Goods and services tax (GST) registration in Singapore becomes mandatory at $1 million Singapore dollars (SGD) in taxable turnover. GST-registered businesses in Singapore need to collect and remit the appropriate tax rate, keep up with the quarterly F5 filing cycle and tax invoice requirements, and comply with new requirements, such as the April 2026 InvoiceNow mandate for voluntary registrants. It’s important to understand compliance before the registration process begins.

Below, we’ll cover how to do a GST registration check for your business, the steps to register, what the InvoiceNow mandate means for your billing software, and ongoing obligations once you’re registered.

Key takeaways

• Businesses with taxable turnover exceeding $1 million SGD must register for GST. Voluntary registration is available below that threshold.

• All new voluntary GST registrants must use InvoiceNow-ready software that supports the Business Interoperability Specification (BIS) Billing 3.0 format.

• Post-registration obligations include displaying GST-inclusive prices for consumers, filing a quarterly GST F5 return, issuing compliant tax invoices, and keeping records.

How do you check whether your business needs to register for GST?

GST is a broad-based consumption tax, charged at 9% on most goods and services in Singapore. Businesses registered for GST collect it from customers on behalf of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), then remit the net amount after offsetting the GST they’ve paid on their own purchases.

There are two paths to GST registration: mandatory and voluntary.

Mandatory registration

Mandatory registration applies when your taxable turnover exceeds $1 million SGD. It can be triggered in two ways: retrospective basis (your taxable turnover for the past calendar year exceeded $1 million SGD), and prospective basis (you have reasonable grounds to believe your turnover will exceed $1 million SGD in the next 12 months).

Once either condition is met, you must register within 30 days. If you miss that window, IRAS can backdate your liability and require you to account for GST from the date you were first liable, even if you didn’t collect it from customers.

Taxable turnover doesn’t include exempt or out-of-scope supplies, so calculate carefully. Your threshold calculation might look quite different from your headline revenue figure.

Voluntary registration

Voluntary registration is open to businesses below the $1 million SGD threshold, including startups with no revenue. The main reason to register voluntarily is input tax recovery: if you’re spending on GST-bearing costs such as equipment, software, or professional services, registration lets you reclaim that tax. The trade-off is a minimum two-year commitment, and voluntary registration now also triggers the InvoiceNow obligation.

How does GST registration in Singapore work?

Registering for GST in Singapore is a straightforward process that requires some administrative preparation.

Before you apply, make sure you have the following business accounts, credentials, and records in place:

• Corppass account: This is Singapore’s corporate digital identity system for transactions with government agencies. The person submitting the application needs Corppass access.

• Singapore-registered business entity: Sole proprietors, partnerships, companies, and foreign entities (e.g., Australian businesses) with a fixed establishment in Singapore can all register. Purely overseas businesses with no local presence face different rules.

• Accurate revenue records: These should cover the relevant calendar year if you’re registering on a retrospective basis. IRAS will expect supporting figures, typically in the form of financial statements or management accounts.

• Singapore bank account for GIRO setup: IRAS uses GIRO, a direct debit system, for GST payments.

Depending on your situation, you might be required to complete an e-learning course and complete a quiz prior to registration. Once that’s done, you’ll complete the following steps:

1. Log in to the IRAS myTax Portal: Navigate to GST > Register for GST to access the application form.

2. Complete the digital form: This covers your business details, taxable turnover basis, and more.

3. Upload supporting documents: Typically, financial statements or management accounts that support your turnover figures, along with your business registration details.

4. Submit and wait: IRAS will confirm your GST registration number and your effective date of registration once approved. That date matters. You can only charge GST on supplies made on or after it. Don’t start collecting GST from customers before your registration is confirmed.

5. Set up your filing cycle: IRAS assigns quarterly filing by default. Your first GST accounting period begins from your effective registration date.

What is the InvoiceNow mandate?

InvoiceNow is Singapore’s national electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) network, built on the Peppol standard. It lets businesses send structured invoice data directly between accounting systems.

As of 1 April 2026, all new voluntary GST registrants must use InvoiceNow-ready software for billing. That means your billing software needs to generate invoices in the BIS Billing 3.0 format and transmit them through an accredited access point. IRAS maintains lists of approved solutions on its website. If you’re voluntarily registering from this date forward, you can’t continue issuing invoices through a non-compliant system. The mandate will extend to mandatory registrants in phases in the coming years.

IRAS can request records going back five years. Structured invoice data can produce a cleaner audit trail for your own GST records, reduce manual entry errors, and speed up accounts payable processing for your customers.

What are your post-registration responsibilities in Singapore?

Registration unlocks input tax recovery, but it also starts the clock on a set of ongoing obligations. If you miss them, you could be exposed to penalties.

Here’s what you’re responsible for:

Displaying GST-inclusive prices

If you’re selling to consumers, you must display GST-inclusive prices. The advertised price has to reflect what the customer actually pays.

Filing the GST F5

Your quarterly return is due within one month of the end of each accounting period. The F5 captures your total standard-rated, zero-rated, and exempt supplies, output tax due, input tax claimed, and the net GST payable or refundable. Late filing can incur penalties and/or interest.

Issuing tax invoices

When you make a standard-rated supply to a GST-registered customer, you must issue a tax invoice with specific fields: your GST registration number, invoice date, sequential invoice number, description of the supply, net amount, GST rate, and GST amount. Your customer needs this document to claim their input tax. If required fields are missing, their claim can be disallowed.

Keeping records

You’re required to keep business and accounting records for at least five years. That includes tax invoices issued and received, import and export documentation, bank statements, and contracts. IRAS audits can reach back across that entire window, so record quality matters as much as the filing itself.

Once you’re GST-registered, the compliance work shows up in every transaction, invoice, and quarterly return. Stripe’s tax reporting exports give you aggregated figures that you’ll need for the return: your output tax by period, summary of supply types, and transaction-level detail for your records.

How Stripe Tax can help

Stripe Tax reduces the complexity of tax compliance so you can focus on growing your business. Stripe Tax helps you monitor your obligations and alerts you when you exceed a tax registration threshold based on your Stripe transactions. In addition, it automatically calculates and collects sales tax, VAT and GST on both physical and digital goods and services – in all US states and in more than 100 countries.

Start collecting taxes globally by adding a single line of code to your existing integration, clicking a button in the Dashboard or using our powerful API.

Stripe Tax can help you:

• Understand where to register and collect taxes: See where you need to collect taxes based on your Stripe transactions. After you register, switch on tax collection in a new state or country in seconds. You can start collecting taxes by adding one line of code to your existing Stripe integration or add tax collection with the click of a button in the Stripe Dashboard.

• Register to pay tax: Let Stripe manage your global tax registrations and benefit from a simplified process that prefills application details – saving you time and simplifying compliance with local regulations.

• Automatically collect tax: Stripe Tax calculates and collects the right amount of tax owed, no matter what or where you sell. It supports hundreds of products and services and is up-to-date on tax rules and rate changes.

• Simplify filing: Stripe Tax seamlessly integrates with filing partners, so your global filings are accurate and timely. Let our partners manage your filings so you can focus on growing your business.

Learn more about Stripe Tax or get started today.