A shophouse accounting desk at pre-dawn, lamp raking across a folded receipt and the edge of a laptop

Clearance sheet 01 — GST and IRAS

Payout released

GST, IRAS, and your online store

Every payout is settled before it is spent — and that settlement has a GST position attached. This guide walks the treatment for taxable sales, zero-rated exports and the reverse charge, and shows what sits behind the figures on your GST F5 return.

Talk through my GST position See the accounting services

The number this guide resolves

The GST rate a GST-registered seller charges on a local supply. Every sale on this page is either taxable at this rate, zero-rated at 0%, or out of scope — and the return only reconciles when the ledger knows which is which.

Clearance sheet 02 — What lands in the ledger

When a sale is taxable, and what the entry looks like

Each row is one settlement that has already crossed a Singapore border check in the books. Open a row to see what the return already knows about it.

Domestic order, Singapore buyer Output tax at 9% Released

Taxable supply — the base case for a GST-registered seller. The sale sits on line 1 of the F5 return at gross value, and the GST becomes output tax on the same return.
Taxable
Shipment to an overseas buyer Zero-rated at 0% Released

Still reported as a supply on the return, but at a rate of zero. The line stays defensible only when the export evidence is filed with the sale.
Zero-rated
Overseas software subscription Reverse charge entry Released

Imported service a GST-registered buyer must account for. Output tax and input tax are posted on the same return, so the entries have to be made even where the net effect is nil.
Reverse charge
Returned order after tax was accounted Refund adjustment Held

Held until the correct period is open. The refund reduces the value of the original supply, so output tax changes and the original sale has to be linked.
Adjustment
Sales made before GST registration Outside the scope Released

Not taxable supplies, and not zero-rated either. They need to be kept in the ledger so the register date and the record start are both evidenced.
Out of scope

Clearance sheet 03

Zero-rated exports: the paperwork is the ruling

A sale to an overseas buyer that leaves Singapore can qualify as a zero-rated export. GST is charged at 0%, but the sale is still reported on the return as a supply — not as a local taxable sale and not as an out-of-scope transaction. The distinction sits entirely on the paperwork.

Evidence of export is what IRAS looks for: shipping or courier records showing the goods actually left Singapore, tied back to the invoice. Without that evidence, IRAS can treat the sale as a local taxable supply, and the GST on it becomes your problem, not the buyer's.

Keep the export records filed with the sale, not in a folder somewhere else. In a cloud ledger this means the courier record and the invoice share the same transaction — so the zero-rated line survives an inspection without a hunt through three systems.

Common documentation

Courier or shipping records showing the goods left Singapore
The sales invoice the shipment is tied to
The marketplace or storefront settlement report for the same order
The banking line the payout landed on

Do I charge GST on a local order?

Yes, if you are GST-registered and the sale is a local supply of goods or services. Register once your taxable turnover crosses the threshold, then charge GST on local sales and account for it on the F5 return.

Is an overseas order always zero-rated?

No. The rate of zero depends on evidence that the goods left Singapore. Without the export record, the sale is treated as a local taxable supply and the GST lands on you, not on the buyer.

Do I owe GST on foreign software?

If you are GST-registered and the imported service would be taxable if supplied locally, a reverse charge applies. You account for output tax and claim input tax where entitled — the net is often nil, but the entries are still required.

Clearance sheet 04

Reverse charge and refunds — the two entries sellers miss

Reverse charge on imported services

A nil net is not a nil entry

If your Singapore business buys a service from an overseas supplier and that service would be taxable if supplied locally, a reverse charge can apply to a GST-registered buyer. Foreign software subscriptions and certain advertising services are the everyday cases for online sellers.

The mechanism is pure bookkeeping: you account for the GST on the import as output tax and claim it as input tax where you are entitled. The net is often nil. Missing the reverse charge entirely is a real GST error, not a technicality — the return still has to carry both entries.

Refunds and adjustments

A refund is a change of value, not a void sale

When a customer returns an order after GST has already been accounted for, the tax has to be adjusted in the correct period — not in whichever period the refund happens to land. The refund reduces the value of the original supply, so output tax on that sale changes.

Marketplaces process the refund for you inside their settlement report, but the adjustment still has to be posted to the books with the original sale linked. That is how the F5 return reflects the reversal instead of quietly overstating taxable supplies.

What actually reaches the GST F5 return

The F5 return is a summary of what your ledger already holds. The figures on it come from taxable supplies, zero-rated supplies, out-of-scope supplies, output tax and input tax — each one traceable back to a source document. IRAS guidance is explicit that records may be kept electronically using accounting software, and no approval is needed to keep them that way for tax purposes. What matters is whether the trail from the return to the underlying sale and export evidence survives an inspection. Build the ledger so it does.

Five figures the return reconciles

Taxable supplies Output tax
Zero-rated supplies Reported, not taxable
Out-of-scope supplies Tracked for context
Output tax To IRAS
Input tax Claimed back

Clearance sheet 05

Where IRAS record-keeping expectations land for online sellers

IRAS's record-keeping guidance names e-payment services, ecommerce marketplaces and delivery platforms as part of the reality of business records, and it says physical source documents need not be retained if electronic records are kept properly. For an online seller this removes the excuse that a paper trail is impossible.

Settlement reports, order confirmations, courier records and bank statements are your records. They need to be retained and retrievable — not for a month, and not in a shoebox — for the period IRAS sets. Cloud accounting is the practical way to hold them in one place, indexed to the transaction they belong to.

Ask for an F5 fit check Send an enquiry

A ruled accounting pad with a torn edge beside a soft-tip pen under a warm side lamp

Settlement reports, courier records and bank lines — kept where the transaction lives, not in a separate folder.

Clearance sheet 06

What the ledger actually has to hold

Is my store GST-registered yet?: The ledger needs the registration date, so sales before it stay out of scope and sales after it get tagged as taxable.
Which sales were local, and which left Singapore?: The buyer's shipping address and the courier record decide the treatment of each order, not the storefront language.
Did an import land on the ledger?: Foreign subscriptions and advertising services need the reverse-charge entries, even where the net effect on the return is nil.
Has any order been refunded?: The adjustment has to post to the correct period with the original sale linked, or the taxable-supply figure drifts upward.
Is the export evidence filed with the sale?: Courier records and shipping documents belong on the same transaction as the invoice — not in a separate folder.
Can I rebuild a period from source?: Settlement reports, order confirmations, courier records and bank statements are the four documents a period is rebuilt from.

This page is a guide, not tax advice. GST treatment depends on the facts of each business — including registration status, the nature of the supply, and the evidence you hold. For a position on your own return, talk it through with us or with your tax adviser.

Clearance sheet 07

Where a seller usually starts

Most online sellers who come to us are not missing an accounting system — they are missing the GST tagging underneath it. The storefront already knows the sale; the ledger needs to know where the buyer sat, whether the goods left Singapore, and which period the refund belongs to.

If you are settling your first F5 return, bring your last settlement report, a sample of courier records, and your bank statements for the same period. We can read the position off those four documents and tell you what the return should say.

Talk through my GST position See marketplace reconciliation

Contact

Address: 71 Robinson Road, #14-01, Singapore 068895
Phone: +65 6821 9482
Email: [email protected]
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm (Singapore time)

A guide for merchants running an online store. It does not replace a formal tax position on your own return.