Singapore Ecommerce Chart of Accounts for Xero: Import GST and Fees

A Singapore online seller imports stock and pays fees to platforms billed from overseas, so the heart of the books is the GST treatment of imports and imported services. This is a Singapore ecommerce chart of accounts built for Xero, with import GST, the reverse charge, and a clean cost-of-goods-versus-opex split coded in. It ships as a readable reference (CSV) and a Xero import CSV.

Import GST hangs off the permit, not the invoice

Most commercial consignments exceed the S$400 low-value threshold, so import GST at 9% is paid to Singapore Customs at the point of import. The crucial accounting point is the document: that import GST is claimed on the Customs IN-PERMIT, filed through TradeNet by your forwarder, not on the overseas supplier’s invoice. So the chart keeps the supplier invoice on Cost of goods sold (recording the stock cost) and lists Imports: taxable supplies as the code for the import-GST line that the permit supports. A separate inbound freight and import duties account holds the shipping and duty, with Out Of Scope Purchases listed for overseas legs.

Platform fees and the reverse charge

Marketplace and processor fees billed from overseas are imported services. If the platform is GST-registered in Singapore, its fees carry GST you claim normally. If billed from abroad and you are partially exempt, the reverse charge applies and you self-account. So marketplace and platform fees and payment processing fees default to Standard-Rated Purchases but list Reverse charge: Taxable supply at 9% as the alternative. Payment processing also lists Exempt Purchases, because some merchant acquiring is an exempt financial service.

Cost of goods versus operating expenses

The chart deliberately separates the two. Cost of goods sold and inbound freight and import duties sit in the 5000s and capture the landed cost of stock. Marketplace fees, payment processing, shipping and fulfilment, packaging materials, and advertising sit in the 6000s as operating expenses. The split blurs when stock and fees both arrive as foreign-currency charges, but it is what dependable gross-margin reporting rests on, so it is worth holding the line at the point each invoice is coded.

Currency and the importer of record

Two practical points. GST is accounted for in Singapore dollars, so foreign-currency invoices convert to SGD at an approved rate, and the converted figure is the one in the F5; recording both the original and the SGD value preserves the trail. And import GST is claimable only by the importer of record on the permit, so if a forwarder or marketplace clears the goods in its own name, confirm whose name is on the IN-PERMIT before treating the GST as recoverable.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV: each account carries its class, a default Xero GST code, the other valid codes, and a note. The import, fee, and shipping accounts are the ecommerce additions.
2. In Xero, go to Accounting, then Chart of accounts, then Import, and upload the CSV, into a demo org first.
3. Confirm the Singapore tax rates, including Imports: taxable supplies, exist in your org.
4. When import GST is paid, post it against the import-permit document, not the supplier invoice.

The recurring work is the cross-border ledger:

• A2X splits marketplace settlements into sales, fees, and refunds.
• ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and supplier invoice, extracts the currency and line detail, flags a foreign-supplier purchase that carries no Singapore GST so the import-GST claim is pointed at the permit, and posts the transaction into Xero against the right account.
• Dext pulls recurring supplier and courier bills into the file.

On QuickBooks instead? See the Singapore ecommerce chart of accounts for QuickBooks. For the full GST picture, see the Singapore ecommerce expenses guide.