Moving back to Singapore: your shipment, storage unit and flat

Coming back after years abroad means a shipment to clear through Singapore Customs, ideally free of Goods and Services Tax (GST), a flat that may still have tenants in it, and boxes you packed into storage long ago. This guide covers the Singapore end of the move. For the international leg, Relocado’s directory lists Singapore international movers and relocation companies.

The deadlines at a glance

Will you pay GST on your household shipment?

GST applies to imported household goods unless Singapore Customs grants relief, and it assesses each case individually. Customs says relief is open to a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident (PR) returning to live here after living overseas, if:

• you’re moving your place of residence from outside Singapore
• you own the items and have used and had them for at least three months
• you won’t sell, give away or dispose of them within three months of arrival
• they’re imported within six months of your first arrival in Singapore.

If household items arrive with you, in your luggage on the same flight, there’s a separate application for hand-carried items. Submit it at least five working days before you arrive, with copies of your passport and National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) and proof that you were working, studying or living overseas. If it’s approved, show the approval email and your documents at the Red Channel.

Some goods never qualify, whoever imports them: intoxicating liquors, tobacco products, motor vehicles, private aircraft, boats and yachts, and commercial goods, according to Customs’ list of goods not eligible for relief. Liquor, tobacco and motor vehicles are also dutiable goods, so a wine collection in the container means paying duty as well as GST, under an In-Payment (Duty and GST) permit.

A car is a bigger decision. Besides duty and GST, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) only allows used cars to be imported if they’re less than three years old (classic and vintage cars aside), and a car must be registered before it can be used on the roads.

What can’t come in at all?

Customs’ prohibited goods list includes chewing gum (other than dental and medicinal gum approved by the Health Sciences Authority), e-cigarettes, vaporisers and their components, chewing tobacco, shisha, and products of endangered species. Other items are controlled, meaning another agency has to authorise the import first. Check anything doubtful with the product code checker Customs links to on that page, and raise it with your mover before packing.

Timing the shipment against your move-in date

The date that matters most is the customs declaration. For freight shipments, you or your appointed agent must submit an online Declaration of Facts before the goods arrive, with your passport or NRIC, proof that you’re moving to Singapore and the bill of lading or air waybill; PRs add their ICA Re-Entry Permit. If the goods have already arrived, Customs rejects the application and GST is payable.

Once relief is approved, you or your agent have 10 working days to apply for the Customs In-Non-Payment (GST Relief) permit. The agent then collects the goods from the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) port area or the Changi Airfreight Centre, so you usually don’t need to be there. Checkpoint officers check the goods and documents before releasing them.

If your flat won’t be free when the container lands, ask movers before you book whether they can hold your goods in storage here after clearance and deliver later, and what that costs. Relocado’s directory lists international movers to compare. If you’re leaving some things in storage abroad to ship later, remember that goods must be imported within six months of your own arrival to qualify for relief.

For somewhere to stay in the meantime, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) doesn’t allow homes to be let for stays of less than three consecutive months. It points short-stay guests to hotels, which have no minimum stay, and serviced apartments, which have a seven-day minimum.

If you rented out your HDB flat

When your tenants move out, HDB requires you to tell it within 7 days. MyHDB Page (My Flat > Purchased Flat > Renting Out) has e-services for changing tenants’ details and for terminating a rental. How and when the tenancy itself ends is set by your tenancy agreement, so check its notice and deposit terms before you pick a date.

Letting the whole flat moved it onto non-owner-occupier property tax rates, and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) says owner-occupier rates are not reapplied automatically when a tenancy ends; the same goes for a condo you let out. Once you’ve moved back in, apply through its ‘Apply/Withdraw Owner-Occupier Tax Rates’ digital service, or write in with proof if the lease ended early. Apply within five years of becoming eligible to get back any overpaid tax in full.

Sorting the storage unit and the boxes at your parents’ home

Decide what you still want before anything moves. Start with the storage unit and whatever is at your parents’ home, and leave any culling of the shipment until later: goods brought in under GST relief mustn’t be sold, given away or disposed of within three months of arrival.

Check the storage unit’s notice period so you don’t pay for a month you don’t need, and book a clear-out for whatever you won’t keep. Junk to Clear, the team behind Relocado, has cleared homes in Singapore since 2009 and lists storage space cleanouts among its services; see its residential disposal service.

Moving everything into your flat

Delivery of the shipment itself is covered by your contract with the international mover. For the local legs (the storage unit, your parents’ home, or a warehouse holding the shipment until the flat is free), HomeToMoved (run by the same team as Relocado) matches you with vetted movers for HDB flat moves.

Open your SP Group utilities account before moving day. SP Group asks for a week’s lead time if you need a turn-on appointment, and opening your account automatically closes the previous occupant’s account at the same address. Gas is turned on separately by City Energy.

Admin once you’re back

Report your new address to ICA within 28 days of moving into a new residence; the rule covers citizens and PRs, including those who have been living overseas. It’s free and done online with Singpass. ICA posts a PIN to the new address to verify it, then mails a sticker for the back of your identity card, and participating agencies such as the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board, HDB, IRAS and LTA get the new address the next day.

For school-age children, MOE’s Assured School Placement service guarantees returning Singaporean children, which covers both citizens and PRs, a place in a primary or secondary school with vacancies, as near your home as possible. Apply within three months of the intended start date. Schools typically don’t take new students in term 4 (around mid-September to November), so applications made then are processed for the following year, and a school may test or interview your child to decide the level and class.

If your child left on MOE’s Leave of Absence scheme, they can rejoin their registered primary or secondary school on their return.

Relocado is run by the team behind Junk to Clear, HomeToMoved and HomeToClean. Where this guide links to one of them, it’s because the step calls for that service, and we say so in the sentence. Enquiries sent through the form go to the same team. How Relocado works