GST Refund

SFA had wrongly collected GST for three types of one-off application fees:

(a) Application fee for licence to operate a food processing establishment

(b) Application fee for licence to operate a coldstore

(c) Application fee for licence to operate a slaughterhouse

The rest of SFA’s fees are not affected.

Administrative fees are subject to GST and SFA had classified the three affected types of fees as administrative. Following MOF’s review of GST on Government and Statutory Board fees, it was determined that the three fees are regulatory in nature and GST should not have been charged. SFA will cease collection of GST on the three affected fees from 14 February 2024.

Only non-GST registered businesses at the point of payment are eligible for the GST refund. GST-registered business would have claimed the GST amount from IRAS duly.

SFA will proactively reach out to all businesses that had made payment from 1 January 2019 to-date based on our available records to advise them on the matter. We will subsequently reach out to businesses eligible for refunds duly.

Businesses that had made payments for any of these three fees after 1 January 2019 and have not received any notification from SFA by 30 June 2024 can write to SFA.

For businesses that had made payments before 1 January 2019 and wish to enquire if they are eligible for a refund, they can write to SFA by 31 December 2024 for assistance.

Businesses that are not GST-registered at the point of payment are eligible for a refund. Businesses that have since been dissolved can write to SFA for assistance.

The refund amount ranges from $10.30 to $13.24, depending on the applicable GST rate at the point of licence application. The refund amount will include a simple interest at 5.5% per annum. All eligible businesses will be notified of the refund process duly.

For companies that are on GIRO or with PayNow (UEN), the refund will be remitted by end-April 2024.

For transactions before January 2019, SFA will require more time to retrieve the records as some old records may not be available. Please write to SFA for assistance on the refund process.

If you did not receive any notification from SFA by 30 June 2024, you can visit SFA’s website for more information or write to SFA for assistance.

Please ensure that the emails are sent from email addresses that end with @sfa.gov.sg. You can verify the email by contacting SFA via the website livechat or via the SFA Online Feedback Form.