Budget 2010 Changes
In his 2010 budget statement, the Minister for Finance announced changes to the GST treatment for ship and ship-related supplies. This change will take effect from 1 Jul 2010.
Zero-rating relief will be expanded to include the transportation and arranging of transportation of passengers or goods on a vessel so long as the vessel sails to or from international waters. Consequently, the vessel no longer has to call at a place outside Singapore in order to zero-rate the transportation services, as long as its course of transportation occurs substantially outside of Singapore.
Zero-rating also extends to supplies of domestic transport of goods i.e. from a place in Singapore to another place in Singapore, provided that the domestice transport is supplied as part of the international transportation of goods on a vessel that sails to or from international waters and if it is supplied by the same supplier. The supplier however does not need to perform the ancillary transport activities himself, but must be contracted to provide both the international and domestic leg of transportation. Zero-rating does not extend to domestic transport services provided to passengers.