Manufacturing

You manufacture and sell chocolates to your customer. You are making a supply of goods (chocolates) to your customer.

You are engaged by your customer to provide assembly services. Your customer delivers his semi-finished components to you to assemble into finished products according to his specifications.

Even though you only provide assembly services, you are regarded as making a supply of goods for GST purposes as there is a change in the nature of the original goods such that new goods in the form of finished products are produced.

You perform repair services on second-hand washing machines sent to you by your customer. The repair service performed by you do not change the nature or form of the original goods (washing machine). Rather, the repair services merely restore the washing machines to their original condition. Hence, you are making a supply of services to your customer.

You sold goods to a local customer and were instructed to deliver the goods to the customer's freight forwarder for export. At the time of supply, you are certain that all the goods will be exported. To zero-rate the supply to the local customer, you need to maintain the following transport document within 60 days from the time of supply to substantiate your exports:

For export via air or sea

Air waybill / bill of lading showing details of your goods exported and bearing your name as the exporter. Alternatively, the freight forwarder can issue a subsidiary export certificate or note of shipment to you.

For export via land

Export permit showing your name as the exporter and the vehicle number.

The transport document is in addition to other necessary transaction documents that you should maintain, such as purchase order, customer's written instruction to deliver the goods to his freight forwarder, payment evidence etc.

You deal in the manufacture and repair of electrical equipment and provide repair services to your customers. An overseas customer sends a faulty equipment to you for repair and has requested for the equipment to be delivered to a local customer thereafter.

Under section 21(3)(g) of the GST Act, services supplied directly in connection with goods can only be zero-rated if supplied to an overseas person and if the goods are for export at the time the services are performed. As the equipment is delivered locally in Singapore, the repair services performed by you do not qualify for zero-rating as an international service. Hence, you must charge GST on the supply.

You are engaged by a local company to supply wafers. To protect their intellectual property, the company has separately engaged you to first supply the mask that you will be using to manufacture the wafers.

As the mask will be retained by you in Singapore to produce the wafers, you must charge GST on the supply of the mask.

However if you supply certain tools or machines to an overseas person, you may zero-rate the supply provided you satisfy the prescribed conditions. The overseas person must not be GST-registered or if he is GST-registered, the registration is as a pay-only person under the Overseas Vendor Registration (OVR) regime.

For more information, please refer to GST : Zero-Rating Of Tools Or Machine Used In Manufacturing Of Goods For Export To Overseas Customer (PDF, 448KB).

You misplaced goods belonging to a customer which were consigned to you for testing.

Based on the agreement between you and the customer, you are required to compensate the customer based on the cost of the goods lost.

For GST purposes, there is no supply made by the customer to you in return for the compensation received.

You damaged goods belonging to a customer which were consigned to you for testing.

Based on the agreement between you and the customer, you are required to repair the goods.

However, as you lack the expertise to perform the repair, the customer undertakes the repair and charges you for his services.

For GST purposes, there is a supply of repair services made by the customer to you.

If you are under the Major Exporter Scheme, you need not pay GST on your imports of goods.

Alternatively, you may apply for Import Relief with Singapore Customs if the total value does not exceed $400. GST will be temporarily suspended at the point of importation, subject to conditions.

For more information, please visit Singapore Customs' website or contact Singapore Customs on (+65) 6355 2000.

You may apply for Import Relief with the Singapore Customs. GST will be temporarily suspended at the point of importation, subject to conditions.

For more information, please visit Singapore Customs' website or contact Singapore Customs on (+65) 6355 2000.

You can claim the import GST on the machine if you are using the machine to make taxable supplies.

In order to support the claim for input tax, you must hold a GST payment permit for the importation of the machine showing yourself as the importer of the machine, in addition to the commercial invoice and shipping documents.

GST is payable when you import the raw materials into Singapore.

When you send the semi-finished goods to Malaysia for further processing, the movement of these goods is treated as your export and should be reported as your zero-rated supplies.

When the finished goods are subsequently brought into Singapore, GST is payable on the import value of the finished goods because they are treated as new imports.

The GST you paid on the importation of raw materials and finished goods can be claimed as your input tax, subject to the conditions for claiming input tax .

If you are under the Major Exporter Scheme, the import GST payable is suspended.

Subsequently, when the goods are sold locally, you should charge GST on the supply of goods.

For goods that are exported, you may zero-rate the supply if you maintain the required documents stated in GST: Guide on Exports (PDF, 717KB) or GST: Guide on Hand-Carried Exports Scheme (PDF, 332KB).

Although the export is not as a result of your sale, you need to report the movement of your goods. Therefore, you should report the value of the exports of defective goods in Box 2 (Total value of zero-rated supplies) of your GST return.

When you re-import the repaired goods, you can claim the import GST if the goods are for the making of taxable supplies.

For goods re-imported within three months, you can apply for Import Relief with Singapore Customs. For more information, please visit Singapore Customs' website or contact Singapore Customs on (+65) 6355 2000.

You need to report the value of import in Box 5 (Total value of taxable purchases) of your GST return. If applicable, the import GST should be reported in Box 7 (Input tax and refund claimed).

No. You can only use your MES status to suspend GST on your own imports or on imports made as an agent on behalf of your overseas principal (where you act as a Section 33(2) agent, Section 33A agent or Section 33B agent).

It is an offence to use your MES status to import goods for other companies. Penalties will be imposed and your MES status may be revoked.

As the goods are delivered from a place outside Singapore (Indonesia) to another place outside Singapore (Thailand), it is treated as an out-of-scope supply. You do not need to charge GST.

As the goods are delivered from a place outside Singapore (Indonesia) to another place outside Singapore (Thailand), it is treated as an out-of-scope supply. You do not need to charge GST to your local customer.

Industrial samples and commercial samples will not be subject to GST if they are in a form which is not ordinarily available for sale to the public and are given to your actual or potential customers.

These samples must be easily distinguished from the actual products that are available for sale in the market. They should be marked with words such as "Not for sale" or "Sample only".

Yes, you are required to charge GST on the sale of your company vehicle. You should use the Discounted Sale Price Scheme and charge GST on 50% of the selling price of the used vehicle.

For more information, please refer to Purchase and Sale of Motor Vehicles.

As the exchange of a replacement good for a faulty one is part of the original contract for the sale of goods, there is no supply when the defective goods are returned to the local agent of the overseas manufacturer.

Therefore, you do not need to charge GST when you pass the defective goods to the local office.