Singapore legislation
Clause 21
Clause 21
Zero-rating for exports and international services
(1)
Subject to this section, a supply of goods is zero-rated only if the goods are exported and a supply of services is zero-rated only if the services are international services.
(2)
Where a taxable person supplies goods or services and the supply is zero-rated, then, whether or not tax would be chargeable on the supply apart from this section, —
no tax shall be charged on the supply; but(b)it shall in all other respects be treated as a taxable supply,and accordingly the rate at which tax is treated as charged on the supply shall be nil.
(3)
A supply of services shall be treated as a supply of international services where the services or the supply are for the time being of any of the following descriptions:
services (not being ancillary transport activities such as loading, unloading and handling) comprising the transport of passengers or goods —
from a place outside Singapore to another place outside Singapore;
from a place in Singapore to a place outside Singapore; or
from a place outside Singapore to a place in Singapore;
services (including any ancillary transport activities such as loading, unloading and handling) comprising the transport of goods from a place in Singapore to another place in Singapore to the extent that those services are supplied by the same supplier as part of the supply of services to which paragraph (a)(ii) or (iii) applies;
services comprising the insuring or the arranging of the insurance or the arranging of the transport of passengers or goods to which any provision of paragraphs (a) and (b) applies;
services supplied directly in connection with land or any improvement thereto situated outside Singapore;
services supplied directly in connection with goods situated outside Singapore when the services are performed;
services supplied directly in connection with goods whose destination is outside Singapore and supplied to a person who does not have a business establishment in Singapore or who does not have his usual place of residence in Singapore, at the time the services are performed;
services performed outside Singapore;
services supplied for and to a person who does not have a business establishment in Singapore or who does not have his usual place of residence in Singapore and who is outside Singapore at the time the services are performed, not being services which are supplied directly in connection with —
land or any improvement thereto situated inside Singapore; or
goods situated inside Singapore at the time the services are performed, other than goods referred to in paragraph (f).
(4)
For the purposes of subsection (3) —
a person carrying on a business through a branch or agency in Singapore shall be treated as having a business establishment in Singapore; and
“usual place of residence”, in relation to a body corporate, means the place where it is incorporated or otherwise legally constituted.
(5)
Where a description referred to in subsection (3) is a transaction which would not otherwise be a supply of services, the transaction shall for the purposes of this Act be treated as a supply of services in Singapore.
(6)
A supply of goods is zero-rated where the Comptroller is satisfied that the person supplying the goods —
has exported them; or
has shipped them for use as stores on a voyage or flight to or from a destination outside Singapore or as merchandise for sale by retail to persons carried on such a voyage or flight in a ship or aircraft,and in either case, if such other conditions or restrictions, if any, as may be prescribed by the Minister in regulations or as the Comptroller may impose are fulfilled.
(7)
The Minister may by regulations provide for the zero-rating of supplies of goods, or of such goods as may be specified in the regulations, in cases where the Comptroller is satisfied that the goods have been or are to be exported and such other conditions, if any, as may be specified in the regulations or the Comptroller may impose are fulfilled.
(8)
Where the supply of any goods has been zero-rated pursuant to regulations made under subsection (6) or (7) and —
the goods are found in Singapore after the date on which they were alleged to have been or were to be exported or shipped; or
any condition specified in the regulations made under subsection (6) or (7) or imposed by the Comptroller is not complied with,and the presence of the goods in Singapore after that date or the failure to comply with the condition has not been authorised for the purposes of this subsection by the Comptroller, the tax that would have been chargeable on the supply but for the zero-rating shall become payable forthwith by the person to whom the goods were supplied or by any person in whose possession the goods are found in Singapore; but the Comptroller may, if he thinks fit, waive payment of the whole or part of that tax.