GST Registration and Licensing

GST Registration and Licensing

Licensing and certain statutory registrations are part and parcel of running a business in Singapore. For licensing, it is often dependent on the type of industry and line of business you are in. On the other hand, statutory registrations are applicable to all industries whenever there is a trigger point.

Examples of statutory registrations are Compulsory GST Registration when your business turnover exceeds or is expected to exceed $1M, Compulsory CPF Registration if you are employing or is going to employ local staff for your business, and registering for EP Online or WP Online if you intend to hire foreign staff.

S$200

GST Voluntary Registration Service

S$300

GST Compulsory Registration Service

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GST Computation and Reporting

GST Registration

A company is required to register for GST on a compulsory basis if

  • Your taxable turnover for the past 4 quarters is more than $1M and you are not certain that your turnover will not exceed $1M in the next 12 months; or
  • You can reasonably expect your taxable turnover to exceed $1M in the next 12 months.

You will need to apply for GST registration within 30 days from the date that your registration liabilities arise.

A company can still register for GST on a voluntary basis even if the business turnover is below $1M. For such companies, it is wise to perform a cost-benefit analysis on the impact GST registration has on your business and reporting process. You may consider the factors explained in our Resource Guide “Should I Register for GST” before making a decision as once registered, you will need to be registered for a minimum period of 2 years.

CPF Account Registration

A company is required to register for a CPF Account when the company is intending to hire its first Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident employee or where the local directors of the company will be drawing salary for the first time. The process involves the application to obtain your CPF Submission Number (CSN) and thereafter, apply for CPF e-Submission for future e-filing and contributions of CPF to the CPF accounts of your employees. For your convenience, it is strongly encouraged that you submit a Direct Debit Authorization Form (DDA) to facilitate CPF payments directly from your bank.

You will receive your CSN number via email and subsequently via a hardcopy welcome pack that will provide you valuable information about CPF submission. Provided you apply on time for your first ever CPF submission, all submissions can be done online via e-submission. For the first submission, get ready your bank token as payment usually can only be made via eNets (or Nets via AXS stations) as your DDA authorization is most likely not approved at this point. Once your DDA is approved, you may select Direct Debit as a payment option in your subsequent filings.

Basic Requirements before attempting to register for GST
  • Your company or business must be already registered with ACRA
  • Your Business Bank Account is ready
  • You can describe your business activities clearly and has a rough estimate of how much revenue you will be expecting for the next 12 months.
  • Documentations depending on whether you have started sales and age of business will be required. ContactOne will advise you what documents to submit based on existing requirements and our experience.
  • For companies making compulsory registration because past sales have exceeded $1M, you will need to complete a GST Calculator form for your transactions for the last 2 year. (For this very reason, we urge you to constantly monitor your sales figures if it is pushing the $1M boundary. Believe us when we say this form is tedious to complete for most business owners!)
Basic Requirements before attempting to register for CPF
  • Your company or business must be already registered with ACRA
  • Your Business Bank Account is ready (if you wish to have the option for Direct Debit deductions in future)
  • You are certain of making salary payments Singapore Citizen/Permanent Resident employee or director for the first time
  • You have a SingPass / CorpPass account for login