NETS Partners Global Refund to Ease Singapore GST Refunds for Tourists

From November, it will be easier for foreign tourists in Singapore to claim their GST refunds. Electronic payments services leader Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte Ltd (NETS) and tax reimbursement operator Global Refund Singapore Pte Ltd announced today a new service that will streamline the refund of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Each year, more than 6 million foreign tourists visit Singapore, spending more than S$5 billion in the Lion City's hotels and shops.

Tourists who spend at least S$300 are eligible for the refund but the current process requires them to manually fill out a claims form at the retail outlet before obtaining their refund at the airport.

Under the new system, participating retailers will be able to process and print the refund form at the time shoppers make their purchases using NETS terminals.

Tourists will simply need to present their NETS-generated refund slips and their purchases to get their refund at the airport. With the new implementation, there is no need to complete any form in the store.

In an extension of the scheme, NETS and Global Refund are working towards enabling purchase and refund records to be held on computer in order to further expedite the refund process.

"This new value-added service is part of our 'NETS terminals serve all needs' strategy to ensure merchants are able to remain competitive by providing this hassle-free service to their customers," said Suman Balani, NETS General Manager for NETS Payment & Value-Added Services.

"This initiative also allows NETS to extend its presence in the tourist retail sector. Providing these high-end, luxury goods merchants with NETS terminals is the first step to introducing a suite of new services. This will include enabling the merchants to accept foreign debit and credit cards, which NETS aims to make available through its cross-border interoperable networks in the near future," added Ms Balani.

"This partnership offers Global Refund tremendous advantages in terms of speed to market, cost benefits and leading-edge and secure infrastructure and will make GST refund procedures far more efficient. This is in line with our corporate objective to bring greater value to tourist shoppers at the point of purchase," said Rodney Teo, Managing Director of Global Refund Singapore.

Global Refund recently concluded successful live tests for electronic transaction handling at over 60 retail outlets in Singapore.