, etc., of persons is inserted in Part VII: Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS). Under the Division, new Regulations 51 (Seizure, etc., of goods) and 51A (Arrest, etc., of persons) are inserted to allow the Comptroller of GST and authorised officers to seize goods for investigation and prosecution purposes, where TRS fraud is suspected, and arrest without warrant a person suspected to be involved in, or assisting another person in a TRS fraud.

For the full details, please refer to the Singapore Statutes Online.

Source: Government Gazette

Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act 2013 comes into operation on 1 January 2014

On By taxsgIn Goods and Services Tax, Goods and Services Tax Act, Latest Tax News, Legislative Updates

2 January 2014

The Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act 2013 (Commencement) Notification 2013 [No. S 827/2013] was published in the Government Gazette, Electronic Edition, on 30 December 2013.

Following this, the Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act 2013 shall come into operation on 1 January 2014.

For a summary of the amendments to the Goods and Services Tax Act, please refer to the TAX@SG article “Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act 2013 [No. 21/2013] passed by Parliament” dated 19 December 2013.

Source: Government Gazette

Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act 2013 [No. 21/2013] passed by Parliament

On By taxsgIn Goods and Services Tax, Goods and Services Tax Act, Latest Tax News, Legislative Updates

19 December 2013

The Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act 2013, passed by Parliament on 11 November 2013 and assented to by the President on 2 December 2013, was published in the Government Gazette, Electronic Edition, on 17 December 2013.

The Act amends the Goods and Services Act (Cap. 117A, 2005 revised edition) and makes related amendments to the Income Tax Act (Cap. 134, 2008 revised edition), Property Tax Act (Cap. 254, 2005 revised edition) and Stamp Duties Act (Cap. 312, 2006 revised edition). The amendments to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act include:

  • Sec 6 (Official secrecy) — New subsections (6A) and (6B) are inserted to allow the Comptroller of GST to disclose certain information relating to a money laundering offence, the predicate offence of which is an offence under the Act, to the Commissioner of Police and the Director of the Commercial Affairs Department. New subsections (8) and (9) are also inserted to mirror sections 6(11) and 6(13) of the Income Tax Act.
  • Sec 25 (Refund or remission of tax in certain cases) — Subsection (2)(f) is amended to refer to approvals applied for through prescribed means, rather than to a prescribed person). Subsection (2)(g) is also amended to expand on the power of the Minister for Finance to make regulations in connection with the seizure and forfeiture of goods.
  • Sec 27 (Importation and supply of goods by taxable persons) — Subsection (2)(b) is amended to clarify that regulations made can prescribe the person (including persons other than the importer or supplier of goods) by whom the tax in question (or an amount equivalent thereto) is to be paid.
  • Sec 33 (Agents) — New subsections (2B), (2C) and (2D) are inserted to provide that goods imported by a taxable person as agent, and supplied by a substituted agent as agent, for a person who is not a taxable person may be treated as imported by the taxable person as principal and supplied by the substituted agent as principal, and for matters consequential thereto. A definition for “substituted agent” is also inserted in subsection (5).
  • Sec 37B (Refining of goods into investment precious metals) — The definition of “refine” in subsection (2) is amended to clarify that it includes changing an investment precious metal or a precious metal from one form to another (for example, from granules to a bar), or to a different level of purity.
  • Sec 79 (Power to appoint agent, etc., for recovery of tax) — Subsection (5A)(c) is amended to clarify that the Comptroller of GST’s power to serve a notice on a public officer includes serving a notice on an employee of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), to enable moneys which are intended to be paid by the Government through the IRAS to a taxpayer to be off-set against tax owing by the taxpayer.
  • Sec 83E (Arrest of persons) — This new section is inserted to empower the Minister for Finance to make regulations to allow the Comptroller of GST and any authorised person to arrest without warrant certain persons in connection with any refund sought or obtained pursuant to regulations made under sec 25, and matters consequential thereto.

For the full details, please refer to the Singapore Statutes Online.

Source: Government Gazette