There have been three key changes to the Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) in Singapore as of 1 January 2019.
The three changes are in relation to:
- Customer Accounting;
- Hand Carried Exports Scheme (HCES); and
- GST Registration Rules
Customer Accounting
For the sale of prescribed goods:
- GST-registered customers will have to account for the GST on the local sale of prescribed goods. These goods include items such Mobile Phone, memory cards and off the shelf software which exceeds an amount of SGD $10,000 including GST.
- The supplier must indicate what the customer’s GST registration is on their tax invoice documents. Therefore they will have to declare the following, for example:
“Sale has been made under customer accounting. Customer is to account for GST of $ (Amount)”
This statement must be declared on the tax invoice itself.
For the customer, the GST exclusive price and the amount of GST Incurred should be reflected in the invoice.
Hand-Carried Exports Scheme (HCES)
As of 1 January 2019, additional evidence must be presented for zero-rating of goods which are carried though Changi Airport.
The Documents that must be provided now include the following:
- Copies of the invoices issued to overseas customers for goods that are sold.
- Export permits containing original endorsements from the Singapore Customs.
- Evidence of payments which are made to an overseas customer refunding any prior collected GST.
- Evidence that payments have been received from the overseas customer (This is a new, additional requirement for GST as of 1 January 2019).
GST Registration Rules
With effect from 1 Jan 2019, Businesses need not monitor their turnover or revenue every quarter anymore.
IRAS has changed the way they determine mandatory GST registration.
Businesses are only required to determine their taxable revenue or turnover at the end of a calendar year and if it is more than SGD1 million. Then they will be required to register for GST registration.
