Netflix, Adobe, Spotify and More Digital Services to Charge GST in Singapore Starting 1 Jan 2020

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The Singapore government recently passed the Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill which allows the government to collect GST on digital services provided by overseas companies to consumers and businesses here in Singapore.

This includes music streaming, video streaming, software and other subscriptions. Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) announced on Monday, 9 December 2019, that more than 100 overseas businesses have registered to pay GST.

Only companies who have a global annual turnover of S$1 million or more and sells over S$100,000 worth of digital services to consumers in Singapore are required to pay GST on their services.

While this sounds to be bad news for consumers, it might not be. Prices you pay will include GST, but the companies themselves will have to make the decision on whether to raise prices to account for it. For the moment at least, a Netflix spokesperson has stated to CNA that they have no new updates on pricing.

Others like Adobe have sent out emails to subscribers and informed that the new 7% GST will be reflected in statements starting from January 2020, although they state “this change does not affect the base price of your Adobe plan”.

We’ll have to stay tuned to determine which services will and will not be passing on the 7% GST to consumers.