Out of all the countries around the world, Singapore is famous for having the most business-friendly environment. According to many studies, Singapore will stay as the best place to do business even until 2030. This should be enough reason to convince you to do a GST registration Singapore.
One reason why Singapore is ideal for business is that it has a very detailed GST policy. They do this because they want to be more competitive economically and they do not want to be totally dependent on the income taxes.
What is GST?
GST stands for Goods and Services Tax. It is a tax imposed on almost every goods or service bought and consumed inside Singapore. Moreover, it also includes those goods that are being imported into the country. Currently, Singapore’s GST is at 7% and this is one of the lowest rates among other Asia Pacific countries.
A large percentage of the goods and services are bound to be taxed by the GST. However, there are supplies like the lease, residential property sales, a few financial services, and mineral investments that can be exempted from being taxable by the GST.
Can GST Affect My Business?
GST will definitely affect your business when you are registered for it. When you are registered, you are required to put a tax to your products equal to its prevailing rate. As an example, if you have a product that costs $50, you have to add 7% to it as GST. This means that the final cost would have to be $53.50 and this is called an output tax.
The GST that is collected from the purchase of the products should be enumerated to the IRAS through the GST filing. The total GST gathered by the business from the consumers that are buying from them is called the input tax. The input tax can be deducted from the output tax. This means that you can get a refund during tax filing season.
Am I Required to Register for GST?
Before you register for GST, you can actually assess whether there is a need to do so. Generally, there are two GST registration types: compulsory and voluntary. If your taxable turnover in the last year amounts to more than $1,000,000, you are put under the compulsory registration.
If your taxable turnover is less than $1,000,000, you can be put under voluntary registration where you have the option of either registering for GST or not.
Can I Get Any Assistance in Filing GST?
Just like any other business in most of the world, Singapore requires the business registered under it to settle their tax obligations. So, you have to make sure you are working on your tax obligations promptly.
If you are a foreign company and Singapore’s system is quite confusing to you, it pays to work with a service provider to help with your GST registration Singapore. They know what to do since they already have the right skills and experience from the registration for GST to the filing. Do your research and make sure that the service provider you are working with is credible and has a good track record when it comes to tax filing work.