GST Singapore 2026: Rates, Registration & GST Check

Key Takeaways

• GST in Singapore is 9% in 2026, unchanged since the last rate increase on 1 January 2024. No further rate change has been announced.
• You must register for GST if your taxable turnover exceeded S$1 million in the past 12 months, or you expect it to in the next 12 months.
• You can check whether any company is GST-registered for free using IRAS’s GST Registered Business Search — no login required.
• Late or failed registration carries a fine of up to S$10,000 plus a 10% penalty on the GST due, backdated to when you should have registered.
• From 2026, more GST-registered businesses must adopt InvoiceNow e-invoicing, with mandatory phase-ins running through 2031.
• Not sure where your business stands? Grof’s GST registration and filing service handles the eligibility check, the application, and every quarterly return after that.

Goods and Services Tax touches almost every transaction your business makes in Singapore. Whether you’re approaching the S$1 million turnover threshold, checking a supplier’s GST status before you pay an invoice, or simply making sure your filings stay clean, this guide covers what GST means for your business in 2026 — registration, rates, checks, and the mistakes that cost businesses the most.

What Is GST in Singapore?

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a broad-based consumption tax that Singapore charges on most goods and services, including imports. It’s a value-added tax in substance — every business along the supply chain collects it, but the end consumer ultimately bears the cost.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) administers GST. Registered businesses act as GST collectors on the government’s behalf: they charge GST on their sales (output tax), reclaim GST on their business purchases (input tax), and remit the net amount to IRAS on a quarterly cycle.

GST isn’t optional paperwork once you cross the registration threshold — it’s a legal obligation with real financial and reputational consequences if you get it wrong.

Current GST Rate in Singapore (2026)

The GST rate in Singapore is 9%. It rose from 8% to 9% on 1 January 2024, the second leg of a two-step increase Budget 2022 announced (7% to 8% took effect a year earlier, on 1 January 2023). Budget 2026 confirmed no further rate change, and none is expected in the near term.

To work out GST on a price, multiply by 1.09 to add it, or divide by 1.09 (equivalently, take 9/109 of the GST-inclusive total) to extract it. On a $1,000 service fee, 9% GST adds $90, so the customer pays $1,090.

Not everything is taxed at 9%, though:

• Zero-rated supplies — exports and international services — are taxed at 0%.
• Exempt supplies — most financial services and the sale or lease of residential property — sit outside the GST system entirely, and businesses making only exempt supplies generally can’t claim input tax on related costs.
• Out-of-scope supplies, like third-country sales that never enter Singapore, don’t attract GST at all.

Do You Need to Register for GST?

Registration is mandatory if either applies:

Once you’re liable, you have 30 days to apply. Miss that window and IRAS backdates your registration to the date you should have registered — you’ll owe GST on every sale from that date, whether or not you collected it from customers.

Below the threshold? You can register voluntarily. This tends to make sense if most of your customers are GST-registered themselves (they can claim back the GST you charge), if you have significant upfront capital expenditure and want to recover the input tax, or if GST registration signals credibility to investors and suppliers. Weigh the recovered input tax against the ongoing filing overhead before you commit — voluntary registrants must generally stay registered for at least two years.

How to Register for GST in Singapore

1. Check your eligibility. Confirm which threshold test applies, and gather 12 months of turnover figures if you’re unsure.
2. Apply via the myTax Portal. You’ll need your ACRA business profile, recent financial statements or sales records, and — for voluntary applications — a statement of your business intentions.
3. Wait for approval. Standard processing takes about 10 working days; expect up to 30 days if IRAS requests further documents.
4. Receive your GST registration number, which is tied to your company’s UEN. This must appear on every tax invoice you issue from your effective registration date.
5. Start charging GST on your taxable supplies from that date, and diarise your first quarterly filing.

How to Check If a Company Is GST-Registered

This is one of the most searched GST questions for a reason: if you pay GST to a supplier who isn’t actually registered, you can’t claim that amount back, and IRAS won’t refund it.

Use the IRAS GST Registered Business Search — a free tool on the myTax Portal that requires no login:

1. Go to the GST Registered Business Search on IRAS’s myTax Portal.
2. Search by the company’s UEN, business name, or GST registration number. UEN is the most reliable option.
3. The result shows the entity’s current registration status, its GST registration number, and the effective date registration took effect.
4. If the business deregistered, check the cancellation date too — GST charged after that date is invalid.

A few practical checks worth building into your process: ask new suppliers for their GST registration certificate (every registered business receives one from IRAS), confirm the GST number printed on their invoices matches what the search tool shows, and save a screenshot or PDF of your search result as due-diligence evidence in case of an audit. If a supplier charges GST but doesn’t appear in the search, don’t pay it — ask for a corrected invoice first.

What You Can (and Can’t) Claim as Input Tax

Once registered, you can generally claim GST back on:

• Equipment, raw materials, and stock used in your operations
• Business utilities and software subscriptions
• Professional fees — legal, audit, accounting, and advisory services
• Unsold inventory or fixed assets bought within six months before your registration date, provided you still hold them

You generally can’t claim GST on:

• Staff benefits — medical care, staff meals, entertainment, gifts
• Private or personal expenses, including home utilities or private vehicle costs
• Purchases tied to exempt supplies, such as costs relating to residential property rental

Keep every supporting tax invoice. IRAS can and does audit input tax claims, and incomplete records are the most common reason a claim gets rejected.

Obligations After You’re GST-Registered

Registration is the start, not the finish. Ongoing obligations include:

• Filing GST returns (Form F5) quarterly, within one month of the end of each accounting period, even if you had zero transactions — a “nil” return is still required.
• Paying any net GST owed by the same filing deadline.
• Displaying GST-inclusive prices in all public quotations, advertisements, and price lists.
• Keeping records — invoices, receipts, and ledgers — for at least five years, even after deregistration.
• Adopting InvoiceNow e-invoicing if you fall within the rollout: mandatory from 1 April 2026 for all new voluntary registrants, with phased dates through 2031 covering existing registrants by annual turnover band.

Penalties for Late Registration or Non-Compliance

Getting GST wrong is expensive, not just inconvenient:

• Late or failed registration: a fine of up to S$10,000 plus a penalty of 10% of the GST due, backdated to your liability date.
• Late filing: S$200 immediately, plus a further S$200 for every completed month the return stays outstanding, up to S$10,000 per return — and a possible court fine of up to S$5,000 for non-filing.
• Late payment: a 5% penalty on the outstanding GST, rising by 2% per month (capped at 50%) if it remains unpaid 60 days after the due date.

If you’ve missed a registration deadline, disclose it voluntarily. IRAS typically waives the fine and penalty for businesses that come forward before an audit catches the error — though the backdated GST itself is always still payable.

Common GST Mistakes Singapore Businesses Make

Assuming the S$1 million threshold resets each quarter. It’s a rolling 12-month test, both backward and forward-looking — track it continuously, not just at year-end.

Paying GST to unregistered suppliers without checking. A five-minute search on the IRAS portal avoids an input tax claim you can never recover.

Treating voluntary registration as a one-off decision. Once you volunteer, you’re generally locked in for a minimum period — model the ongoing filing cost before you apply, not after.

Letting InvoiceNow adoption slip. With rollout dates now active for new voluntary registrants, businesses that leave e-invoicing until the compulsory deadline often find their accounting software isn’t Peppol-ready in time.

Claiming input tax on exempt-supply costs. If part of your business makes exempt supplies (e.g. residential rental income), the GST on costs tied to that portion generally isn’t claimable — mixing this up is a common audit trigger.

How Grof Helps You Navigate GST with Confidence

GST registration isn’t a box-ticking exercise — it shapes your pricing, your cash flow, and how quickly your books close every quarter. Getting the threshold test wrong, missing an InvoiceNow deadline, or claiming input tax you’re not entitled to all lead to the same place: an IRAS penalty notice.

Grof’s corporate secretarial and accounting team takes this off your plate. We check your eligibility before you’re liable, handle the registration and documentation end to end, and keep your quarterly F5 filings on time, every time — backed by monthly bookkeeping that makes input tax claims accurate instead of guesswork. If you’re not sure whether a supplier is GST-registered, or whether your business should register voluntarily, that’s exactly the kind of question our team answers daily.

Book a free consultation and we’ll walk through your GST position, confirm what applies to your business, and take the IRAS filing off your hands.

Frequently Asked Questions