New excise duties have been imposed on diesel fuels by Singapore Customs, the charges taking effect February 20, 2017.
In Circular No: 03/2017 dated February 20, 2017, Lim Teck Leong, deputy director-general of corporate & facilitation at Singapore Customs, said that as announced in Budget 2017 by the Minister for Finance, new excise duties on diesel fuels took effect at 4:45 p.m. of the same day.
The list covers automotive diesel fuel with HS code 2710.19.71, which will have an excise duty of $1.00 per decaliter; and other diesel fuels, other than marine diesel fuel, with HS Code 2710.19.72, which will have an excise duty of $1.00 per decaliter.
Also subject to the new excise duties are petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous materials (HS Code 2710.20.00) and other biodiesel and its mixtures (HS Code 3826.00.90), both levied $1.00 per per decaliter of dutifiable diesel fuel.
Singapore Customs said that when submitting a TradeNet permit application for these listed products, where duty is computed based on their dutiable content, the dutiable content should be declared in the “Total Dutiable-Quantity/Weight/Volume” and “Total Dutiable-Quantity/Weight/Volume Unit” fields.
Moreover, the weight of the product should be declared in the “HS Quantity” and “HS Quantity Unit” fields.
The new duties for the products listed will “apply for such goods imported, manufactured in Singapore or stored in the Bonded Warehouse licensed by Singapore Customs from the effective date and time onwards.”
“All such dutiable goods imported into, manufactured in Singapore as well as releases from licensed premises have to be covered by an appropriate Customs permit,” added the circular.
Traders who wish to store imported or refined dutiable products listed in the circular, with duty and GST suspended, can apply for a Licensed Warehouse for Petroleum, it continued.
“For manufacturing of such products, a Petroleum Refinery (RP) Licence from Singapore Customs would be required. Companies have to undergo TradeFIRST assessment, and attain a minimum ‘Enhanced’ band in order to qualify for both licences.”
Photo: Lokantha
