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Online shopping to turn costly in Singapore


With e-commerce set for steady growth in Singapore, e-shoppers may have to shell out more to pay for taxes on goods ordered from overseas sites. Will online shopping become expensive if Singapore adopts recommendations by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)? Spire Research and Consulting shared its insights, published on Channel News Asia’s news portal.

The retail sector continues to contribute a major chunk to Singapore’s economy. However e-commerce – dominated by overseas merchants – is on the rise. This eventually leads to more money outflow along with tax revenue loss and puts local businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

Spire highlighted the fact that revenue from e-commerce amounted to SGD4.5 billion in 2013, where 55% consisted of cross-border transactions. This is a tax impact of close to SGD 200 million in a year.

Experts agreed that overseas online retailers are not taxed on income generated from Singapore consumers, whereas brick and mortar stores and businesses have to pay income tax on earned revenue.

That is why the OECD called on government’s across the globe to ensure steps to collect the tax revenue they are missing out on from overseas e-commerce transactions.


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