IRAS | Foreign Currency Transactions

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If your business makes sales in foreign currency, you must convert the amounts to Singapore dollars for GST reporting purposes.

You must also report any exchange gains or losses from foreign currency transactions in your GST return.

When your sales are denominated in a foreign currency

Invoicing requirements

For sales denominated in a foreign currency, you must use approved exchange rates for GST purpose (PDF, 190KB) to convert the following amounts shown on the tax invoice into Singapore dollars:

Total amount payable excluding GST;
Total GST payable; and
Total amount payable including GST.

The Singapore dollar amounts may be shown separately beside their corresponding foreign currency amounts on your tax invoice. The exchange rate selected must be updated at least once every three months and also be used consistently for at least one year from the end of the accounting period in which the source was first used.

Reporting requirements

In your GST return, report the Singapore dollar amounts shown on the tax invoice under “Box 1: Total value of standard-rated supplies” and "Box 6: Output tax due".

When your purchases and imports are denominated in a foreign currency

For purchases denominated in a foreign currency, your supplier must indicate the GST payable on the tax invoice in Singapore dollars based on the exchange rate from the chosen approved source. This Singapore dollar amount is what you would claim as input tax in your GST return. Note that you should not use the amount recorded in your books for the input tax claim, if you had applied a different exchange rate.

For imports, you should claim input tax based on the Singapore dollar amounts shown in the import permits issued by Singapore Customs.

What you need to prepare

Before handling foreign currency transactions:

Choose an approved exchange rate source
Set up systems to track exchange gains and losses
Ensure your accounting system can convert amounts consistently

Approved exchange rate sources

Local acceptable sources:

Sources of exchange rates	Remarks
Local banks	These include rates published by full banks, wholesale banks, offshore banks and merchant banks in Singapore
Local circulated newspapers	Examples include The Business Times, The Straits Times, Financial Times, Lianhe Zaobao
Monetary Authority of Singapore	The rates can be obtained from https://eservices.mas.gov.sg/Statistics/msb/ExchangeRates.aspx

Global acceptable sources:

Sources of exchange rates	Remarks
Reputable news agencies	Examples include Bloomberg, Reuters and Oanda
Foreign central banks	These apply only to foreign central banks without exchange controls
Online websites resources	Exchange rates published on websites such as Yahoo! Finance and www.xe.com are acceptable if these websites obtain the exchange rates from the abovementioned sources

How to handle different transaction types

The table below shows what you need to convert and how to report each type of foreign currency transaction:

Transaction type	What do you need to convert?	Where to report in GST return?
Sales	Total payable amount excluding GST, GST amount Total payable amount including GST	Box 1: Standard-rated supplies Box 6: Output tax
Purchases/Imports	Use supplier's converted amounts from their tax invoice For imports, use Singapore dollar amounts from import permits	Box 5: Taxable purchases Box 7: Input tax

How to report exchange gains and losses

You may incur exchange gains or losses when transacting in foreign currencies, for example when you receive payments in a foreign currency and convert them into Singapore dollars. Such exchange gains or losses constitute a supply for GST purposes.

What counts as exchange gains/losses

Type of gain/loss	Include in GST reporting?	Reason
Realised gains/losses from completed transactions	Yes	Creates a supply for GST purposes
Unrealised gains/losses from outstanding payments	No (unless using alternative method)	No supply has occurred yet
Translation differences for year-end reporting	No	No supply as it is an accounting adjustment only

How to calculate and report

Calculate net realised exchange gains/losses for each prescribed accounting period
Report the absolute value (remove negative signs) in your GST return under “Box 3: Value of exempt supplies”

Example:

Month	Realised exchange gain/(loss)
Oct 2025	($150)
Nov 2025	$100
Dec 2025	($200)
Net Loss	($250)
Absolute value to report in Box 3	$250

Alternative reporting method

If it is administratively difficult to track realised and unrealised gains/losses separately, you may report the total value of realised and unrealised gains/losses if you fulfil the following conditions:

Your accounting practices conform to proper accounting and reporting standards; and
You adopt the same basis of reporting value of exempt supplies from foreign currency and derivative transactions consistently.

Note: Including unrealised gains/losses may affect your input tax claims under the De Minimis Rule. You are advised to consider the reduction in tracking efforts against the impact on input tax claims.