Compulsory registration
You must register for GST if your taxable turnover is:
- Under the retrospective view, more than $1 million at the end of the calendar year, or
- Under the prospective view, expected to be more than $1 million in the next 12 months
Taxable turnover
Taxable turnover refers to the total value of all taxable supplies made in Singapore in the course or furtherance of businesses, which include:
- standard-rated supplies (e.g. local supply of goods or services including the supply of imported low-value goods to individuals and businesses in Singapore that are not registered for GST from 1 Jan 2023), and
- zero-rated supplies (e.g. export of goods or supply of international services ),
but exclude:
- exempt supplies (including exempt supplies that fall within the definition of international services, e.g. financial services provided to overseas persons, and are thus zero-rated),
- out-of-scope supplies, and
- sale of capital assets (e.g. sale of machinery, equipment, office building and furniture).
If you are not liable for GST registration, you may choose to register voluntarily after careful consideration.
You may also be liable for GST registration under the Reverse charge and Overseas vendor registration regime. For more information, please refer to the section on Reverse charge and overseas vendor registration below.
All currency/ monetary amounts stated in this webpage refer to Singapore dollars.
Retrospective view
If your taxable turnover at the end of the calendar year is more than $1 million, you must register for GST by 30 Jan. You will be registered for GST on 1 Mar.
You are encouraged to use the GST Registration Calculator to assist you in determining your GST registration liability.
Example 1: Retrospective view
| Calendar year with taxable turnover exceeding $1 million | Due date to apply for GST registration | Effective date of registration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan to 31 Dec 20X1 | 30 Jan 20X2 | 1 Mar 20X2 |
Prospective view
At any point in time, if you can reasonably expect your taxable turnover to be more than $1 million in the next 12 months, you must register for GST within 30 days from the date of your forecast and you will be registered on the 31st day from the forecast date.
You must have supporting documents to support your forecast value of $1 million. For example:
- Signed contracts or agreements
- Accepted quotations or confirmed purchase orders from customers
- Invoices to customers with fixed monthly fee charged
- Income statements showing that past 12-month period was already close to $1 million and that annual turnover is on an increasing trend
On the other hand, you are not required to register for GST if there is no certainty in your forecast. For example, you made a forecast based on market assessment, business plans or sales targets.
Example 2: Prospective view
| Date of forecast | Due date to apply for GST registration | Effective date of registration |
|---|---|---|
| Contract or agreement with more than $1 million value signed on 1 Jul 20X1 | 31 Jul 20X1 | 1 Aug 20X1 |
| Quotation with more than $1 million value accepted by customer on 2 Sep 20X1 | 2 Oct 20X1 | 3 Oct 20X1 |
| Past 12-month turnover as at 31 Dec 20X1 was $900,000. As turnover has increased by 15% on year-to-year basis, turnover for next 12 months projected to be more than $1 million on 15 Jan 20X2. | 14 Feb 20X2 | 15 Feb 20X2 |
Exception
You will not be required to register for GST if:
a. Your taxable turnover is derived wholly or mainly from zero-rated supplies and you apply for exemption from registration.
b. You are liable for GST registration under the retrospective view but not under the prospective view and the following conditions are met:
You are certain that your taxable turnover for the next 12 months will not exceed S$1 million
The taxable turnover is projected to be lower due to specific circumstances(e.g. large-scale downsizing of business)
- You have supporting documentation to substantiate your projection
You must nonetheless continue to monitor your taxable turnover at the end of the next calendar year.
Specified circumstances
To support your position that you are not liable to register under retrospective view, you must maintain:
(a) Documentary evidences to prove that the specified circumstances below apply to you; and
(b) Detailed computation showing how the projected taxable turnover for the next 12 months will not exceed $1million.
| Specified circumstances | Examples of supporting documents | |
|---|---|---|
1 | Expiry/termination of high-value sales contract from a major customer and you are unlikely to enter into new sales contracts in the next 12 months |
|
2 | Large-scale downsizing of business e.g. divestment of certain business lines, cessation of manufacturing activities, closure of retail shops/outlets, or relocation of business activities to overseas |
|
3 |
Revocation of business licence or termination of sales distribution rights |
|
4 |
Cessation of all business activities or preparation to wind up, dissolve or strike-off business |
|
Reverse charge and overseas vendor registration New!
You may also be liable for registration:
- under the reverse charge regime if your business procures services from overseas suppliers or imports low-value goods and your business is not entitled to full input tax credit even if it is GST-registered, or
- under the overseas vendor registration regime if you are an overseas supplier or a local/ overseas electronic marketplace operator or redeliverer that provides services (digital and non-digital) or supplies imported low-value goods to individuals and businesses in Singapore that are not registered for GST.
For more information on the requirement to register for GST under these regimes, please refer to our webpage on GST on imported services.
Late notification of liability for GST registration
There are serious consequences for late registration:
- Your date of registration will be backdated to the date you were liable for registration.
- You will have to account for and pay GST on your past sales starting from the effective date of registration, even if you did not collect any GST from your customers.
- You may face a fine of up to $10,000 and a penalty equal to 10% of the GST due. Prosecution action may apply.
If you submit an application for GST registration and voluntarily disclose that you are late in registration, we will generally waive the late notification fine and penalties. If you have difficulties paying the GST due on the backdated period, we may allow you to pay the GST due in instalments.
Computing your business turnover
The table below explains the different methods used to compute your business taxable turnover, depending on whether you are a sole-proprietorship, a partnership, or a private limited company.
| Sole-proprietorship (Individual) | Partnership | Company (e.g. Private Limited Company) |
|---|---|---|---|
How do I compute business turnover? | Combine the turnover of:
Refer to example below for illustration. | Combine the turnover of all partnership businesses with the same composition of partners (including rental of commercial properties, and rental of furniture & fittings). Please refer to example below for illustration. | Compute the turnover of that single company (including rental of commercial properties, and rental of furniture & fittings). If your company (as a legal entity) owns sole-proprietorship businesses, you need to combine the turnover of
|
How will my businesses be registered for GST? | All your businesses under your name will be registered in the name of the sole-proprietor (i.e. your name) irrespective of the turnover of each business. This includes sole-proprietorship businesses which you may set up in the future. | Each partnership business that is required to register for GST will be separately registered under its own name. Once your partnership is GST-registered, all businesses with the same composition of partners need to be GST-registered. This includes businesses with the same composition of partners which you may set up in the future. | GST registration will be in the name of your company. |
Example 1: Sole-proprietorship
You have two sole-proprietorship businesses (Businesses A and B). You also drive a taxi on a part-time basis.
In the past 12 months:
- Business A turnover is $500,000.
- Business B turnover is $490,000.
- Income derived from taxi driving is $30,000.
To compute your business turnover:
- Combine the turnover for Business A, Business B and the income derived from taxi driving.
- Total Turnover/Income: $500,000 + $490,000 + $30,000 = $1,020,000
- The combined turnover (including the income from the taxi driving) exceeds $1 million.
- You must register for GST immediately if you can reasonably expect your total turnover to be more than $1 million for the next 12 months.
Example 2: Partnership
Scenario 1:
You and Mary own two partnership businesses (Businesses C and D). You also own a partnership business (Business E) with John.
In the past 12 months:
- Turnover of Business C is $200,000
- Turnover of Business D is $300,000
- Turnover of Business E is $600,000
To compute your business turnover:
- Combine turnover of all partnership businesses with the same composition of partners.
- Combined Business Turnover of Business C and D (which you own with Mary) is $200,000 + $300,000 = $500,000, which is less than $1 million.
- You need not register Businesses C and D for GST if you expect combined Business Turnover to be less than $1 million for the next 12 months.
You should calculate the business turnover for Business E separately because you have a different business partner - John. In this case, as the Business Turnover of Business E is less than $1 million ($500,000). you do not need to register Business E for GST.
Scenario 2:
You and Mary own two partnership businesses (Businesses C and D).
In the past 12 months:
- Turnover of Business C is $500,000
- Turnover of Business D is $600,000
To compute your business turnover:
- Combine turnover of all partnership businesses with the same composition of partners.
- Combined Business Turnover of Businesses C and D (which you own with Mary) is $500,000 + $600,000 = $1,100,000, which exceeds $1 million.
- You need to register your partnership Businesses C and D for GST immediately if you reasonably expect your business turnover to be more than $1 million for the next 12 months.
- Upon registration, each of your partnership businesses will be registered under their own individual GST registration number and you will need to file separate GST returns for them.
Scenario 3:
You and Mary own two partnership businesses (Businesses C and D). You, Mary, and John also own one partnership business (Business E).
In the past 12 months:
- Turnover of Business C is $200,000
- Turnover of Business D is $300,000
- Turnover of Business E is $600,000
To compute your business turnover:
- Combine turnover of all partnership businesses with the same composition of partners.
- Combined Business Turnover of Businesses C and D (which you own with Mary) is $200,000 + $300,000 = $500,000, which is less than $1 million.
- You need not register Businesses C and D for GST if you expect your business turnover to be less than $1 million for the next 12 months.
You should calculate the business turnover for Business E separately, as the composition of partners of Business E (You, Mary and John) is different from that of Businesses C and D (You and Mary).
Example 3: Company
You are the director of company F which is operating a trading business selling goods in Singapore. You are also the director of company G, which is in the business of renting of commercial properties.
In the past 12 months:
- Turnover of Company F is $1,100,000
- Turnover of Company G is $500,000
To compute your business turnover:
- The turnover of Company F exceeds $1 million.
- Company F must register for GST immediately if it reasonably expects its total turnover to be more than $1 million for the next 12 months.
- The turnover of Company G is $500,000. Company G need not register for GST if it expects its total turnover to be less than $1 million for the next 12 months.
FAQS
I run a property trading business in partnership with someone else. Do I need to include the proceeds from the sales of commercial properties that were held in the name of the partners as bare trustees of the partnership, when computing my partnership’s taxable turnover for GST registration purpose?
Yes, you have to include the proceeds from the sale of these commercial properties when computing your partnership's taxable turnover for GST registration purpose.
As your partnership is in the business of trading in properties, the properties held by the partners as bare trustees of the partnership are not capital assets of the business. The sales of commercial properties by the bare trustees are the taxable supplies made by your partnership.
If I am late in my GST registration, can the requirement for backdating the effective GST registration date and payment of backdated tax be waived?
No. GST is a self-assessed tax. Businesses are responsible to monitor their sales and register for GST once the annual taxable turnover exceeds S$1 million.
However, if you voluntarily disclose that you are late when you submit your GST registration after the due date, late notification fines and penalties will generally be waived.
If my effective date of registration is backdated due to late notification, can I recover the GST on the past sales from customers?
It depends on the terms of agreement with your customer. If your customer agrees to pay the GST for the backdated period, you may issue a credit note to cancel the original invoice and issue a tax invoice with GST to your customer.
If you have issued more than one invoice to the same customer, as an administrative concession, you may issue a tax invoice to your customer, stating the invoice numbers of all the original invoices and showing
only the GST amount. The credit note and new tax invoice should state the date when the credit note and new tax invoice are issued.
If your customers who are GST-registered and satisfy the input tax claiming conditions, they may claim the GST paid to you as their input tax.
I acquired a business that is GST-registered, can I continue to use the GST registration number of the business?
You are not allowed to use the same GST registration number.
You must cancel the GST registration of the business that you acquired, as it would have ceased to exist.
If you are liable for GST registration after the acquisition or change in business constitution, you must apply for GST registration.
I have changed my business constitution, (e.g. converted from partnership to company, from sole-proprietorship to partnership, or vice versa), can I continue to use the same GST registration number?
You are not allowed to use the GST registration number of the old business constitution.
You must cancel the GST registration of old business constitution, as it would have ceased to exist.
If you are liable for GST registration after change in business constitution, you must apply for GST registration.
When I acquire a business, do I have to register for GST as a result of the acquisition?
If you acquired a business, you have to include the taxable turnover of that business to determine your liability to register for GST.
If you are liable for GST registration after the acquisition, you must submit an application for GST registration within 30 days from the date of transfer of the acquired business. Your effective date of GST registration will be the date
of transfer.
However, if you are certain at the time of transfer of business that your taxable turnover for the next 12 months will not exceed $1 million, you will not be required to register for GST.
If I am a director, do I need to register for GST?
If you are an executive director, you are not liable to register for GST since you are providing the directorship services in the course of your employment.
If you are a non-executive director, you may be liable to register for GST if:
-You are the supplier of the directorship services; and
-You provide the directorship services in the course or furtherance of a business. The business tests can be used to determine whether you are carrying on a business with the provision of the directorship services.
Can I split my business into multiple entities (each with taxable turnover not exceeding $1 million) to avoid registering for GST?
If we determine that the purpose or effect of splitting the business into multiple entities is to avoid GST registration, we may disregard such an arrangement and register your entire business for GST with effect from the date you are liable for GST registration.
You will then need to account for GST on all past transactions made from that date of registration, even though you may not have collected GST from your customers.