Scope and legally binding conditions
The fifth-edition Marine Industry Guide was published on 30 January 2026. The international character of shipping allows specified goods and services to be zero-rated, but only within the relevant ship definition and conditions. Paragraphs 3.4–3.8, 4.6–4.11, 5.1 and Appendix 4 expressly have the force of law. Determine the vessel’s status before applying the goods, services or repair rules.
The qualifying ship definition
Section 21(4)(a) includes ships and oil rigs but excludes MPA-licensed passenger harbour craft or pleasure craft, vessels with a PUB permit, and vessels designed or adapted for recreation or pleasure and used for that purpose in Singapore, subject to the limited incidental-use allowance. The guide lists MPA prefixes SP for passenger harbour craft, SZ for private pleasure craft and SZH for commercial pleasure craft as excluded categories at publication. Most other commercial ships qualify; a recreational vessel wholly used for international travel can also qualify. Licence prefixes should be checked against subsequent MPA changes.
When a yacht is wholly for international travel
A Singapore-flagged or foreign-flagged recreational vessel is treated as wholly for international travel only if it is not concurrently MPA pleasure-craft licensed or PUB-permitted; is not permanent or long-term accommodation for Singapore residents; and is not also used for Singapore-water day trips or entertainment. Temporary limited movement, such as moving between marinas, is allowed. A visiting foreign-owned yacht temporarily berthed here may accommodate its crew or passengers without falling within the residential exclusion.
Supplier checks and contradictory evidence
Verify or sight that no SZ/SZH pleasure-craft licence number is displayed, and obtain a customer’s written declaration covering the three restrictions. The declaration may be in a purchase order, written instruction or a customer-endorsed delivery note bearing name, designation, signature and company stamp where applicable. These indicators do not override contrary facts. For example, a yacht repair customer whose only residential or billing address is the yacht may be living on board; the guide says to standard-rate despite a claim of international-only use. Qualifying indicators still require the separate goods or service conditions.
Goods that may qualify and goods that do not
Sale or rental may be zero-rated for ship stores or fuel, installation on a ship or a ship under construction, ship maintenance or operation, and merchandise retailed to persons carried on board. Goods must be delivered to a ship in Singapore at supply; deliveries exported to a ship overseas instead follow export rules. Machinery, equipment and other items installed as part of the ship or used for its operation/maintenance can qualify. Transported cargo is not ship-use goods, although normal export zero-rating may apply. Crew personal purchases, including electronics or cigarettes, are excluded even when ordered through a ship agent and acknowledged by the Master or Chief Engineer.
Five delivery routes and the 60-day requirement
The goods relief covers direct onboard delivery, delivery to a named place for onward onboard delivery, delivery to a shipyard for a ship under construction, sale and direct delivery to a Singapore shipyard, and sale to a third-party contractor with direct shipyard delivery. Customer belonging is irrelevant to this goods relief. Collect the relevant Appendix 4 documents within 60 days from the time of supply; otherwise standard-rate. Other arrangements need prior Comptroller approval. For delays, seek an extension unless the transaction already satisfies a published export-guide scenario granting an extension without a separate application.
Scenario 1: direct onboard delivery
Keep the customer purchase order or written instruction identifying ship-use or installation, vessel type/name, delivery on board and preferably its MPA licence number. Also keep your invoice and customer-payment proof. For non-bunker goods, the Master/Chief Engineer must endorse the delivery note confirming ship-use/installation and receipt date; bunker fuel requires the endorsed bunker delivery note. Physical endorsement and digital signature complying with the Electronic Transactions Act are both accepted. Recreational-vessel food, water or other non-ship-specific items additionally require a customer undertaking of consumption during international travel and port clearance showing departure within one week after delivery.
Scenario 2: a named consolidation or delivery place
Keep the order or instructions stating ship-use/installation, vessel type/name, preferably MPA number and the named delivery place facilitating direct onward delivery to the ship. Retain invoice and payment proof. Your delivery note or the customer’s note must normally have Master/Chief Engineer endorsement of ship-use/installation and receipt date. When an independent ship manager, launch agent or shipping company consolidates delivery and that endorsement is difficult to obtain, IRAS accepts the independent party’s endorsed note and the Master/Chief Engineer’s receipt confirmation to that party where available. Recreational-vessel non-specific provisions still require the international-consumption undertaking and departure clearance within one week.
Scenario 3: a ship under construction
The contract or order must identify the hull number where possible and whether the future vessel meets the ship definition. Keep your invoice, customer instruction to deliver directly to its construction shipyard, payment proof and a shipyard-endorsed delivery note dated on receipt. A customer’s shipyard-endorsed note is acceptable if its description and hull number clearly link the goods to your invoice or order. Equipment requiring classification needs its class certificate. A ship’s Master does not yet exist before commissioning, and evidence of physical onboard installation is no longer required.
Scenario 4: sale directly to a shipyard
For goods sold and delivered directly to a Singapore shipyard, retain its work order or purchase order confirming ship-use/installation; your shipyard-endorsed delivery note showing receipt date; invoice to the shipyard; payment proof from the shipyard; and the class certificate where equipment requires classification. Evidence of physical onboard installation is no longer required.
Scenario 5: contractor purchase with direct shipyard delivery
The contractor’s contract or purchase order must specify the shipyard as delivery place and ship-use/installation. Keep your shipyard-endorsed delivery note and receipt date, invoice to the contractor, contractor-payment proof and any required class certificate. Alternatively, use the contractor’s shipyard-endorsed note if descriptions and vessel name clearly match your invoice or contract/order. Physical installation evidence is no longer required.
Recreational vessels: consumption within Singapore
Even a flagged recreational ship meeting the ship definition cannot obtain zero-rating for goods wholly consumed while berthed in Singapore. Examples are berth electricity or fuel, and food/water consumed entirely here by crew or passengers. Goods clearly purchased for an international voyage, or for the vessel’s own upkeep/use such as lubricants, paint and spare parts, can still qualify with supporting evidence. Appendix 3 asks whether goods are wholly for consumption outside Singapore and then whether one of the five routes and its documents is satisfied; read that flow alongside the specific upkeep explanation in paragraph 4.9 rather than assuming any onboard consumption is automatically relieved.
Stores on a vessel outside the normal ship definition
Section 5 provides a separate route for stores, bunker fuel and onboard retail merchandise on an otherwise excluded vessel bound for a destination outside Singapore. Keep the order stating that purpose, ship name, departure date and next destination; written delivery instructions; invoice; and payment proof. For direct delivery, the Master/Chief Engineer-endorsed stores/merchandise note must show overseas-voyage use, receipt date and next destination; bunker fuel uses its endorsed bunker note. For a named-place delivery, obtain customer endorsement confirming the voyage use, receipt date and next destination. Independent consolidation may use the alternative independent-party note and available ship-officer receipt confirmation. These section 5.1 conditions have the force of law.
International ship-service categories
Appendix 1 sets out six categories under section 21(3). Paragraph (k) covers engineers’, lawyers’, accountants’ and similar consultancy directly connected with a qualifying ship, contracted wholly in the overseas customer’s business capacity and directly benefiting an overseas business-capacity person or a Singapore GST-registered person. Paragraph (l) concerns ship handling and handling/storage of onboard goods within a free trade zone or designated port/terminal area. Paragraphs (m), (n) and (o) concern pilotage/salvage/towage, surveying/classification for a register, and sale or rental of a ship. Paragraph (p) covers the prescribed repair/maintenance routes, arrangements for ship or ship-space supply/rental, and management for the owner, operator or agent.
Evidence for services other than repair and maintenance
Retain the contract, work order or purchase order identifying the vessel type/name and describing services in detail; the recreational-vessel declaration where relevant; customer invoice; payment proof; and available internal supporting records such as service reports. Repair and maintenance have the separate evidence requirements below.
Five qualifying repair and replacement routes
Repairs qualify when performed onboard; when a removed component is repaired and reinstalled; when it is returned onboard as a spare; or when the repaired component is delivered to a Singapore shipyard or Approved Marine Customer. A repair service invoiced as such can also qualify where a reconditioned component is exchanged for the faulty one and installed, brought aboard as a spare, or delivered to the shipyard/AMC. The statutory extract specifies exchange with an identical component. The vessel must meet the ship definition. Validate AMC status against IRAS’ published list, rather than relying solely on a customer’s assertion.
Repair evidence and exchange notes
For onboard work or return to ship, retain the repair order with vessel type/name and preferably MPA number, invoice, payment proof and jointly endorsed work reports or equivalent proving work and reinstatement/spare return. For delivery to a shipyard or AMC, the order must additionally identify the component’s details/characteristics; retain the recipient-endorsed delivery note and work reports linking repair to that component. When a new/reconditioned component replaces the faulty one, retain the applicable same records and explicitly state the exchange on the delivery note.
Ancillary repair expenses: the 5% test
Delivery, overtime labour, travel and other on-charged expenses can be treated as part of the zero-rated repair if their value is no more than 5% of the total consideration invoiced. Above 5%, the ancillary supply must be essential and integral to the repair and included in the overall repair/maintenance contract. Examples include necessary docking/undocking/mooring, shipyard space charges, MPA repair permits and water used in repair or machinery cooling. The guide’s international-freight example remains zero-rated even above 5% because the freight was necessary to deliver the repaired component as part of the contracted principal service.
Approved Marine Customer Scheme benefits
Qualifying AMCs may purchase or rent business goods for stores/fuel, installation, maintenance or operation of a commercial vessel wholly for international travel without suppliers keeping this guide’s usual documentary set. The associated 60-day collection requirement is relaxed. They may also procure ship-component repairs without proving subsequent reinstallation or return as a spare. These are scheme-specific benefits subject to the AMCS guide; they do not automatically cover every customer, every recreational ship or every goods purpose.
Imported services and imported low-value goods
From 1 January 2020, overseas service purchases may require reverse charge if the business, or its GST group, lacks full input-tax recovery. Account for imported services as if supplier, except specifically excluded services, and recover the corresponding input tax only under ordinary recovery rules. From 1 January 2023, reverse charge also covers imported LVG, except purchases directly attributable to taxable supplies. It covers purchases from local/overseas sellers, marketplaces and redeliverers whether or not they are registered. The Reverse Charge guide governs the full conditions.
The appendix decision sequence
Appendix 2 first asks whether the goods are sold/rented for a ship in Singapore. If not, use export rules and standard-rate without export proof. If the vessel fails the ship definition, standard-rate unless the separate departing-vessel rule applies. If it qualifies, check all five scenarios and documents; outside them, standard-rate unless prior approval is obtained. Appendix 3 adds the recreational-vessel consumption restriction. A positive ship classification alone is therefore only the start of the assessment.
Edition history and enquiries
The first edition was published 11 February 2016. October 2019 removed pre-2011 historical rules and added imported-service reverse charge; May 2021 expressly accepted compliant digital delivery-note signatures; August 2022 added LVG reverse charge for 2023; January 2026 records editorial changes. Questions may be sent to IRAS’ GST Division through Contact Us. For exported goods, AMC eligibility and reverse charge, use the specific linked guides alongside this marine guide.
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.
Read the official PDF ↗