Newsletter - Feb 2012
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Dear Subscriber On February 17th, the Singapore Government announced its intention to make Singapore a precious metals trading hub and will remove the 7% GST (goods and services tax) on physical precious metals. Singapore does not charge capital gains tax so in essence physical precious metals in Singapore will be completely tax free. This GST exemption is scheduled to go into effect on 1 October 2012, and full implementation details of the law will be made known on 1 September. The law is not final until then, however the current definition of investment grade precious metals, as obtained from IRAS (Internal Revenue Authority of Singapore) website, states that: Investment-grade gold (in the form of a bar, ingot, coin or wafer) must be in purity of 99.5% and above, with the following characteristics that differentiates it from gold in other forms such as jewellery: The current definition covers almost all our traded products with exception of:
Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry and IE Singapore are now seeking industry feedback in refining the implementation details of this law from a few selected entities, including Silver Bullion Pte Ltd. We hope to have the law amended to include palladium into the list of tax-free precious metals and we will raise the issue regarding the inclusion of American Gold Eagle coins. We are very excited that this law is to be passed. Singapore and its strong asset protection laws, healthy economy, fully funded pension system and unquestioned sovereignty makes it a perfect location to securely store assets over the long term without jurisdictional ties to heavily indebted countries in the Western hemisphere. For the last 3 years Silver Bullion Pte Ltd has continuosly endevoured and innovated to fulfill our mission of offering you reliable, transparent and cost effective bullion ownership in Singapore. Among our service innovations:
Since 2009, we have brought over 1,000,000 ounces (approx. 32 metric tons) of physical silver (and some gold) to Singapore, representing about 0.13% of global silver production. We have also increased our company bullion holdings to 80,000 ounces of silver and gold which are fully owned, debt free by Silver Bullion Pte Ltd, making us a very solid counterparty. Our inventory is either on order or in transit, stored in the Singapore Freeport under S.T.A.R. Storage or available for immediate purchase within our offices in the Certis Cisco Auxiliary Police Headquarters. This building also houses thousands of available private safe deposit boxes (see the recent Sovereign Man Newsletter). Starting on 1 October you will be able to personally purchase and store your bullion in Certis Cisco without being subject to GST . Alternatively our Singapore Bullion Storage Program - S.T.A.R. Storage – is the most transparent storage program in this industry (see S.T.A.R. Storage Overview) and was designed from the start to allow for physical delivery as well as conveninent online sellback from anywhere without physically coming to Singapore. Just as important, our volumes and buyback agreements with mints and primary bullion distributors allow us to provide improved liquidity for physical silver. With 24/7 online ordering, S.T.A.R. Storage and sellback, in-stock bullion and the support of the Singapore Government we now aim to greatly increase the flow of physical precious metals to this city state. As you might know, unlike physical bullion, most purely financial paper positions on precious metals are highly leveraged and not backed by the actual metal. Should an eventual default by COMEX on paper silver or if a major currency crisis were to occur, we expect the supply of physical bullion - especially silver - to quickly diminish and physical demand (as opposed to unbacked derivatives) to explode. Until this occurs we will bring as much physical precious metals into Singapore. Questions on GSTA number of customers have asked us whether there is any way to claim back GST on bullion already purchased. GST is similar to value added taxes (VAT) as it is commonly used in Europe: Please note that if you bought bullion as a non-GST registered entity such as for yourselves – privately – you cannot claim back GST and, unless some special program is enacted, you will not be able to claim back any GST paid on local bullion purchases between now and 1 October. An alternative to avoid GST is to purchase bullion under S.T.A.R. Storage which is tax exempt due to the Singapore Freeport bonded vault status and then take physical delivery of your -uniquely identified and therefore fully allocated bullion parcels - after October 1st by importing the bullion, GST Free, from the Singapore Freeport into Singapore Proper. Feature Article – The Upcoming US Elections and Debt CeilingsYou might remember the highly publicized debate about raising the debt limit in the United States last August 2011. These debates have very little substance and mostly serve domestic political US agenda as the incumbents (e.g. President Obama) have to defend their spending programs. In this respect the timing (just before the elections) of these debates is important as the challengers (Republicans) will try to maximize the political damage that can be inflicted on the incumbents (Democrats and President Obama) prior to the election. In this context please note in the coming that:
The debt ceiling, estimated to be reached by September based on current US deficit spending of about USD 133 billion per month (about USD 52,000 per second), is timed to be a perfect opportunity for Republicans, in a quest to hurt the Democrats, to remind voters how broke their country really is ahead of the presidential elections This predicament aids the bullish sentiments with regard to gold and silver prices because these precious metals are the primary ‘safe haven’ refuge in times of fear and uncertainty. Furthermore, the media will likely be awash with newspieces on fear of US debt and default by September, as fuelled by the Republican election machine. Perception is extremely important in this context as the US dollar itself is backed only by the trust and confidence people have in the currency. If confidence is diminished considerably the USA could suddenly resemble Greece as the dismal US fiscal health and the non-reported size of their unfunded liabilities becomes more publicized to the rest of the world. Although short term price movements are anybody’s guess we believe that the above factors make fear-driven bullion price increases in the second half of 2012 very likely. by Gregor Gregersen Site Changes - Palladium, Platinum and Coin Holders We now carry Credit Suisse Platinum and Palladium one troy ounce bars which can be seen in the new ‘Platinum and Palladium’ category under ‘Store’. Platinum and Palladium spot prices in USD and SGD are now also listed below the silver and gold prices. In addition, as pools have shown strong demand, we now have availability of 1 troy ounce platic coin holders for silver and gold which come with a black foam ring to properly fit the bullion coins according to diameter. |
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Bullion Availability Update |
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Featured Bullion: |
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Palladium Bar Credit Suisse - 1oz |
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Platinum Bar Credit Suisse - 1oz |
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Individual SB Coin Casing - Silver 1 oz |
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Information provided here should not be considered as advice or as an offer or enticement to buy, sell or trade. The contents of this publication, including any opinions and analysis, are strictly intended for educational use. Opinions expressed in bylined articles are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Silver Bullion Pte Ltd. |
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Perth Mint Coins / Bars Perth Mint 100 oz and 1 kilobars are available again. 2012 1 oz Koala coins, and 10 oz and 1 kg lunar dragon coins and kookaburra coins are available. 
Silver American Eagles Availability is stable.
