Updates on 6 GST E-Tax Guides by IRAS
Hope all of you had a good break from the Lunar New Year holidays. When it comes to tax matters, most of you must be preoccupied with the new 2021 budget changes and updates.
Of course, you should know by now that the two GST changes that were announced by Minister Heng last week, with regard to the extension of GST to low-value goods imported via air or post and the imposition of B2C imported non-digital services with effect from 1 January 2023.
There was also a change of the basis for determining whether zero-rating applies to a supply of media sales, from the place of circulation of the advertisement to the place where the customer and direct beneficiary of the service belong. Please refer to the IRAS website on the tax changes for more details.
We would like to highlight that just before the 2021 budget updates, the IRAS had updated the following GST e-tax guides on 10 February 2021.
- GST Guide for the Biomedical Industry (5th edition)
- GST Guide for Motor Vehicles Traders (4th edition)
- GST: General Guide for Business (9th edition)
- GST: Pre-Registration Claims on Goods and Services (Businesses registered on or after 1 July 2015)(4th edition)
- GST: Fringe Benefits (5th edition)
- Record Keeping Guide for GST-registered Business (7th edition)
It was pleasing to know that there were not many new GST changes that you need to be aware of even though six GST e-tax guides were updated.
The key updates to the above GST e-tax guides are in respect to the new input tax condition (with effect from 1 January 2021); that you have taken reasonable steps to ascertain and concluded that the goods or services procured by the company were not part of a Missing Trader Fraud arrangement and the conclusion is one that a reasonable person would have made.
The IRAS also took the opportunity to introduce a new GST e-tax guide on “Guide on Due Diligence Checks to Avoid Being Involved in Missing Trader Fraud” on 10 February 2021. It is not the norm for the IRAS to introduce the GST e-tax guide after the effective date of new legislation and there must be a reason behind. We will review the new GST e-tax guide and will be providing our comments separately.
With the new input tax claim conditions that are tied to the Missing Trader Fraud arrangement, we expect that the IRAS will be revising many more GST e-tax guides in the coming months, so watch this space for the latest updates.
Additionally, do remember to sign up for the March’s GST webinar on the most commonly asked topics on recovery of expenses and international services.
Eddie is the co-founder and Tax Director of Jed Tax Consulting Pte Ltd. Jed Tax Consulting is an independent GST consulting firm in Singapore, provides support to clients with all aspects of GST matters (e.g. MES renewal, ASK and ACAP review, IRAS audit queries, tax codes review and set-up, GST advisory, GST return filing and in-house training etc). Jed Tax Consulting is supported by a team of accredited tax practitioners and advisors with vast experience in IRAS and Big 4 accounting firms.
We also work with audit and accounting firms to advise on their clients complex GST matters and in-house training. Share This Page
