On or about 16 Dec 2021, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has published the third edition of the GST e-Tax Guide on Taxing imported services by way of an overseas vendor registration regime. It replaces the second edition that was issued on 26 Aug 2019.
The Minister for Finance announced in Budget 2018 that GST will apply to imported digital services in the context of business-to-consumer (“B2C”) transactions by way of an overseas vendor registration regime with effect from 1 Jan 2020.
The e-Tax Guide explains the features of the overseas vendor registration regime, and the related GST registration and reporting rules. It also covers the compliance guidelines, as well as the transitional rules applicable to transactions spanning the implementation of the registration regime on 1 Jan 2020.
From 1 Jan 2023, imported non-digital services supplied in the context of B2C transactions will also be subject to GST by way of an extension of the overseas vendor registration regime2.
With this, all B2C supplies of imported services, whether digital or non-digital, will be brought to tax effective from 1 Jan 2023, if the services can be supplied and received remotely. Such services will be known as ‘remote services’.
Please refer to the e-Tax Guide “GST: Taxing imported remote services by way of the overseas vendor registration regime” for information on the measure.
The amendments to this third edition GST e-Tax Guide on Taxing imported services by way of an overseas vendor registration regime include:
- Added paragraph 1.4 to highlight the extended overseas vendor registration regime for B2C imported non-digital services with effect from 1 Jan 2023.
- Amendments to paragraph 7.3.2’s table on the features of the simplified pay-only regime as follows:
- Removed footnote which indicated that the group registration feature was subject to the passing of the GST (Amendment) Bill 2019 as the Bill has since been passed in Parliament.
- Added Footnotes 17 and 18 to clarify the record-keeping requirements.
- Amended Annex A to reflect the changes to the scope of included and excluded digital services, arising from the change in GST treatment for media sales from 1 Jan 2022.