Goods and Services Tax Act - Singapore Statutes Online

Duty to keep records

46.—(1) Every taxable person shall keep the following records:

(a)	his business and accounting records;
(b)	his accounts as required by regulations made under section 41;
(c)	copies of all invoices and receipts issued by him; [Act 37 of 2017 wef 01/01/2018]
(d)	invoices received by him; [Act 37 of 2017 wef 01/01/2018]
(e)	documentation relating to importations and exportations by him;
(f)	all credit notes, debit notes or other documents which evidence an increase or decrease in consideration that are received, and copies of all such documents issued by him; and
(g)	such other records as may be prescribed.

(1AA) Any person who is required to account for tax on a reverse charge supply must, in addition to the records mentioned in subsection (1), maintain the following:

(a)

sufficient records of the reverse charge supply to enable the following particulars to be ascertained:

(i)	the name and address of the person or branch mentioned in section 14(1)(a) or member of the group mentioned in section 30(1A) whose supply gave rise to the reverse charge supply (called in this section the overseas supplier);
(ii)	the date on which, or the period during which, the services under the supply made by the overseas supplier were in fact received;
(iii)	a description of the services in fact supplied;
(iv)	the consideration for the supply made by the overseas supplier;
(v)	the time by which payment of the consideration for the supply made by the overseas supplier is required;
(vi)	the reference number of any invoice relating to the supply made by the overseas supplier;
(vii)	any contract, agreement or arrangement entered into in respect of the supply made by the overseas supplier;
(viii)	where any invoice, contract, agreement or arrangement is in a foreign language, a translation of the same into English, if the Comptroller requires;
(ix)	such other records as may be prescribed;

(b)

where an election under section 11C(8)(c) or 14(5) or (6) has been made, a record of the election and such information and supporting documents relating to the election, in such form and manner, as required by the Comptroller.

[Act 52 of 2018 wef 01/01/2019]

(1A) Without affecting subsection (1) or (1AA), the Comptroller may, for the protection of revenue, direct in writing any taxable person to keep records of the models and serial numbers of any goods supplied to or by the taxable person; and the taxable person must comply with the direction.

[Act 37 of 2017 wef 01/01/2018]

[Act 52 of 2018 wef 01/01/2019]

(1B) Where the taxable person is an operator of an electronic marketplace mentioned in the Seventh Schedule, the duty of the operator to keep records under this section includes records relating to —

(a)	where paragraph 3(2)(b)(ii) of the Seventh Schedule applies, all supplies of digital services of the relevant overseas underlying supplier made to any person belonging in Singapore; and
(b)	where the operator makes an election under paragraph 5 of the Seventh Schedule, all supplies of digital services of any local underlying supplier (that are treated as made to the operator) in fact made to any person belonging in Singapore. [Act 52 of 2018 wef 01/01/2019]

(1C) Despite subsection (1), a registered (Seventh Schedule — pay only) person need not keep records of supplies of goods or services made to the person or imports of goods by the person.

[Act 52 of 2018 wef 01/01/2019]

(2) Any records kept in pursuance of this section shall be preserved —

(a)	in the case of records relating to a prescribed accounting period ending before 1st January 2007, for a period of not less than 7 years from the end of the prescribed accounting period; and
(b)	in the case of records relating to a prescribed accounting period ending on or after 1st January 2007, for a period of not less than 5 years from the end of the prescribed accounting period. [28/2007 wef 01/07/2007]

(3) The duty under this section to preserve records may be discharged by the preservation of the information contained therein by such means as the Comptroller may approve.

(3AA) Without affecting subsection (3), the Comptroller may direct in writing any taxable person to keep or preserve, or both keep and preserve, by any electronic means specified in the direction, any records under subsection (1), (1AA), (1A) or (1B) of the taxable person as the Minister may prescribe; and the taxable person must comply with the direction.

[Act 37 of 2017 wef 01/01/2018]

[Act 52 of 2018 wef 01/01/2019]

(3A) Where the information is preserved in accordance with subsection (3) or (3AA), a copy of any document forming part of the records shall, subject to subsections (4) and (5), be admissible in evidence in any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, to the same extent as the records themselves.

[Act 37 of 2017 wef 01/01/2018]

(4) The Comptroller may, as a condition of approving under subsection (3) any means of preserving information contained in any records, impose such reasonable requirements as appear to him necessary for securing that the information will be as readily available to him as if the records themselves had been preserved.

(5) A statement contained in a document produced by a computer shall not by virtue of subsection (3A) be admissible in evidence in civil or criminal proceedings except in accordance with the Evidence Act (Cap. 97).

[25/96]

(6) Any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

[UK VAT Act 1983, Sch. 7 Para. 7 (1); UK VAT AR Reg. 1989]

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