E-commerce follows the underlying transaction
The third-edition guide, dated 30 January 2026, addresses local GST-registered sellers, electronic marketplaces and redeliverers. Selling through a website or electronic network does not itself change a transaction’s GST treatment. Identify whether the supply is physical goods or services, where the goods go, who the customer is and whether a platform is treated as supplier. The guide replaces the earlier e-commerce guide published on 13 February 2018.
Digital and non-digital remote services
A digital service is essentially automated, involves minimal or no human intervention and could not be supplied without information technology. Non-digital remote services fall outside that definition but can still be supplied and received remotely. For the extended OVR regime, a remote service has no necessary connection between the recipient’s physical location and the place of physical performance when the service is performed. Digital services are therefore part of remote services, rather than a separate category of physical goods.
Examples covered by the remote-service definition
Digital examples include downloadable apps, e-books and movies; news, magazine, television, music and online-gaming subscriptions; downloadable software, drivers, filters and firewalls; website hosting, data warehousing, file sharing and cloud storage; and electronically performed transaction-facilitation services such as marketplace commissions, listing fees and service charges. Non-digital examples include investment advice, brokerage, legal, tax and accounting services; distance learning, online professional examinations and professional memberships; online counselling, matchmaking and telemedicine; and advertising, digital-marketing, data-analysis and research consultancy. Hosting businesses should also consult the specific web-hosting and server co-location guide.
OVR dates and customer categories
OVR began for imported B2C digital services on 1 January 2020 and extended to non-digital remote services and low-value goods on 1 January 2023. B2B in this guide means a GST-registered customer, including a sole proprietor, partnership or company. B2C includes both individuals and businesses that are not GST-registered. A company is therefore not automatically a B2B customer for these rules. Overseas suppliers and platforms may have to register and charge GST; the detailed OVR guides determine the applicable registration and deemed-supplier conditions.
Which intermediaries are marketplaces and redeliverers?
An electronic marketplace electronically allows suppliers to make supplies available to customers. Websites, portals, gateways, distribution platforms and other electronic interfaces can qualify; payment processors and internet service providers are excluded. A redeliverer arranges delivery to Singapore and also provides or facilitates a foreign delivery address, or purchases or facilitates purchases for the customer. A general freight forwarder that facilitates neither an address nor a purchase is outside that definition. Direct sales are sales to unregistered Singapore customers without a marketplace or redeliverer, for example through the seller’s own website.
Physical goods delivered in Singapore
Goods sold online and delivered locally in Singapore are standard-rated. Goods located outside Singapore at the time of supply are ordinarily outside the scope of GST, but this is subject to the low-value-goods rules introduced on 1 January 2023. Do not use the goods’ overseas location as a blanket reason to omit GST from an imported LVG sale.
The four low-value-goods conditions
At the point of sale, LVG must be non-dutiable, or have customs/excise duty waived under section 11 of the Customs Act; must not be GST-exempt; must be outside Singapore and intended for delivery by air or post; and must have a value not exceeding the S$400 import-relief threshold. Intoxicating liquor and tobacco are excluded. The point of sale is issuance of the order confirmation or another time agreed with the Comptroller. Singapore here means its customs territory. The S$400 criterion is one condition in this definition, not a general exemption for every online order.
Local direct sellers and deemed LVG platforms
A local GST-registered seller making direct LVG sales to customers not registered for GST in Singapore must charge and account for GST. A local GST-registered marketplace that meets the OVR deemed-supplier conditions must do the same for LVG sold through its platform by local and overseas sellers. This covers underlying sellers whether or not they themselves are GST-registered. Being a marketplace does not alone establish deemed-supplier status; check the LVG guide’s conditions.
Redelivery charges follow the taxable LVG supply
A local GST-registered redeliverer treated as supplier must account for GST on the LVG supplied to unregistered Singapore customers. It must also standard-rate transportation, insurance and every other service ancillary to that LVG supply. These ancillary services cannot be zero-rated as international transport in this setting: the guide explicitly applies standard rating to preserve equal treatment with overseas sellers and marketplaces.
Export evidence: sea, air and land freight
Exported goods can be zero-rated only with the necessary evidence. For sea or air freight, keep the bill of lading, air waybill or subsidiary export certificate showing the exported goods and your name as exporter. For land exports, keep the export permit or subsidiary export certificate naming you and identifying the vehicle. Also retain your sales invoice, the customer’s purchase order or equivalent, shipment insurance where applicable and evidence of customer payment. The packing list or delivery note must be endorsed by the forwarder or handling agent, state that the goods are for export, identify that agent’s name, address and GST number where applicable, and record collection date. These requirements in paragraph 4.14 have the force of law.
Export evidence: post and courier
For postal or courier exports, retain the parcel dispatch note, courier consignment note or air waybill where applicable. It must be endorsed by the courier, name you as exporter or sender and describe the exported goods. Keep the customer’s order or equivalent, your sales invoice, applicable shipment insurance and customer-payment evidence as well. Paragraph 4.15 also has the force of law; a website order alone does not establish that the goods left Singapore.
When internet services may be zero-rated
Internet-delivered services are taxable unless a provision of section 21(3) applies. International transport, such as qualifying air-ticket sales, is an example under section 21(3)(a). Section 21(3)(j) can cover a contract with an overseas person that directly benefits an overseas person outside Singapore when performed and is not directly connected with Singapore land or goods. An online course benefiting an overseas individual outside Singapore is the guide’s example. Overseas customer details alone are insufficient: meet every condition of the relevant provision.
Local registered direct beneficiaries from 2020
From 1 January 2020, specified zero-rating provisions, including sections 21(3)(j), (k), (s) and (y), can also cover services contracted with an overseas person that directly benefit GST-registered persons belonging in Singapore. If the Singapore beneficiary is not entitled to full input-tax recovery, it must apply reverse charge to services procured from that overseas person, including cost recoveries. This extension does not turn every supply to a local customer into a zero-rated supply.
Marketplace service fees and overseas underlying suppliers
Normally, the local registered seller accounts for GST on its service supply, and the local registered marketplace accounts for GST on its own service fee; either may zero-rate only where the relevant conditions apply. The marketplace ordinarily does not account for the sellers’ underlying supplies. Under OVR, however, a local or overseas marketplace meeting the deemed-supplier conditions accounts for B2C remote services supplied through it by overseas sellers, whether or not those sellers are registered. Digital services entered this regime in 2020 and non-digital services in 2023.
Optional B2C and B2B marketplace elections
A local or overseas marketplace may elect to account for all B2C remote services made by local sellers as well as overseas sellers. The additional B2B election is available only to local marketplaces. It affects local sellers’ B2B supplies only when the local platform also makes the local-seller B2C election; otherwise it covers overseas sellers’ B2B supplies. Written Comptroller approval and agreement with the affected sellers are required. Paragraph 6.5(b)’s sentence uses “digital services”, while its heading and Annex A describe remote services. The approved election and the detailed remote-services OVR guide should determine the exact scope; the different wording should not be silently treated as interchangeable.
The two deemed supplies after an approved election
After approval, the transaction becomes two successive deemed supplies. The seller supplies the service to the marketplace at the selling price charged to the end customer, and the marketplace supplies it onward to that customer. A local registered seller standard-rates the deemed supply to a local marketplace and zero-rates the deemed supply to an overseas marketplace. The end-customer selling price, rather than merely the seller’s net payout after fees, is the guide’s stated value. Annex A distinguishes the consequences of no election, the B2C election and the additional local B2B election.
Business customers: the establishment test
A business belongs in Singapore if its business or fixed establishments are only in Singapore; if it has no such establishment anywhere but is legally constituted here; or if it has establishments here and abroad and the Singapore establishment most directly uses or will use the service. A business establishment includes its main seat of economic activity, branch or agency. The main seat is where essential management decisions and central administration occur. A fixed establishment has both human and technical resources to provide or receive services permanently. Incorporation, headquarters and the establishment actually using the service therefore need to be considered together.
Business customers: online location evidence
For internet services, a Singapore business address in your customer database, a Singapore domain name or a Singapore IP address indicates Singapore belonging under this guide. If none exists, the guide allows overseas treatment with an overseas business address, domain or IP indicating a foreign establishment, a transaction-time declaration that the company is overseas and any other supporting information. Keep the information supporting the decision. An overseas designation is still subject to the relevant section 21(3) zero-rating conditions.
Individuals and the four Annex B outcomes
An individual belongs where their usual place of residence is. Take reasonable steps to identify that place. A Singapore address, domain or IP leads to Singapore treatment. Without a Singapore domain or IP, obtain a declaration at transaction time: Singapore residence leads to Singapore treatment, overseas residence to overseas treatment, and failure to declare to Singapore treatment. Annex B illustrates four outcomes: an .sg domain establishes Singapore belonging regardless of declaration; a non-.sg domain plus an overseas declaration indicates overseas belonging; a non-.sg domain plus a Singapore declaration indicates Singapore belonging; and a non-.sg domain without a declaration leads to Singapore treatment. These are location outcomes, not automatic zero-rating approvals.
OVR marketplaces use the specific OVR location rules
For overseas suppliers’ remote-service sales that a local marketplace is deemed to make, customer location must be determined under paragraph 8 of the relevant digital-services and remote-services OVR guides. For easier compliance, the marketplace may use those same rules for its own remote services and for B2C/B2B supplies covered by its elections. Do not combine isolated proxies from this general guide with a different OVR test without checking which set applies.
When to account for GST
Report e-commerce output tax with other business transactions in the GST return. For most transactions, the time of supply is the earlier of invoice issuance and payment receipt. Any document functioning as a payment bill, including a debit note, can trigger that time; it need not be titled a tax invoice. Sales orders, pro-forma invoices, statements of account and claim letters/statements ordinarily do not trigger it because they are not normally bills for payment. Check the Time of Supply Rules guide for transaction-specific treatment.
Tax invoices and foreign-currency totals
A registered supplier must give another taxable person a tax invoice within 30 days of supply. Paper and electronic invoices are both allowed. Include the prominent Tax Invoice designation, unique number and issue date; supplier name/address/GST number and customer name or trading name/address; supply type and description; quantities or extent and amounts excluding tax for each description; cash discounts; exclusive total, GST rate and tax separately; inclusive total; and separate gross amounts for exempt, zero-rated or other supplies where relevant. For a foreign-currency invoice, convert the exclusive total, tax and inclusive total into Singapore dollars using the prevailing Singapore selling exchange rate at the supply time, following the approved exchange-rate guide.
Online prices and reliable electronic records
Online displayed, advertised or published prices must include GST unless the Comptroller has approved otherwise in advance. If inclusive and exclusive prices both appear, the inclusive price must be at least equally prominent. Each breach may lead to a fine up to S$5,000. Electronic tax records need no prior IRAS approval, but internal controls must protect their integrity, completeness, accuracy, availability and reliability, including electronically executed transactions. The GST record-keeping guide provides the detailed retention requirements.
Edition changes and further enquiries
The publication sequence records 21 November 2019, 29 August 2022 and 30 January 2026. The August 2022 amendments incorporated the 2023 extension to non-digital services and LVG, revised definitions, location guidance and both annexes. The January 2026 entry records editorial changes. Enquiries may be directed to the GST Division through IRAS Contact Us; the export, OVR, time-of-supply, invoice exchange-rate and record-keeping guides supply the linked detailed conditions.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
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