What is GST (Goods and Services Tax)?

GST (Goods and Services Tax) is Singapore's broad-based consumption tax, charged on most goods and services sold in Singapore as well as on imports. The current rate is 9%, in effect since 1 January 2024.

How GST works in Singapore

GST is administered by IRAS. It's a value-added tax — businesses charge GST on their sales (output tax) and reclaim GST on their qualifying purchases (input tax). The difference is what the business remits to (or recovers from) IRAS each quarter via its GST F5 return.

Three types of supplies exist under SG GST law:

Standard-rated (9%) — most local sales of goods and services.
Zero-rated (0%) — exports of goods and international services.
Exempt — financial services, residential property sales/leases, sale and lease of qualifying precious metals, digital payment tokens.

Who has to register for GST?

You must register for GST once your taxable turnover exceeds the S$1 million registration threshold. You may register voluntarily below that threshold — usually worthwhile if you make mostly B2B sales or have significant input tax to recover.

The 9% rate — and a note on history

The rate has changed twice in recent years:

Until 31 December 2022 — 7%
1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 — 8%
From 1 January 2024 — 9%

If your accounting software still has 7% or 8% tax codes set as default, update them. IRAS publishes transitional rules for any supply that straddles a rate change.

Example

A Singapore IT consultancy charges a local client S$10,000 for a one-month engagement. It adds 9% GST = S$900, so the customer pays S$10,900. The consultancy also paid S$200 GST on cloud-hosting purchases that month (input tax). Net GST owed to IRAS for that quarter, from this transaction: S$900 − S$200 = S$700. That figure goes on the GST F5.

GST F5 — GST F5 is the quarterly GST return every GST-registered business in Singapore files with IRAS.
GST registration threshold — Singapore businesses must register for GST when taxable turnover exceeds S$1 million — either retrospectively or on a forecast (prospective) basis.
Input tax vs output tax — Output tax is the GST you charge customers on sales.
Tax invoice (Singapore) — A tax invoice is the document a GST-registered Singapore business issues so its GST-registered customer can claim input tax.

Sources

Last reviewed 29 May 2026. Verify any thresholds or dates against the official source above before relying on them.