SUMMARY TABLE ON GST CHANGES No. Tax Change Description and Reason for Change Amendment to GST Act 1 Allow the Under the Tourist Refund Scheme, only eligible Section 82 Comptroller of tourists are allowed to claim a refund of the GST paid [Clause 3] GST to impose on goods purchased in and brought out of Singapore. a Travel In view that a wrongful GST tourist refund owed by Restriction ineligible claimants is no different from a tax due to Order on a the Government, existing powers that allow the person who fails Comptroller of GST to impose a Travel Restriction to repay a Order on persons owing tax are extended to cover tourist refund ineligible claimants who fail to repay the Comptroller wrongly of GST tourist refunds wrongly claimed under the claimed under Tourist Refund Scheme. the Tourist The change will take effect from 1 January 2016. Refund Scheme 2 Revise the Currently, for the purpose of zero-rating of Section 21 and “aircraft” definition of GST is defined in the GST Act to refer to new Tenth for Schedule of the “aircraft” any aircraft which is not used or intended to be the purpose of GST used for recreation or pleasure; or zero-rating (International any aircraft which is used or intended to be used supplies made Services) Order for recreation or pleasure if it is wholly used or in relation to an [Clause 2] intended to be wholly used for international travel. aircraft, and extend The policy intent is to zero-rate supplies of and to supplies relating to aircrafts that are used for specific international travel and international transportation of supplies made passengers and goods. To affirm this policy intent, the in relation to definition of aircraft will be revised to refer to any non-qualifying aircraft that is wholly used or intended to be wholly aircraft used for international travel, or any military aircraft, regardless of whether the aircraft is used or intended to be used for recreation or pleasure. In addition, zero-rating will be extended to specific supplies made in relation to a non-qualifying aircraft, provided the supplies can be directly attributable to international flights, as these supplies can be regarded as consumed outside Singapore. For more information on the change, please refer to the . The change will take effect from 1 January 2016.
SUMMARY TABLE ON GST CHANGES No. Tax Change Description and Reason for Change Amendment to GST Act 1 Allow the Comptroller of GST to impose a Travel Restriction Order on a person who fails to repay a tourist refund wrongly claimed under the Tourist Refund Scheme Under the Tourist Refund Scheme, only eligible tourists are allowed to claim a refund of the GST paid on goods purchased in and brought out of Singapore. In view that a wrongful GST tourist refund owed by ineligible claimants is no different from a tax due to the Government, existing powers that allow the Comptroller of GST to impose a Travel Restriction Order on persons owing tax are extended to cover ineligible claimants who fail to repay the Comptroller of GST tourist refunds wrongly claimed under the Tourist Refund Scheme. The change will take effect from 1 January 2016. Section 82 [Clause 3] 2 Revise the definition of “aircraft” for the purpose of zero-rating supplies made in relation to an aircraft, and extend to specific supplies made in relation to non-qualifying aircraft Currently, “aircraft” for the purpose of zero-rating of GST is defined in the GST Act to refer to any aircraft which is not used or intended to be used for recreation or pleasure; or any aircraft which is used or intended to be used for recreation or pleasure if it is wholly used or intended to be wholly used for international travel. The policy intent is to zero-rate supplies of and supplies relating to aircrafts that are used for international travel and international transportation of passengers and goods. To affirm this policy intent, the definition of aircraft will be revised to refer to any aircraft that is wholly used or intended to be wholly used for international travel, or any military aircraft, regardless of whether the aircraft is used or intended to be used for recreation or pleasure. In addition, zero-rating will be extended to specific supplies made in relation to a non-qualifying aircraft, provided the supplies can be directly attributable to international flights, as these supplies can be regarded as consumed outside Singapore. For more information on the change, please refer to the . The change will take effect from 1 January 2016. Section 21 and new Tenth Schedule of the GST (International Services) Order [Clause 2]
GSTBill2015_SummaryTableGSTChanges_Final1.docx