Income tax is once a year. GST is four times a year, for as long as you're registered — and when a return is missed, the penalties don't arrive one at a time. They stack. Tap to check your four dates.
Send us your last GST return, or just your turnover for the year. We'll tell you where you stand in one WhatsApp reply.
ASK US ON WHATSAPP →Most GST trouble starts here — either registering late because nobody was watching the turnover, or registering voluntarily without understanding what it commits you to. Tap through.
Look at the last twelve months and the next twelve. IRAS counts both, and "I didn't notice" isn't a defence.
If you're not registered, that GST is just a cost you eat. Registered, you claim it back.
Businesses claim your GST back, so charging it costs them nothing. Consumers can't — to them your price just went up.
Compulsory registration has a window, and IRAS can backdate you to when you should have registered — meaning you owe GST you never collected from anyone. This is the one to move on this week, not this quarter.
TALK TO US TODAY →You'd claim back the GST on your purchases and your business customers won't feel the charge. But voluntary registration is a commitment — you generally must stay registered for a minimum period and file every quarter regardless. We'd run the actual numbers with you before you sign anything.
RUN THE NUMBERS WITH US →You'd claim back input GST, but part of your market would see a price increase. Whether that nets out depends on your margins and who your customers really are — a twenty-minute conversation, not a rule.
TALK IT THROUGH →Below the threshold with little input GST, registering just adds quarterly work. The risk is the other way: growing past the threshold without noticing. If we do your books, we watch that number for you and tell you before it matters.
SEE ACCOUNTING →This is a first read, not advice. The threshold and the rules are IRAS's and they change — we check the current ones with you.
Tell us your turnover for the last twelve months and roughly who your customers are. We'll tell you whether to register, when, and what it commits you to.
SHOULD I REGISTER? ASK US →Filing a GST return is easy. Anyone with the login can do it. The risk isn't the deadline — it's what goes into the return. A half-trained hand ticks every business expense and files. A proper one asks five questions about every line first.
If no GST was charged, there is nothing to claim. A rushed return applies the rate to the invoice total anyway — inventing tax that was never paid. It's the most common thing we find in books that come to us.
A claim is only as good as the document behind it. If IRAS asks and there's a restaurant receipt or a WhatsApp screenshot, the claim fails on the spot regardless of whether the expense was genuine.
"Deductible for income tax" and "claimable for GST" are not the same test. Some categories of expense are blocked for GST even when they're perfectly legitimate business costs. A half-done return treats every business expense as claimable. It isn't.
GST on imported goods is claimed on the strength of the import permit, not the supplier's invoice. Overseas services have their own rules. Claim off the wrong document and the amount may not even match what was actually paid.
Claims belong to the period of the invoice. Sweeping a drawer of old receipts into this quarter's return because they were found this quarter is how a clean company ends up with an amended return and a letter.
Send us your last return and the invoices behind the biggest claims. We'll check them quietly — before IRAS does it loudly.
CHECK MY CLAIMS ON WHATSAPP →Every GST return is the same shape: the GST you charged, minus the GST you paid, and the difference goes one way or the other. Simple in shape. The work is in what goes into each line, and the paper behind it.
Records must be kept for years, and IRAS can ask for any of them. Invoices, receipts, import permits — in cloud software, timestamped, retrievable. Paper in a drawer isn't a defence.
Four returns a year, no gaps. Our reminder system tracks your quarter and GIRO is set up before the first one is due — so the three clocks never start.
IRAS is phasing in e-invoicing by business size over the coming years and will tell each business its date. Being on InvoiceNow-ready software early makes the switch a non-event — and it's the same software that keeps your records audit-ready.
GET INVOICENOW-READY →Compulsory or voluntary, now or later — assessed against your actual numbers and your actual customers, then the application handled end to end.
If we keep your books, we watch your taxable turnover against the IRAS threshold and tell you before you cross it. No backdated surprises.
Every return prepared from the books and filed on time, output and input tax classified properly, GIRO in place for payment.
Cloud software that keeps every invoice, receipt and import permit timestamped and retrievable for as long as IRAS requires.
Onto InvoiceNow-ready software ahead of your mandatory date, so the digital shift happens on a quiet Tuesday, not at a deadline.
A direct WhatsApp line for the "can I claim this?" questions, and a message from us whenever a rule that affects you changes.
Whether to register, when, what to claim, what to keep, and a digital switch coming for everyone. None of it is hard on its own. All of it, every quarter, while running a business — that's where it goes wrong.
We don't just file your GST. We watch the number, keep the paper, and tell you before anything is due.
Registration becomes compulsory once your taxable turnover passes the IRAS threshold — either over the past twelve months, or if you reasonably expect it to within the next twelve. Miss the window and IRAS can backdate your registration, so you'd owe GST you never collected. We check the current threshold with you rather than quote a figure here, because it can change.
Sometimes. If you import goods or carry heavy GST on purchases, registering lets you claim that input tax back instead of absorbing it. But voluntary registration is a commitment — you generally must stay registered for a minimum period and file every quarter. It also matters who your customers are: businesses claim your GST back, consumers can't. We run the numbers with you before you commit.
There are three, and they stack: a penalty for registering late (plus the backdated GST itself), a penalty for filing late that builds each quarter, and a penalty on tax paid late that grows the longer it sits. IRAS sets the amounts and they change, so we don't print them — the point is that they don't come one at a time. Filing and paying on time avoids all three.
Output tax is the GST you charge your customers. Input tax is the GST you pay on your own business purchases and imports, which you can generally claim back. Each quarter you pay IRAS the difference — or, if input exceeds output, IRAS refunds you. Getting the classification right is what stops you overpaying or over-claiming.
InvoiceNow is Singapore's national e-invoicing network. IRAS is making it mandatory for GST-registered businesses to transmit invoice data digitally, phasing it in by business size over the coming years and notifying each business of its date. If you're still invoicing manually, you'll need to move to InvoiceNow-ready software — better done early than at the deadline. We handle the switch.
For a number of years set by IRAS — long enough that a paper-in-a-drawer system will fail you. Every invoice, receipt and import permit behind a claim should be retrievable if IRAS asks. Cloud accounting software does this by default, which is why we put every GST client on it.
Not quite your situation? ASK ON WHATSAPP → · FULL FAQ →