As you may know, Delivery Notes (DN) which are endorsed by the Master/Chief Engineer are often part of the documentation required for marine businesses to maintain to support the zero-rating of their supply of goods.
Did you know? IRAS has recently updated the GST Guide for the Marine Industry on 31 May 2021 and will now accept both physically endorsed or digitally signed DN by the Master/Chief Engineer of the ship as part of the documentation maintained for zero-rating.
This is in compliance with the Electronic Transactions Act (which supports the use of electronic signatures and provides a legal foundation for electronic transactions) and will definitely help ease the GST compliance efforts since it may sometimes be difficult for the Master/Chief Engineer to physically sign on the DN, especially when he/she may be anywhere around the world!
Please refer to the guide from the IRAS for more details.
This is the right move by the IRAS and we sure hope that digitally signed document would be the norms for the tax authorities going forward.
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