For non/late submission of GST F5/ F8 returns, IRAS may:

• With effect from 1 April 2018- impose a late submission penalty of $200 immediately once the GST return is not filed by the due date. A penalty of $200 will continue to be imposed for every completed month that the GST F5/F8 return is outstanding (subject to a maximum of $10,000 for each outstanding F5/F8 return).
• Issue an estimated assessment of the tax due and the amount is subject to late payment penalties. The estimated assessment and late payment penalties will only be revised upon receipt of the overdue GST return.

Tax due must be paid within one month from the end of each accounting period. For non/late payment, a 5% penalty will be levied on the amount of tax unpaid by the due date. An additional penalty of 2% per month on tax remaining unpaid after 60 days from the due date of the prescribed accounting period (subject to a maximum of 50% of the outstanding tax) may also be.

You may claim pre-registration GST but you have to satisfy both the general rules for input tax claims and the pre-registration GST rules.

General Rules for Input Tax Claims

1. The goods or services must have been supplied to you. For imported goods, the goods must have been imported by you;
2. The goods or services are used or to be used for the purpose of your business;
3. Local purchases must be supported by valid tax invoices addressed to you, or simplified tax invoices at the time of claiming the input tax;
4. Imports must be supported by import permits which show you as the importer of the goods;
5. The goods or services must be used for the making of taxable supplies (i.e. standard-rated supplies and zero-rated supplies) or out-of-scope supplies (e.g. third country sale of goods), which would be taxable supplies if made in Singapore, in the course or furtherance of your business;
6. The input tax claims are not disallowed under Regulations 26 and 27 of the GST (General) Regulations; and

You have taken reasonable steps to ascertain and concluded that the goods or services were not part of a Missing Trader Fraud arrangement.

You may apply to cancel your GST registration if you are not liable for registration. However, if you were previously registered on voluntary basis, you must remain registered for at least 2 years before you can cancel your registration.

You may also cancel your GST registration if you are certain that the taxable turnover for next 12 months will be S$1 million or less due to specific circumstances, (e.g. termination of a high value sale contract from a major customer or large-scale downsizing of business). You will have to substantiate your basis of projection with supporting documentation.

When you register for GST, you are allocated quarterly GST accounting periods according to your financial year-end. Your GST accounting periods are not automatically adjusted whenever there is a change to your financial year end.

Depending on your business needs, you may write in to IRAS to request for a change in filing frequency via myTax Mail in myTax Portal on IRAS’ website. Your request will be subjected to IRAS’ approval.

With effect from 1 Jan 2020, GST will be introduced on imported services:

1. Reverse Charge (RC)
   The recipient of the services will account for GST on the services he imports, as if he were the supplier. He may claim GST as his input tax, subject to normal input tax recovery rules. This applies to Business-to-business transactions.
2. Overseas Vendor Registration (OVR) regime
   From 1 Jan 2023, GST will be extended to Business-to-Consumer imported non-digital services, through the OVR regime. Digital services which are currently subject to GST will remain taxable under the extended overseas vendor registration regime. Consequently, from 1 Jan 2023, all Business-to-Consumer supplies of imported remote services, whether digital or non-digital, will be taxed by way of the extended OVR regime.

Generally, input tax incurred in the making of exempt supplies is not claimable unless the De Minimis Rule is satisfied. The De Minimis Rule allows GST-registered businesses to claim input tax on exempt supplies.

To satisfy the De Minimis Rule, the value of the exempt supplies has to be less than or equal to:

1. Average of $40,000 per month; and
2. 5% of the total value of all taxable and exempt supplies made in that period.