GST zero rating Singapore: exports and international services

GST zero rating in Singapore means a GST-registered business charges 0% instead of 9% on a sale that qualifies, and keeps the proof. For goods, IRAS’s test is that you are certain at the time of supply that they will be or have been exported and that you have, or will have, the documents to support zero-rating, which you have up to 60 days to collect. For services, only those within section 21(3) of the GST Act qualify, and IRAS says plainly that not all services provided to overseas customers can be zero-rated.

This assumes you are already registered (if unsure, see our guide to GST registration). The rules are IRAS’s as rechecked on 17 October 2026, our examples are illustrative, and this is general information, not tax advice.

When can I charge 0% GST on goods I export?

Only when, at the point of supply, you are certain of both conditions on the exports page: export, and the documents to support it. IRAS’s e-Tax guide, GST: Guide on Exports (Twelfth Edition, published 30 January 2026), says this certainty should be proven by documentary evidence such as the customer’s instruction in a contract, purchase order, letter or email.

For zero-rating, the time of supply is the earlier of issuing an invoice and receiving payment. The exports page says goods hand-carried out via Changi International Airport must go through the Hand-Carried Exports Scheme (HCES) unless the Comptroller has approved an exemption in writing. The local-delivery page adds that anyone may carry them out, including your overseas customer’s local employee, if you keep the export evidence. The conditions are in IRAS’s separate HCES guide, which we did not read.

Is my sale a direct or an indirect export?

Our summary of IRAS’s rule, in order:

1. Do you have custody of the goods and control of the export arrangement? Then it is a direct export, and you may zero-rate it if you maintain the documents within 60 days.
2. If not, it is an indirect export: charge 9% unless you are certain at the time of supply that all the goods will be exported and can maintain the documents within 60 days. The guide treats the indirect arrangements it lists in paragraph 7 as pre-approved (paragraph 4.2); for any other, it advises writing to the Comptroller.
3. Are the goods delivered to someone in Singapore, such as a local customer who says it will export them, or the local customer of your overseas customer? Charge GST, because the goods were not exported (the guide’s scenario 5.1 is this case). IRAS says that even if you later obtain export documents, you cannot zero-rate a sale to a local customer who exports them.

IRAS’s own examples: a direct export goes via your appointed freight forwarder, handling agent, or postal or courier company and is invoiced to your overseas customer. An indirect export is, for instance, where you invoice your overseas customer and deliver the goods to a forwarder or handling agent that customer appointed.

The guide draws the line with two scenarios. In 5.2 the goods go to the overseas customer’s local forwarder to await instructions and may reach buyers in Singapore or overseas: charge GST, even if some are exported later. In 7.1B the customer has already told its forwarder to export them to a buyer outside Singapore: you can zero-rate if you hold the evidence listed under scenario 7.1A.

How does the 60-day clock work?

You have up to 60 days from the time of supply to export the goods and collate the documents. The guide’s illustration (paragraph 4.4, dated 2018): payment on 2 January, invoice on 15 January, export on 17 January, all documents by 30 January. The time of supply was 2 January, the earlier payment, so the sale was zero-rated.

Here is the clock on a fictional S$24,000 sale of equipment to a buyer in Vietnam. IRAS does not say how the 60 days are counted; we assume calendar days with the day of supply as day 0 (counting it as day 1 brings each date forward a day).

• Invoice first: invoice on Thursday 5 November 2026, no earlier payment. Day 60 is Monday 4 January 2027.
• Paid first: the buyer pays in full on Tuesday 20 October 2026 and you invoice on 5 November. Time of supply is 20 October, so day 60 is Saturday 19 December 2026, sixteen days earlier. Our cautious suggestion is to treat Friday 18 December as the deadline: the pages and guide we read do not say whether a weekend end date moves, or how a deposit affects the ordinary clock.
• Deadline missed: you must standard-rate. 9% of S$24,000 is S$2,160 of GST. Under paragraph 4.4 of the guide you submit a GST F7 if the tax involved exceeds S$3,000, and otherwise account for it in your next GST return. A S$40,000 sale would carry S$3,600 and need the F7.

The pages we read do not say whether you can recover that GST from the customer, so agree contract terms before shipping at 0% (our suggestion).

Paragraph 10 of the guide lists limited extensions with their own conditions, for example goods delivered for kitting, packing, assembling or dismantling before export (no change in nature and form, the customer’s written instruction, the other party’s written undertaking to export within six months), and progressively billed customised equipment and machinery (billing and export within the contract period or three years, whichever is earlier). For other scenarios, the guide says to obtain the Comptroller’s prior approval first.

Which documents prove an export?

For goods exported through a freight forwarder or handling agent, the exports page lists these transaction documents:

• the customer’s purchase order and your sales invoice;
• a delivery note or packing list endorsed by the forwarder or handling agent, showing its name, address and GST registration number (if applicable), the date of collection and the statement “Goods delivered are for export”;
• insurance documents, if applicable, and evidence of payment received;
• for indirect exports only, your customer’s written instructions to deliver the goods to its appointed forwarder or handling agent.

And these transport documents:

• sea or air: a bill of lading, cargo manifest or mate’s receipt (sea) or an air waybill (air), or a subsidiary export certificate or note of shipment from the forwarder or handling agent;
• land: an export permit, or a subsidiary export certificate or note of shipment.

In the guide’s basic direct-export scenario (6.1A), the bill of lading, air waybill or land export permit must show you as the exporter. A subsidiary export certificate or note of shipment replaces it only in the scenarios the guide specifies, such as consolidated exports.

For goods sent by a Singapore-based postal or courier company (scenario 6.1B), the guide asks for proof of delivery showing the goods reached the overseas customer (an online tracking record can do), in place of the endorsed delivery note, and a courier despatch note, consignment note, air waybill or shipment label naming you as sender. The purchase order, invoice and evidence of payment still apply.

Housekeeping rules from IRAS:

• Singapore Customs requires an export permit for exported goods.
• If export documents do not match the invoice, standard-rate the sale. Replace a lost document with a duplicate from the issuer marked “COPY – For GST purposes”, dated and authenticated.
• You need not issue a tax invoice for a zero-rated sale, though the guide says IRAS expects a commercial invoice as commercial practice; a tax invoice, if you issue one, must show GST at 0%. Our GST rate guide covers invoices at 9%.
• Keep export records for 5 years (paragraph 12.3 of the guide).

Which services sold to overseas customers can be zero-rated?

Only services within section 21(3), says IRAS. This finder points to the table row to read; each row has its own criteria.

• Performed wholly outside Singapore (organising a concert in Malaysia, a management course held entirely in Beijing): row 8, section 21(3)(i), for cultural, artistic, sporting, educational, entertainment, exhibition and convention services.
• Work on goods that will be exported (IRAS’s example is engraving pewter vases bound for Australia, billed to an overseas customer): row 9, section 21(3)(g). You need the customer’s written confirmation of export and the expected date, and have up to 60 days from completing the service to see the goods exported and obtain the documents.
• Work on goods already outside Singapore (repairing a computer network system in Malaysia): row 12, section 21(3)(f).
• Land or buildings outside Singapore (an architect designing a building in China): row 11, section 21(3)(e). Arranging accommodation bookings has been excluded from this row since 1 January 2023 and may fit (j).
• A general service contracted with an overseas person (IRAS’s example is market research for an overseas company): row 13, section 21(3)(j). It must directly benefit an overseas person who is outside Singapore when the service is performed, or a GST-registered person who belongs in Singapore, and must not relate to land or goods in Singapore (other than goods covered by (g)).
• A service on IRAS’s prescribed business list (including consultancy of engineers, accountants and lawyers, data processing, testing of samples of goods outside Singapore or for export, and business or employment training): row 14, section 21(3)(k). The contract must be with an overseas person wholly in a business capacity. Unlike (j), your overseas customer can be in Singapore to receive these services; IRAS’s example is training here for overseas companies’ overseas staff, excluding formal education courses.
• Sector rows: advertising (1), server co-location (2), international transport (3 to 6), leasing transport for use abroad (7), certain financial services connected with goods (10), ships and aircraft (15 to 20), TradeNet (21), specialised warehouses (22), containers (23 and 24), telecommunications (25), foreign trusts (26).

Two of IRAS’s FAQ answers mark the limits. Medical services to a foreign individual in Singapore cannot be zero-rated under (j), because the overseas person must not be in Singapore when the service is performed. Consultancy performed entirely overseas for a local company is not on the (i) list, so standard-rate it, unless it relates directly to land or buildings (e) or goods (f) outside Singapore.

Apart from row 9’s export-confirmation steps (which row 14 applies to services on goods for export), the page lists no documents for services; keeping the overseas contract and a note of the row you relied on is our suggestion.

Is my customer really overseas?

IRAS gives sections 21(3)(j), (k) and (s), which include rows 13, 14 and 2, as examples where you must first decide the customer’s belonging status. An individual belongs in Singapore if their usual place of residence is here during the service, and IRAS may treat a Singapore residential address as that. A business belongs here if it has a business or fixed establishment here and nowhere else, is incorporated here with no establishment elsewhere, or has establishments in both places but the contracted services are most directly used at the Singapore one. IRAS’s separate belonging-status guide has the detail; we did not read it.

What to check before you charge 0% GST

Copy this into your order file:

• Goods or services? For goods, note whether the export is direct or indirect; for services, note the IRAS row and criteria.
• For services, is the contract with the overseas customer, and have you recorded where it belongs?
• Are the goods leaving Singapore rather than being delivered to a customer in Singapore, and do you hold any written export instruction the scenario needs?
• Have you recorded the time of supply and the date 60 days later?
• Do you know who sends you the bill of lading, air waybill, export permit or courier record, and by when?
• Do goods, quantities and names match across permit, packing list and invoice?

Next, take one open export order and fill in its clock before it ships. For related reading, see the sales topic, our InvoiceNow adoption plan and InvoiceNow FAQ summary for the invoice-data side.

Common questions