Overseas Vendor Registration (OVR) regime: Singaporean GST

If you are an Australian professional services firm with clients who are residents in Singapore and are not registered for GST in Singapore, you must be aware of a potential requirement to register and pay GST in Singapore under its new Overseas Vendor Registration (OVR) regime.

Australian firms must be aware of Singaporean GST registration requirement under the OVR.

Since 1 Jan 2020, Singapore has introduced the OVR to tax business-to-consumer (B2C) supplies of digital services to customers in Singapore.

From 1 Jan 2023, the OVR regime was extended to tax B2C supplies of non-digital services and low-value goods (LVG) (i.e. worth less than S$400) to Singapore.

As an overseas vendor, you are required by Singapore’s Inland Revenue Authority (IRA) to register for GST in Singapore under the OVR regime if you expect to make or have made, within a 12-month period:

1. A global turnover exceeding S$1 million (approximately $A 1.09m); and
2. Supplies of more than S$100,000 (approximately $A109,000) of the following goods and services to non-GST registered customers (individuals and businesses) in Singapore:

i. Goods valued up to (and including) S$400 (LVG);
ii. Digital services (e.g., downloadable digital content, supply of mobile applications and e-books); or
iii. Non-digital services*.

Whilst most Professional Practices deal with Corporate entities or businesses that are registered for GST in Singapore, there will be individual clients or businesses that are based in Singapore and may not need to be registered in Singapore for GST.

Please refer to the IRA E Tax Guide GST: Taxing Imported Remote Services by way of the Overseas Vendor Registration Regime that may assist you in identifying the extent of services that are caught under the OVR.

*Non-digital services are services which do not require the customer to be physically located where the services are performed (e.g., online counselling, coaching services, investment advisory, brokerage services, distance learning classes, legal, tax and accounting services)

Please contact your Grant Thornton representative if you wish to discuss these changes further.