Singapore Import Duty & Customs Calculator

A Singapore import duty and customs calculator built around the country’s free-port reality. Singapore charges customs duty on only four categories — liquor, tobacco, motor vehicles and petroleum — and levies 9% GST on nearly everything else. This tool computes the total landed cost from your CIF value.

How the landed cost is built

Customs uses the CIF value (cost + insurance + freight) as the base. Duty, where it applies, is added first, then 9% GST is charged on the CIF plus duty:

duty      = CIF × duty rate      (0% for general goods)
GST base  = CIF + duty
GST       = GST base × 9%
landed    = CIF + duty + GST

For general goods the duty rate is 0%, so you pay only GST. For the dutiable categories, liquor, tobacco and fuel use specific (per-unit) duties rather than a percentage, so you enter the known duty amount; motor vehicles attract a 20% excise duty on the customs value plus separate ARF, COE and registration levies.

Worked examples

General goods (electronics, clothing, furniture)

Dutiable goods — illustrative liquor example

For a shipment of wine where you know the specific duty amount is, for example, S$100:

Liquor, tobacco and fuel duties are assessed per litre, per stick, or per litre of fuel — Singapore Customs publishes the current specific duty rates for each category.

Why Singapore has almost no import duty

Singapore has deliberately operated as a free port since its founding, and the current trade policy reflects that heritage. With no domestic manufacturing to protect and an economy built on entrepôt trade, re-export, and financial services, tariff barriers would raise costs for businesses and consumers without a policy benefit. The four dutiable categories — alcohol, tobacco, vehicles, fuel — are taxed for revenue and social-cost reasons, not to protect domestic producers.

This means that for most commercial importers — electronics, consumer goods, industrial equipment, textiles, food (except controlled items) — the landed cost is simply the CIF value plus 9% GST. There are no complex tariff schedules to navigate.

GST on low-value imports (change from 2023)

Before 1 January 2023, goods imported by air or sea with a CIF value below S$400 were GST-exempt under the “de minimis” relief. That exemption was removed. All goods, regardless of value, now attract 9% GST. This change primarily affects e-commerce and small parcel imports: a S$50 book from overseas now incurs S$4.50 GST at import, either collected by Singapore Customs or remitted directly by the overseas seller if registered under the Overseas Vendor Registration regime.

What this calculator does not cover

• ARF (Additional Registration Fee) for motor vehicles — this is calculated on the Open Market Value and can exceed the vehicle value itself
• COE (Certificate of Entitlement) for vehicles — bid price varies by category and period
• Excise duty on tobacco — specific per-stick and per-gram rates apply; enter the duty amount manually
• Permit and clearance fees — TradeNet customs permit fees and port handling charges depend on cargo type and quantity

The four dutiable categories at a glance

Everything outside these four categories is duty-free and attracts only the 9% import GST.

Why the 9% figure and the removed relief both matter

Two GST facts drive almost every general-goods import bill: the rate is 9% (raised in stages, reaching 9% on 1 January 2024), and the old S$400 de-minimis relief was removed on 1 January 2023, so even a small overseas parcel now carries GST. For low-value online orders, that GST is frequently collected up front by the overseas seller under the Overseas Vendor Registration (OVR) regime rather than at the border. Because the GST rate is a policy lever, confirm the current rate against Singapore Customs / IRAS for the import date.

Sources

• Singapore Customs — Importing goods and import procedures — dutiable categories and permits.
• IRAS — GST on imported goods — the 9% rate and removed low-value relief.

Confirm with Singapore Customs (customs.gov.sg) or your freight forwarder before relying on any estimate for commercial import planning.