GST for Businesses: The 2026 General Guide Explained

Edition, purpose and reading order

IRAS’s seventeenth edition was published on 30 January 2026. Its 49 pages cover GST concepts, administration and schemes. This article follows all those subjects and explains the six annex figures. The guide is an overview for businesses new to GST or considering registration; it refers low-value-goods and remote-service suppliers to their specialised overseas-vendor guides.

The guide records GST’s introduction in 1994 and the 9% rate from 1 January 2024. Only GST-registered businesses may charge GST. Its online learning reference is the IRAS Overview of GST course. Specific registrations, transactions and schemes may require the separate guides identified in the source.

Output tax, input tax and the credit mechanism

Output tax is GST charged to customers and accounted to IRAS. Input tax is GST incurred on local purchases from registered suppliers or imports, claimable only if the input-tax conditions are met. Net GST equals output tax less claimable input tax: a positive result is payable, while a negative result gives a refund.

Annex Figure 1 illustrates a manufacturer importing S$100 of materials with S$9 import GST, then selling toys for S$200 with S$18 output tax, giving S$9 net GST. A retailer pays that S$18, sells for S$300 plus S$27 GST and accounts another S$9 net GST. The unregistered consumer bears S$27 and cannot claim it back. The illustration shows tax on value added across the chain, rather than permitting every purchaser to recover GST.

Customer accounting for prescribed goods

For relevant local sales of mobile phones, memory cards and off-the-shelf software exceeding S$10,000 to a GST-registered customer for business purposes, customer accounting applies. The customer accounts for output tax rather than the supplier charging and collecting it. This is a separate mechanism from a normal standard-rated invoice, and the guide directs users to the customer-accounting guidance.

Four conditions for a chargeable supply

A chargeable supply must be made in Singapore, be taxable, be made by a taxable person, and be in the course or furtherance of that person’s business. A taxable person includes a registered person or one liable to register. A personal transaction, such as a trader selling a private stamp collection, is distinguished from business activity.

Consideration may purchase goods, services or both: the guide uses restaurants, cinemas, entertainment clubs, hotels, petrol stations and exporting manufacturers as examples. It also identifies exceptions to the usual consideration rule. Transfer of a business as a going concern can be an excluded transaction, while gifts or private use can be deemed supplies without consideration.

Place of supply: goods and services use different tests

Goods are supplied in Singapore when they are physically here as ownership transfers, including goods then exported. Selling to an overseas customer does not remove GST if delivery and transfer take place locally. Conversely, goods sold from a Malaysian warehouse directly to another overseas destination are outside scope because they never enter Singapore.

Services are supplied in Singapore when the supplier belongs here. This applies where its only business or fixed establishment is here; where establishments exist in several places and the one most directly concerned is here; or, with no such establishments, where its usual residence or legal constitution is here.

A business establishment may be the main economic seat, a Singapore branch or agency. The main seat is where essential management decisions and central administration occur. A fixed establishment has the human and technical resources to provide or receive services permanently. A Singapore supplier without an overseas establishment repairing a foreign building still makes a taxable supply; it can be zero-rated only if the international-services provisions apply.

Import GST: valuation and relief

Import GST generally applies regardless of the importer’s registration status and whether goods are for consumption, sale or re-export. Obtain the appropriate import permit and pay at importation. The value includes cost, insurance and freight, Customs-assessed duties, commission and incidental charges. The example combines S$12,000 CIF and S$3,600 duty, giving S$15,600 taxable import value and S$1,404 GST at 9%. Where goods were supplied before release from Customs control, the guide’s footnote refers to the last supply value and related costs up to importation.

Listed exceptions include investment precious metals; eligible non-dutiable parcel-post imports with CIF value no more than S$400; and conditional temporary imports, excluding liquor and tobacco, for repair, modification, treatment or other approved purposes. Above S$400, the entire parcel value is subject to import GST under that relief rule. Separate overseas-vendor rules must be consulted for low-value goods.

Goods in Free Trade Zones are not treated as imported for this purpose. Zero-GST or licensed warehouses and approved import schemes can suspend GST. Annex Figure 2 shows that subsequent removal into Customs territory leads to GST at importation unless MES or another approved suspension applies. The guide refers Customs enquiries to Singapore Customs, including 6355 2000.

Import claims, corrections and agents

If claim conditions are met, report import value in GST F5 Box 5 and import GST in Box 7. The guide permits claiming the higher GST paid where import value was overdeclared. For underdeclaration, take out a supplementary payment permit and use it to support the additional input-tax claim.

A section 33(2) agent importing and supplying for an unregistered overseas principal is treated as principal and responsible for the goods. It may claim eligible import tax, standard-rate local sales or zero-rate documented exports. Section 33A addresses eligible imports followed by export without an intervening supply. Section 33B, described from 1 January 2015, addresses re-imports of local customers’ or registered overseas customers’ goods previously sent abroad for value-added work such as repair, testing or manufacture. These are distinct conditional routes.

Standard-rated, zero-rated, exempt and outside-scope supplies

Taxable supplies split into standard-rated supplies at 9% and zero-rated supplies at 0%. Goods exports require certainty at the supply time that export has occurred or will occur, and that the necessary export evidence is or will be held. International services must fit section 21(3); serving an overseas customer alone is insufficient.

Exempt supplies under the Fourth Schedule include specified financial services, residential-property sales or leases and local investment-precious-metal supplies. The guide records the IPM exemption from 1 October 2012. Outside-scope examples include employee salaries, private transactions, goods moving between overseas places, and overseas goods sold within FTZ or Zero-GST/licensed warehouses. Outside-scope revenue is reported in Box 13 if part of revenue; otherwise it is not reported in the return. Figure 3 also depicts going-concern transfers among its outside-scope examples.

Zero-rating and exemption both avoid charging standard-rate GST but have different implications for input-tax recovery. Classification is therefore necessary before deciding the related purchase-tax treatment.

Deemed supplies: employee benefits, gifts and free asset disposal

Business goods given away or used privately can create output tax without payment. Employee-goods exceptions include catered food or drink, accommodation in a hotel or similar establishment, gifts costing no more than S$200 each before GST, and goods for which no input-tax credit was allowed or claimed. Free services provided to employees are not treated as supplies in the example, such as carpet cleaning at their homes.

The hamper examples contrast a S$210-before-tax gift with S$180. On the first amount, claimed input tax leads to S$18.90 output tax; choosing not to claim the purchase tax removes that deemed-tax consequence. The S$180 gift falls within the S$200 exception even if its S$16.20 input tax was claimed. The guide’s S-plate-car example similarly has no deemed output tax where purchase-tax recovery was unavailable.

Fringe-benefit input tax still requires a close business connection, excludes disallowed expenses and benefits given only to the proprietor, partners or directors. Gifts to customers generally use open-market value for deemed output tax, with the S$200-cost and no-input-credit exceptions. Free transfers of marketable business assets previously credited and costing over S$200 also use market value, accounted on disposal or transfer date. Obsolete assets with no market value disposed of free do not produce output tax; a paid disposal uses the consideration received.

Supply time and registration transitions

Most supplies use the earlier of payment receipt and invoice issue. An invoice includes a bill such as a debit note; sales orders, pro-forma invoices, account statements and claim statements generally do not trigger this rule because they are not payment billings. The example delivers toys on 15 August 2023, invoices on 1 September and receives payment on 12 September: the supply is reported in the July–September period. If not already issued, a tax invoice for a standard-rated supply to a taxable person is due within 30 days of supply.

Goods or services delivered before registration but invoiced and paid afterward are ordinarily taxed under that rule. At an eligible customer’s request, the earliest of invoice, payment or basic tax point—delivery, availability or service performance—may instead apply. The relief is for unregistered customers, or registered customers who are partially exempt or cannot recover the disallowed input tax. Supplier and customer must complete and sign the prescribed relief form.

Where the basic tax point precedes deregistration but both invoice and payment follow it, the guide treats the whole supply as occurring on the day immediately before deregistration. GST remains accountable on the whole supply.

Cash Accounting Scheme: all eligibility conditions

The scheme lets eligible small businesses account for output tax when paid and claim input tax when paying suppliers. The guide describes annual sales not exceeding S$1 million and states that paragraph 5.4.3’s conditions have force of law.

Applicants must be voluntarily registered, expect taxable supplies not to exceed S$1 million in the next 12 months, and have no unfiled returns or unpaid GST. In the preceding three years they must not have been convicted or accepted composition under the GST or Customs Acts, assessed a section 48 penalty, or had this scheme withdrawn.

For the threshold, the footnote excludes relevant customer-accounted receipts from suppliers, imported services subject to reverse charge, and marketplace-operator services supplied for overseas vendors under OVR. The scheme’s webpage provides the application route; small turnover alone does not satisfy all conditions.

Supply value, absorbing GST and related parties

For wholly monetary consideration, supply value plus GST equals the amount paid. A S$40 pre-tax sale gives S$3.60 GST and S$43.60 total. With non-monetary or no consideration, use open-market value: the GST-exclusive amount unrelated parties would pay at that time.

Absorbing GST means treating the amount received as inclusive, not removing the tax. On S$40 received, the guide calculates S$3.30 tax using 9/109 and S$36.70 supply value using 100/109. A tax invoice still separates GST; a receipt or simplified invoice may state that the payable price includes it.

For a related-person supply, use market value rather than the discounted transaction amount. The guide’s table sold to a sister for S$545 including S$45 GST has S$1,000 market value: output tax is S$90, or S$82.57 if that market value is treated as GST-inclusive. Related persons are defined in the Third Schedule.

Used-vehicle discounted sale price

For second-hand or used vehicles under the Discounted Sale Price Scheme, GST is charged on 50% of selling price without prior approval. The S$25,000 GST-exclusive example gives S$1,125 tax, but reports the full S$25,000 standard-rated supply value. This reporting differs from the Gross Margin Scheme.

Gross Margin Scheme: calculation and approval change

GMS taxes the difference between selling and purchase consideration. If selling price is no greater than purchase price, the margin is nil and no GST arises, but report selling price in Box 1. A positive GST-inclusive margin is multiplied by 9/109. Losses on one sale cannot reduce margins on another.

The used-car example purchases for S$1,000 and sells for S$1,500: GST is S$41.28, and standard-rated supply value is S$1,458.72. Prior approval was required before 1 July 2025; from that date the guide directs users to the self-review eligibility checklist instead. Paragraph 5.7.3’s conditions have force of law.

Gross Margin Scheme: all operating conditions

Operate a second-hand-goods business, using GMS only on those goods, or act as a pure hire-purchase financier who does not mark up the financed goods; pure financiers can apply it to new or used goods in hire-purchase agreements. One-off or occasional eligible sales do not qualify a business.

Purchase from an unregistered individual or business, or a registered supplier using GMS with a sales invoice identifying that treatment. No input-tax claim is available on those purchases. Do not issue tax invoices or similar documents separately displaying GST on GMS sales.

Calculate each sale’s GST-inclusive margin separately, account for positive margins and report standard-rated supplies. Maintain the required goods records unless IRAS agrees or prescribes otherwise. The guide refers vehicle traders and financiers to their specialised guides and lists the separate GMS record checklist.

Input tax: all eight claim conditions

The claimant must be registered; the goods or services must be supplied to it or imported by it; local claims require the appropriate addressed tax invoice, customer-accounting invoice or eligible simplified invoice; imports require a permit naming it as importer. The acquisition must be for business purposes.

The tax must relate directly to taxable supplies or outside-scope supplies that would be taxable if made in Singapore. It must not be disallowed by Regulations 26 or 27. The business must also take reasonable steps to check for Missing Trader Fraud, conclude the transaction was not part of such an arrangement, and have reached a conclusion a reasonable person would reach. All eight conditions matter.

Invoice evidence and when input tax is claimed

An addressed full or customer-accounting tax invoice is normally required. A simplified invoice can support a purchase of S$1,000 or less including GST. Since the guide’s 1 February 2014 concession, food-and-drink entertainment can use a simplified invoice regardless of amount, with alternative payment evidence and names, purpose and person incurring the expense. Non-food items such as yacht rental still require the full invoice. A receipt or debit note may serve as a simplified invoice only if it contains all required particulars.

Usually claim in the period matching the document date; a later sale need not occur in that same period. Alternatively use the posting or processing date consistently across returns, hold originals at the claim time and maintain controls against double claims.

Disallowed expenses and the medical exceptions

Disallowed categories are sports or recreation club subscriptions, memberships and transfer fees; staff medical expenses and medical or accident insurance, subject to stated exceptions; staff-family or relative benefits; costs and running expenses of motor cars registered to the business or individual or hired for business or private use, except cars outside Regulation 25(1)’s definition; and betting, sweepstakes, lotteries, fruit machines or games of chance.

Medical expenses can qualify when mandatory under WICA or a relevant collective agreement. For expenses from 1 October 2021, work-related health risks can qualify where treatment or facilities are required by Singapore written law, or COVID-19 treatment follows a government or public-authority written advisory. Examples include mandatory occupational examinations, required shipboard medical facilities, advised business-travel predeparture tests and advised testing of specified high-risk workers. These examples describe the source’s conditions, rather than extending recovery to every health expense.

Medical or accident insurance exceptions require mandatory insurance or compensation under WICA or the specified collective-agreement route. The guide points readers to MOM or their insurer to determine mandatory WICA coverage.

Pre-registration input tax

The special relief is claimed in the first GST F5 return after satisfying the pre-registration self-review checklist; its calculator helps determine the amount. For registrations on or after 1 July 2015, the guide permits full recovery for qualifying goods held at registration and rental, utilities or services not directly attributable to pre-registration supplies, acquired within the preceding six months.

Other pre-registration acquisitions partly consumed before registration or used for supplies spanning it require apportionment. Only the portion attributable to post-registration supplies is claimable. The separate pre-registration guide gives the detailed methods.

Partial exemption: de minimis and Regulation 35

A trader making taxable and exempt supplies is partially exempt. Exempt-supply input tax is normally unrecoverable, but concessions address exempt activities incidental to a mainly taxable business. Regulation 33 exempts specified supplies integral to taxable activity; other exemptions are non-Regulation 33 supplies.

The de minimis test requires total exempt supplies not to exceed both an average S$40,000 a month and 5% of total taxable plus exempt supplies in the accounting period. Satisfying both permits full input-tax recovery under this concession.

If de minimis fails, a non-Regulation 34 business making only Regulation 33 exempt supplies can still recover related tax. With both exempt categories, the Regulation 35 test requires non-Regulation 33 supplies not to exceed 5% of all taxable and exempt supplies. Passing permits Regulation 33 recovery, but non-Regulation 33 input tax remains denied unless de minimis applies. Regulation 34 businesses follow the normal restriction. The guide also notes reverse charge on imported services from 2020 and low-value goods from 2023 for partially exempt traders.

Residual input tax: both annex formulas and longer-period review

Annex Figure 4 first checks de minimis, then Regulation 34 status, then Regulation 35. For the normal restricted route, recover residual input tax multiplied by taxable supply value divided by total supply value. Where the non-Regulation 34 trader passes Regulation 35, the numerator adds Regulation 33 exempt supply value to taxable supplies.

The denominator may exclude incidental exempt supplies falling under Regulation 29(3), as the annex footnote specifies. Direct taxable input tax remains claimable; the restricted route denies both exempt categories, while the Regulation 35 concession allows the Regulation 33 category only. Periodic claims are provisional and require a longer-period adjustment. The separate partial-exemption guide defines the detailed methods and incidental supplies.

Full tax invoice: required contents and restrictions

Issue within 30 days for standard-rated supplies to registered customers. It is not required for zero-rated, exempt or deemed supplies or unregistered customers. If issuing one voluntarily for zero-rated supplies, include all required particulars and a 0% rate. An unregistered seller, a GMS seller or a supplier whose customer issues a self-billed invoice must not issue the tax invoice.

Required contents are a prominent tax-invoice label; identifying number; issue date; supplier name, address and GST number; customer name and address; sufficient goods or services description and supply type; quantity or service extent and pre-tax line amount; offered cash discount; total before GST; GST rate and a separately stated tax amount; and total including GST. Mixed supplies need separate gross totals for exempt, zero-rated and other supply types.

Above S$1,000 including GST, do not replace customer particulars with a generic cash label. Issue one original per sale; a replacement for a lost document is marked Copy or Duplicate. Annex Figure 5’s four camera-product lines total S$33,915 after discounts, plus S$3,052.35 GST and S$36,967.35 due. These sample figures illustrate separation of line discounts, tax and payable total.

Simplified invoices and receipts

A simplified invoice is available where the total including GST is no more than S$1,000. It contains supplier name, address and GST number, identifying number, issue date, goods or services description, total payable including tax and the prescribed indication that the price includes GST. Customer name is not required. Annex Figure 6 shows S$12 film and S$9 batteries, S$21 inclusive total, S$50 received and S$29 change; those are receipt-layout examples, not input-tax amounts.

An unregistered customer may receive a receipt instead of a tax invoice. Keep a duplicate. The receipt is serially numbered, on paper or electronically, and shows the supplier name and GST number, date, inclusive amount and inclusive-tax notice.

No IRAS approval is required to stop issuing ordinary receipts, but complete income records and an audit trail remain necessary. Issue a receipt if requested and continue issuing required tax invoices for purchases over S$1,000. The receipt concession is not a tax-invoice waiver.

Foreign currency and rounding

For a local foreign-currency sale, the tax invoice shows Singapore-dollar equivalents for total before GST, total GST and total including GST, using approved rates. Update at least quarterly, use consistently across reporting, accounting and GST, and retain the source for at least a year from the first accounting-period end. The exchange-rate guide explains the full source conditions.

Invoice GST can be rounded to cents. Cash bills may be consistently rounded to the nearest five cents as a business decision. For multi-line standard-rated invoices, either sum tax calculated per line or calculate on the combined pre-tax amount. Both are accepted when the chosen approach is consistent, although rounding differences can result.

Public price display and service-charge exception

Publicly displayed, advertised, published or quoted prices, written or oral, must include GST. If exclusive and inclusive amounts are both shown, the inclusive amount must be at least as prominent. A S$109 final price can meet the rule; simply advertising S$100 plus GST does not. Bargained final prices are also inclusive, with tax extracted by 9/109. A discount absorbing GST must not be advertised as no GST.

Hotels and F&B establishments genuinely imposing service charges may display pre-tax prices with a prominent statement that GST and service charge apply. Without a service charge, or with a nominal charge introduced merely to avoid inclusive display, the exception does not apply. Each non-compliant price-display requirement can attract a fine up to S$5,000.

Records and due-diligence evidence

Retain business records for at least five years. They include source invoices, receipts and vouchers, accounting records for assets, liabilities, income and expenses, bank statements and other business-transaction records. Missing-Trader-Fraud checks also require records of risks identified, checks performed and responses to their results.

Manual or electronic records are permitted. Electronic tax-invoice issue needs no approval but must meet the GST record-keeping guide. Inadequate records can lead to disallowed expenses and penalties.

Record, general and incorrect-return offences

The guide’s section 46(6) table gives first-conviction record failures a fine up to S$5,000, imprisonment up to six months, or both; a later conviction can bring S$10,000, three years, or both. Section 58 general offences, including required electronic-return failures and each price-display offence, carry fines up to S$5,000 and up to six months in default of payment.

Under section 59(2), an incorrect return without reasonable excuse or through negligence can bring twice the undercharged tax, plus a fine up to S$5,000 or imprisonment up to three years, or both. These figures reproduce the penalties explained in this dated edition, with conviction and default-of-payment distinctions retained.

Late payment, late returns and failure to register

Section 60(1) gives a 5% payment penalty plus 2% per month on tax remaining unpaid 60 days after the prescribed accounting-period due date, with the additional component capped at 50% of outstanding tax. Section 60(2) gives a S$200 late-return penalty immediately on missing the due date, then S$200 for each completed outstanding month, up to S$10,000 per F5 or F8 return; the guide records this immediate imposition from 1 April 2018.

For registration failure under section 61, conviction can bring a fine up to S$10,000, a 10% tax penalty for each year or part from the required notification or application date, and S$50 for each day the offence continues after conviction.

Fraud, invoice offences and obstruction

Section 62 wilful evasion or assistance can bring three times evaded tax, plus a fine up to S$10,000 or imprisonment up to seven years, or both. Section 63 fraudulent refunds can bring three times excess refund and S$10,000 or three years, or both.

Section 64 covers knowingly possessing or accepting supplies whose tax is or will be evaded: up to S$5,000 and three times evaded tax. Unauthorised tax-invoice issue under section 64A can bring S$10,000 and three times the invoice tax. Obstruction under section 66 can bring S$5,000, six months, or both.

The guide additionally specifies a 10% surcharge on input tax denied because the business should have known of Missing Trader Fraud. Wilful participation may be dealt with more severely. The surcharge is distinct from the listed criminal offences.

Objections and appeals: all stages

Request written review by the Comptroller within 30 days after notification. The listed decisions concern registration or deregistration; supply or import tax; input credit or refund; the taxable supply proportion; section 25 refunds; grouping businesses under First Schedule paragraph 2; section 79 agency declarations; and section 81(3) security.

After an objection decision, lodge written notice to the GST Board of Review within 30 days, then reasons within the following 30 days. The taxpayer bears the burden of proving the decision wrong. The Board may confirm, vary or annul it. If confirmation makes an appeal unnecessary or frivolous, costs may be ordered, including Comptroller costs not exceeding S$1,000 plus the tax described in the guide.

Either party disagreeing with the Board may appeal to the High Court, which may confirm, vary or annul; a further Court of Appeal right may exist. This sequence is separate from simply making a general enquiry.

Major Exporter Scheme and tourist refunds

MES suspends import GST on eligible non-dutiable goods for approved import/export businesses. Meet its separate guide’s conditions, submit GST F10 and provide a guarantee if required in writing. An ASK review and certified declaration are required: the source names SIATP-accredited ATA(GST) or ATP(GST) reviewers, or business reviews certified by them. Approval remains until written review notice, usually around three years; report loss of eligibility and possible revocation.

eTRS refunds eligible tourists’ goods bought from participating retailers and taken out via Changi or Seletar Airport within two months of purchase. Retailers join independently or through a Central Refund Agency. This edition lists Global Blue Singapore, Global Tax Free and Tourego; the list is dated source information, not a promise that participation never changes.

Logistics, import deferment and warehouse schemes

Approved 3PL supports logistics providers serving overseas clients using Singapore as a hub, generally suspending import GST. IGDS defers approved businesses’ import tax to monthly return due dates, where deferred tax and eligible input claims appear in the same return. Monthly filing is required and the guide describes a one-to-two-month credit period.

Singapore Customs’ Zero GST Warehouse scheme suspends GST on non-dutiable overseas goods until removal for the local market. SWS serves specialised storage for overseas persons where most goods will be exported: qualifying services on qualifying goods and storage facilities can be zero-rated in an Approved Specialised Warehouse.

HCES permits eligible overseas-company sales hand-carried via Changi to be zero-rated, unlike the tourist-only refund route. These schemes have distinct qualifications and must not be treated as interchangeable general exemptions.

Aerospace, marine, contract manufacturing and precious metals

AISS suspends eligible import GST for international airlines, maintenance/repair/overhaul businesses, OEMs and qualifying aircraft-parts distributors. AMCS allows eligible registered shipowners or managers to seek zero-rating for goods purchased or rented for use or installation on internationally bound commercial ships.

Approved MFT businesses buying specified marine fuel locally from registered suppliers avoid upfront GST, easing refund-related cash flow; the guide gives MFO 380cst as an example. ACMT relieves qualifying value-added work on unregistered overseas customers’ goods for businesses with substantial such activity.

ARCS supports qualifying investment-precious-metal refiners and consolidators with import/purchase cash flow and input tax on refining. Each named scheme has its own IRAS industry-specific guide; this overview does not grant approval.

Amendment history and source limits

The amendment log records 2015 registration and administration changes; 2016 section 33B, food-and-drink invoice concessions, pre-registration and apportionment updates; 2017 car, user-guide and cruise-terminal changes; and 2018 removal of earlier GST administration chapters and renumbering. It records customer accounting in 2019 and Missing Trader Fraud claim, records and surcharge changes in 2021, followed by medical-expense changes.

The 2022 entries address low-value goods, remote services, price display, partial-exemption reverse charge and cars. The publication page says 21 September 2022 for edition twelve, while the amendment log says 16 September for that entry. The guide then records 8% from January 2023, numbered-receipt clarification in March 2023, 9% from January 2024 and GMS self-review changes in September 2025. Although the file is the January 2026 seventeenth edition, the amendment log ends in 2025; no additional change is invented here.

Contact enquiries go to the IRAS GST Division through Contact Us. The guide gives a general understanding and refers readers to detailed rules rather than addressing every possible issue. Its six annex figures are explained in the relevant sections above; the original remains available below for checking wording and examples.