Is silver GST free in Singapore?

Big Bullion · Published 27 September 2026 · Updated 27 September 2026 · 5 min read

Reviewed by the Big Bullion team, 27 September 2026

A silver bar is exempt from Singapore's GST only if it is at least 99.9% pure and comes from a refiner on the LBMA's Good Delivery list, carrying that refiner's hallmark. A coin is exempt only if it is named on the separate list IRAS publishes, which is why a 925 piece and most plain silver rounds are taxed at the full 9%.

The three tests a silver bar has to pass

The rule that exempts silver is the same rule that exempts gold, in the same IRAS guide, just with a different purity line. To count as an Investment Precious Metal, a silver bar, wafer or ingot has to be at least 99.9% pure, come from a refiner on the current or former Good Delivery list of the London Bullion Market Association or one endorsed by Enterprise Singapore, and carry a hallmark that guarantees that quality.

Those three tests sit in the IRAS e-Tax Guide GST: Guide on Exemption of Investment Precious Metals (IPM), Twentieth Edition, at paragraph 3.2. Read 15 September 2026.

Coins are a separate list

A coin is not judged on purity and refiner the way a bar is. It is judged on whether it appears by name on the list IRAS publishes, and that list is different for silver than it is for gold. A silver coin also has to be, or to have been, legal tender in the country that issued it, and it has to meet the same 99.9% purity line as a bar.

Both of those rules sit in the same IRAS e-Tax Guide, Twentieth Edition, GST: Guide on Exemption of Investment Precious Metals (IPM), at paragraphs 3.7 and 3.8. Read 15 September 2026.

We set out the full silver coin list, and the two well known coins that are exempt in one metal and taxed in the other, in our separate article on GST-exempt coins. This page stays on the bar, because that is where most of the value in a silver holding usually sits.

Where a 999 mark is not enough on its own

999 fine silver is the purity line, but purity by itself does not clear the exemption. The refiner has to be on the Good Delivery list, and the bar has to carry that refiner's hallmark, so a generic 999 round with no named refiner on it is standard-rated even though its metal content would otherwise qualify. The refiner test exists so a buyer can check it on the bar itself, rather than taking a seller's word for the purity.

The refiners themselves are on a public list, the Good Delivery List for silver, published by the London Bullion Market Association. Read 27 September 2026.

Where 925 sits

Sterling silver, stamped 925, is 92.5% silver alloyed with another metal for strength, well under the 99.9% the exemption needs. It is not an Investment Precious Metal whatever it is made into, so silver jewellery and 925 tableware are taxed at the full 9%, the same way gold jewellery is taxed regardless of its purity.

What it means at our checkout

Our stock moves, and a coin's tax status can differ from a bar's even within the same metal, so we mark the GST treatment on each product page rather than asking you to work it out from a general rule. Where an item carries the full 9%, that shows at checkout rather than turning up as a surprise.

We sell physical gold and silver. Nothing on this page is financial advice.