This is a practical workshop that dives deep into 2 major challenging aspects of GST: GST treatment on International Services and GST treatment on Recovery of Expenses.
Companies may only zero-rate their supply of services if it falls within the description of international services under Section 21(3) of the GST Act. Depending on the nature of your services, you may be required to determine your customer's belonging status (i.e. whether the customer is a local or an overseas entity) before your supply of services can be zero-rated. Not all services provided to overseas customers can be zero-rated.
For the purpose of GST, the term "reimbursement" refers to the recovery of an expense that you incur as a principal from another party. A reimbursement may be subject to GST if it is consideration for a supply of goods or services. On the other hand, the recovery of a payment made on behalf of another party by you as an agent is termed as a "disbursement". A disbursement does not constitute a supply and hence, is not subject to GST. Understanding the differences between reimbursements and disbursements is essential as they are treated very differently for GST reporting purposes.
This workshop will use practical scenarios, case studies and examples to reinforce your understanding of the correct GST treatment on international services and recovery of expenses for GST reporting purposes. With a sound practical knowledge in these 2 major GST areas, you will be able to apply these concepts correctly in real life and avoid unnecessary errors and penalties.
A Highlight of Key Areas:
GST Treatment on International Services
- Determining the belonging status of customers
- Clarification on “directly in connection with” and “directly benefit”
- Misconceptions
- List of services and their conditions
- Examples and illustration
- Avoiding the mistakes commonly made in applying zero-rating
- Recent updates
GST Treatment on Recovery of Expenses
- Difference between reimbursement and disbursement
- Are you acting as a principal or an agent?
- Indicators for determining the principal or agent relationship
- Recovery of expenses which is ancillary to a primary supply
- Recovery of expenses which is separate and not ancillary to any primary supply
- Recovery of expenses at costs or with a mark-up – is there a difference?