Time of supply

In general, you are to account for GST at the earlier of the following events:

  1. When an invoice is issued; or
  2. When payment is received.

For more details, please refer to the e-Tax guide on GST: Time of Supply Rules (PDF, 565KB).

Special time of supply rule for gold

For sale of gold, you have up to 90 days from the date of delivery to issue a tax invoice and account for GST if you have not received payment and fixed the gold price for invoicing purpose at the time of delivery.

When you received payment within the 90-day period, you must account for GST and issue a tax invoice for the amount received on the date of payment. This is regardless whether the gold price is fixed.

Gold price not fixed up to the 90th day

You must account for GST and issue a tax invoice based on the open market value (OMV) on the 90th day.

Where payment has been received within the 90-day period (e.g. partial payment), you only need to account for GST and issue a tax invoice/ credit note on the difference between OMV and the payment received.

When the gold price is subsequently fixed, you need to account for GST and issue another tax invoice/credit note on the difference between OMV on the 90th day and the fixed gold price.

Example: Price of gold not fixed up to 90th day

You sell gold jewellery under the following arrangement.

Delivery of gold on

1 Feb 2024

90th day from delivery of gold

OMV of gold is $1,000

 

1 May 2024

After 90 days from delivery of gold

Price fixed at $1,200

 

 

1 Jul 2024

The price has not been fixed and payment is still outstanding on the 90th day.

As the price was not fixed by the 90th day, you have to issue a tax invoice and account for GST of $90 on the OMV of $1,000 on the 90th day i.e. on 1 May 2024.

Subsequently, on 1 Jul 2024, you should issue another tax invoice to account for the additional GST of $18 due to the difference between the OMV and the fixed price which amounted to $200 ($1,200 - $1,000).



Deposits from customers

When the deposit forms part payment for the gold jewellery, GST has to be accounted for on the deposit at the time it is received.

FAQs

My customer traded their old gold jewellery in for a new piece of gold jewellery. The trade-in value of the old gold jewellery is $1,200. The value for the new gold jewellery is $1,500 (inclusive of workmanship fee of $30). How should I account for the GST on the sale?

As an administrative concession, you are allowed to charge GST on $300 (i.e. the difference between the value of the new gold jewellery inclusive of workmanship fee and the trade-in value of the old gold jewellery).

Value of new gold jewellery (inclusive of workmanship fee $30)$1,500
Less: Trade-in value of old gold jewellery$1,200
Amount payable excluding GST$300
GST @ 9% on $300$27
Amount payable including GST$327

This concession applies to gold jewellery only. For other goods, a trade-in transaction is treated as two separate supplies for GST purposes and you need to charge GST on the value of your goods.

For more information, please refer to Trade-ins.

My customer traded their old gold jewellery in for a new piece of gold jewellery. The trade-in value of the old gold jewellery ($1,600) is higher than the value of the new gold jewellery ($1,500). How should I account for the GST on the sale?

As an administrative concession, you are allowed to charge GST on the difference between the value of the new gold jewellery and the trade-in value of the old gold jewellery.

As the price difference is negative ($1,500 - $1,600 = -$100), no GST will be charged on the gold. GST will only be charged on the workmanship fee of $30.

This concession applies to gold jewellery only. For other goods, a trade-in transaction is treated as two separate supplies for GST purposes and you need to charge GST on the value of your goods.

For more information, please refer to Trade-ins.

Does the 90-day special time of supply rules for determining time of supply apply to the sale of other types of jewellery?

GST for sale of other types of jewellery is to be accounted for based on the normal time of supply rule. You have to account for GST on your supply at the earlier of the following:

  1. When an invoice is issued; or
  2. When payment is received.

I sell gold to an overseas customer and the gold will be hand-carried out of Singapore via Changi International Airport. How do I account for GST on the sale?

Effective 1 Apr 2009, the Hand-Carried Exports Scheme (HCES) is applicable if you wish to zero-rate your supply to overseas customers for goods (including gold) that are hand-carried out of Singapore via Changi International Airport.

You need to maintain all the documents required under HCES to support zero-rating of your supplies. The person bringing the goods out of Singapore can either be a local person (e.g. your employee) or a foreigner (e.g. your customer's employee).

For information on how HCES works, the documents to be maintained and how to report GST on your supply, please refer to:

Hand-Carried Exports Scheme

GST: Guide on Hand-Carried Exports Scheme (PDF, 353KB)