Factors to consider before registering voluntarily for GST

You may apply to be GST-registered on a voluntary basis even if it is not compulsory for you to register for GST.

To qualify for voluntary registration, you must satisfy any of the following:

1.  Your business makes taxable supplies;
2.  Your business only makes out-of-scope supplies. Out-of-scope supplies mainly refer to sales of goods which did not enter Singapore and goods in transit; 
3.  Your business makes exempt supplies of financial services that are also international services; or
4.  Your business procures services from overseas service providers or imports low-value goods and you would not be entitled to full input tax credit even if you were GST-registered.

If you have not started any of the above transactions, but intend to do so in future, you may also apply for voluntary GST registration. You will have to satisfy the Comptroller that you are operating or carrying on a business, and have firm intentions to carry out the above transactions.

If you do not have firm intentions or plans to carry out any of the above transactions, you should not apply for GST registration.

For more information on the different categories and types of taxable and non-taxable supplies, refer to the page on Goods and Services Tax: What it is and how it works.

b. From 1 April 2026, for all new voluntary GST registrants .

*These are companies that are incorporated within 6 months from the time they submit their application for GST registration.

Before registration

You need to ensure that you qualify for voluntary GST registration (see the section above) and fulfil all the conditions below before registering for GST.

1.  The company director/ sole-proprietor/ partner/ trustee /preparer of GST returns has completed and passed the e-Learning course "Overview of GST", before submitting the registration form. This is to ensure that you have a good understanding of the obligations and responsibilities of a GST-registered business before registering for GST.

The e-learning course is not required if:

• The company director / sole-proprietor / partner / trustee of the business has the experience of managing other existing GST registered businesses; or
• The preparer of your GST returns is an Accredited Tax Advisor (ATA) or Accredited Tax Practitioner (ATP); or
• The business is applying to be registered under the Overseas Vendor Registration Simplified Pay-only Registration Regime. 

2.   Apply for GIRO for payment and/or refund of GST.

3.   Provide the guarantee, if the Comptroller requires you to do so. For more information regarding the guarantee that may be required for your GST registration, please refer to our webpage on guarantee.

After registration

You must remain GST-registered for at least 2 years.

You are required to comply with the following conditions, failing which, your GST registration may be cancelled.

1.   Maintain a GIRO account for payment and refund of GST.

2.   Make taxable supplies within 2 years (or such approved longer period) if you have not started making taxable supplies at the point of applying for GST registration.

3.   Comply fully with the responsibilities of a GST-registered business.

4.   [NEW!] Comply fully with the GST InvoiceNow Requirement and transmit invoice data to IRAS using InvoiceNow solutions if you are:

b. Any business that apply for voluntary GST registration from 1 Apr 2026.

*These are companies that are incorporated within 6 months from the time they submit their application for GST registration.

5.   Any other conditions that may be imposed by IRAS at any point in time during your registration.

For businesses applying for voluntary registration under the Overseas Vendor Registration Simplified Pay-only Regime, a guarantee may be imposed by the Comptroller on a case-by-case basis before registration. After registration you will have to remain GST-registered for at least two years. In addition, you have to comply with the following to remain registered for GST:

1.  Comply fully with the responsibilities of a GST-registered business.

2.  Any other conditions which may be imposed by IRAS at any point in time during your registration.

One of the benefits of registering for GST is that you can claim the GST incurred on your purchases, subject to the conditions for claiming input tax. However, if you are a partially exempt business (PDF,459KB) or an organisation with business and non-business activities (PDF, 696KB), you will not be able to claim your input tax in full, as the input tax attributable to the making of exempt supplies, wholly non-business activities and activities with non-business elements are not claimable.

When your turnover is near but below the S$1 million threshold for compulsory registration, registering voluntarily means that you will not need to monitor your turnover constantly.

However, the costs of being GST-registered may outweigh its benefits. As voluntarily registered businesses must remain registered for 2 years, you should assess the costs and benefits over a 2-year period before making the decision to register for GST.

The following are the areas you should consider before registering for GST:

     A. Responsibilities of being GST-registered

     B. Profile of your suppliers

     C. Profile of your customers

     D. Type of sales made by you