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GST chargeable on goods delivered locally

GST-registered businesses must charge GST on goods delivered locally. If you deliver goods in Singapore to your overseas customer’s local customer, you must charge GST as the goods are not exported.

When can you apply 0% GST

You can zero-rate your supply only if all of the following conditions are met at the time of supply:

  1. You are certain the goods will be or have been exported;
  2. You maintain the required export documents to support zero-rating within 60 days from the time of supply; and
  3. You have custody of the goods and control over the export arrangement.

If you do not meet all the above conditions, you must charge GST as the supply is treated as a local supply, unless the Comptroller specifically allows zero-rating.

For specific circumstances where zero-rating may still be allowed, please refer to "Indirect Export" in GST: A Guide on Export (PDF, 796KB).

Required export documents

To support zero-rating, you must maintain the required export documents for your scenario.

Refer to:

If you do not maintain the required documents, you must charge GST.

Common scenarios

Scenario GST treatment Reason
You deliver the goods to your local customer who will export them later Charge your local customer GST at 9%.

Even though you might be able to obtain the required export documents subsequently, at the time of supply, you cannot be certain that the goods will be exported. You therefore cannot zero-rate the supply of goods to your customer.

You deliver the goods to a local freight forwarder appointed by your overseas customer

Charge your overseas customer GST at 9%.

You can charge 0% GST if at the time of supply:

  • You are certain the goods will be exported; and
  • if you maintained all the export documents as required for your relevant scenario in GST: A Guide on Exports (PDF, 796KB) within 60 days from the time of supply.
You do not have custody of the goods nor control over the export arrangement once the goods are with the freight forwarder.  However, if you maintain the relevant supporting documents and are certain the goods will be exported, then you can charge 0% GST.
You deliver the goods to your freight forwarder before exporting the goods overseas to your customer

Charge your overseas customer GST at 0% if you maintained all the export documents as required for your relevant scenario in GST: A Guide on Exports (PDF, 796KB) within 60 days from the time of supply.

You are certain that the goods will be or have been exported. You also retain custody of the goods, control the export arrangements, and maintain the relevant supporting documents.
You deliver the goods to a local employee of your overseas customer, who will hand-carry them out of Singapore via Changi Airport

Charge your overseas customer GST at 0% only if you maintained all the export documents as required for your relevant scenario in:

within 60 days from the time of supply.

Zero-rating is allowed regardless of whether the goods are hand-carried out of Singapore by your overseas customer, yourself, or any person appointed by either party, provided that you maintain the required export evidence.

If you are unsure whether the goods will be or have been exported, or cannot substantiate this with export evidence, you must charge GST to your customers, whether they are local or overseas.

Common error on output tax

Find out if you can zero-rate the sale of goods to your overseas customers by watching the video below. You may also view other videos on "Common GST Errors on Output Tax".

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