Silver investing in Singapore works much like gold: investment-grade bars and coins are exempt from GST, you pay a premium to buy and sell back below the price, and the metal pays no income. The differences are cost and behaviour. Silver takes far more room for the same value, so storage costs more as a share of what you hold, and its price depends heavily on industrial demand.
Silver and gold prices can fall as well as rise; past performance is not a guide; silver and gold pay no interest. This page explains the rules and costs as at November 2026. It does not suggest buying silver.
Silver Investing in Singapore: GST Rules
IRAS’s e-Tax guide (twentieth edition, January 2026) treats silver as investment precious metal if:
- Bars, ingots and wafers are at least 99.9% silver, from a refiner on the current or former LBMA Good Delivery list, carry a recognised quality mark such as the refiner’s hallmark, and are not decorative or collector’s pieces.
- Coins are at least 99.9% silver, are or were legal tender, and appear on the prescribed silver list. It includes the America Eagle, Australia Kookaburra and Koala, Austria Philharmonic, Canada Maple Leaf, China Panda, Mexico Libertad, UK Britannia (from 2013) and, since 17 January 2019, the South Africa Krugerrand.
Proof and collector’s versions are excluded. Silver jewellery, cutlery and scrap are taxable at 9%. Our GST on gold guide explains the same rules for gold, where the 22K Eagle and Krugerrand do not qualify.
Why Silver Costs More to Store
Silver is worth far less per gram than gold, so a given sum buys many times the weight and volume. Vault fees reflect that. Published rates as at November 2026, from each dealer’s own page:
| Dealer | Gold storage a year | Silver storage a year |
|---|---|---|
| BullionStar | 0.39% | 0.59% |
| Silver Bullion (parcel storage, by tier) | 0.35% / 0.30% / 0.25% | 0.70% / 0.60% / 0.50% |
| GoldSilver Central | See its page | S$0.02 an ounce a month, minimum S$10 a month |
BullionStar’s terms and conditions show a different silver rate (0.49%) in what may be its US dollar schedule, so confirm the rate that applies to you. Minimum charges matter for small holdings too: BullionStar charges at least S$0.19 a day, and GoldSilver Central at least S$10 a month plus a one-time S$85 handling fee.
The short version: at 0.6% a year, storage alone takes about S$60 a year from every S$10,000 of silver, before any premium or spread. Silver has to rise by that much each year just to stand still.
Keeping silver at home avoids fees but brings bulk, theft risk and insurance questions. Our guide to storing gold safely covers the options for both metals.
What Moves the Silver Price
Silver is both a precious metal and an industrial input. The Silver Institute’s World Silver Survey 2026 put industrial demand at 657.4 million ounces in 2025, more than half of total demand of 1.13 billion ounces. It forecast industrial demand to fall by 3% in 2026, mainly because of slower use in solar panels, while coin and bar demand was forecast to rise by 18%.
That mix means silver can react to factory output and technology changes as well as to the forces that move gold, which our explainer on what moves the gold price covers. Expect sharp swings in both directions.
Premiums and Selling Back
Silver bars and coins carry premiums like gold, and because each item is worth less, the fixed cost of minting and handling is a bigger share of the price. The maths in gold premiums explained applies: if the buy-back price is 95% of what you paid, silver must rise about 5.26% before selling back covers your cost.
Payment surcharges apply too. Silver Bullion charges 3.5% on card payments in Singapore dollars, and BullionStar 4% on card payments online, as at November 2026. Silver Bullion says it buys back metal of .999 purity or more regardless of where it was bought; other items are priced by quote.
Who Silver Does Not Suit
- Anyone who needs the money within a few years, given the price swings and costs.
- Anyone without safe space to store a bulky metal and unwilling to pay higher vault fees.
- Anyone looking for income: there is none.
If you are weighing silver against gold, the gold premium calculator works for silver too if you enter silver prices, and our guide to gold in a retirement portfolio shows how long past precious-metal falls have lasted.
What To Do Next
- Check the bar or coin against IRAS’s silver rules before you pay.
- Ask for the storage fee, minimum charge and withdrawal fee in writing.
- Compare the price and buy-back price for the same item at two or three registered dealers; see how to buy gold in Singapore for how to check registration.
- Do your own due diligence. This is general information, not a recommendation.
