Scope and public prices
The sixth-edition Retailers Guide was published 30 January 2026. Public price tags, lists, brochures, websites, advertisements and written/verbal quotations must include GST, including separately displayed delivery/installation charges. If both exclusive/inclusive prices are shown, the inclusive price must be at least as prominent. Bargaining does not remove this duty; apply the tax fraction to the final price paid. Each breach may attract a fine up to S$5,000.
Receipts and tax invoices
For unregistered end consumers, use serially printed receipts with retailer name/address/GST number, date, inclusive total and confirmation that the price includes GST. A registered customer requesting an invoice for an inclusive sale above S$1,000 must receive a separate tax invoice showing GST, seller GST number and customer name/address with the other required particulars. Inclusive sales at or below S$1,000 may use a simplified invoice with seller details, date/number, goods/service description, total and the inclusive-price statement.
Absorbed GST, discounts and rounding
Absorbing GST means the customer’s price is inclusive, not that no tax is due: use the prevailing tax fraction, and still separately show tax on a full invoice. A retailer-funded discount reduces the taxable price, but a bank-reimbursed discount leaves GST based on the gross pre-discount price. Round tax to cents: S$1.144 becomes S$1.14, S$1.145 becomes S$1.15. Cash bills may be rounded to the nearest five cents after discontinuation of one-cent coins; whether to round up or down is a business decision.
Consignment principal or agent
Sale-or-return means the retailer buys from the owner when finding a buyer, then resells in its own right; tax the full retail price. A genuine agency sale on the owner’s behalf taxes only the retailer’s commission. A GST-registered owner making a business sale must account for its goods sale. Calling an arrangement consignment does not establish agency without looking at the contractual purchase/sale.
Three concession-counter arrangements
Where a concessionaire sells at a discounted agreed price to the host and the host resells at retail price, both goods sales are taxable for each registered seller. Where they use the same goods price and the host separately collects a commission/fee, there are three supplies: concessionaire-to-host goods, host-to-customer goods and host service to concessionaire, all requiring their own tax treatment. Where the host licenses space and the concessionaire operates its own till, the concessionaire taxes its customer goods and the host taxes its licence fee. A shared checkout alone does not determine which structure applies.
Trade-ins are two supplies
The example new equipment price is S$400, old-equipment trade-in value S$300 and cash balance S$100. The retailer taxes its full S$400 new-goods supply rather than the cash balance. A GST-registered customer separately accounts for its S$300 old-equipment supply. Do not offset the two supply values into a single S$100 taxable sale.
Deposits and returns
A deposit that is part of the selling price attracts GST; a refundable security deposit does not on receipt. Returned unsatisfactory goods reverse an aborted sale: issue a credit note referencing the original tax invoice and adjust at the original tax rate, or cancel/retain the original consumer receipt and refund. Reduce standard-rated supplies/output tax accordingly. Reselling the returned item later is a new taxable supply.
Volume rebates and rate changes
A rebate reducing past purchases is a discount: the registered supplier issues a credit note at the original rate and the retailer reduces input tax. A rebate against the next purchase usually reduces the net taxable price. But where it relates to a past purchase at a preceding rate, tax the next purchase’s full value at the current rate first, then deduct the old-rate-inclusive rebate. Do not net an old-rate rebate from the new purchase’s taxable base and thereby change the historic tax amount.
Rebates for separate services
The January 2026 clarification concerns rebates earned for obligations beyond general trade terms, such as reserved shelf space or advertising/marketing. These pay for separate services to the supplier: issue a tax invoice and account for the cash rebate using the tax fraction, for example 9/109. Pricing/payment, confidentiality, non-compete and conduct clauses may be ordinary trade terms; assess the entire agreement and attachments rather than any clause in isolation. A label such as incentive or rebate cannot alone establish a purchase discount.
Free vouchers and the source gift boundary
No GST arises merely on issuing a free cash voucher. If redemption includes additional consideration, tax that additional payment at the tax fraction. For wholly free goods redemption, this guide says deemed tax where goods are worth S$200 or more. The detailed Fringe Benefits guide instead describes the usual goods-gift concession by cost not exceeding S$200 and input-tax conditions. These wordings differ at exactly S$200 and in valuation basis; assess free-goods redemption against the detailed voucher/gift rules and input-tax facts rather than treating this summary as a new boundary rule.
Sold cash vouchers and expiry
For tracked cash vouchers sold at or below face value, tax is deferred at sale and accounted on goods/services redeemed at face value plus extra payment. Unredeemed vouchers expiring on or after 1 January 2010 attract tax when the unused amount enters the income statement. If redemption cannot be tracked, the guide permits tax when sold on actual consideration. Preserve voucher-sale/redemption/expiry records to substantiate the chosen treatment.
Product, discount and third-party vouchers
A product voucher for a specified item, such as a S$100 kettle, is prepayment taxed on receipt. A sold discount voucher attracts GST on its own price, then GST on the later goods’ net discounted price. When accepting a mall/supplier-issued voucher reimbursed by its issuer, tax the goods at voucher face value plus customer top-up on redemption; no second GST arises on issuer reimbursement. These three structures must not all be treated as cash stored-value vouchers.
Phone cards and agency items
An agent selling prepaid/top-up phone cards taxes its distribution fee/commission. A principal buying and reselling cards taxes only its margin under this guide and cannot claim tax on the card purchase. Agents selling postage stamps, parking coupons and newspapers tax their commission only. Check actual agency arrangements; an ordinary own-account sale is not automatically commission-based simply because the goods are on this list.
Hire purchase and repossessed goods
Hire purchase contains a goods supply and credit supply. Tax the goods selling price; separately disclosed interest is not taxable. Repossession itself is not supply. Subsequent sale is treated as the hirer’s sale: if the hirer is GST-registered, collect GST on its behalf and pay directly to IRAS under regulation 58; if the hirer is unregistered, no GST on the repossessed-goods sale. This special creditor sale should not be confused with resale of customer-returned stock.
Airport public and transit areas
Public-area shops tax all customer sales regardless of nationality, with any tourist refund handled through its separate scheme. Transit/restricted-area goods sold to departing passengers can zero-rate after sighting passport/boarding pass; a single receipt at least S$500 requires recording complete passport and flight numbers, otherwise standard-rate. Arriving-passenger goods are taxable except duty-free goods, whose retailers must record passport/flight numbers. Staff goods, locally consumed hair/spa services and F&B remain standard-rated; currency exchange is exempt. Safeguard collected identity data and do not reuse/disclose beyond permitted purposes.
LVG definition and the S$400 entry test
From 1 January 2023 registered suppliers tax imported low-value goods sold to unregistered Singapore customers. At order confirmation or another agreed point of sale, goods must be non-dutiable or duty-waived under Customs Act section 11, not GST-exempt, located abroad for air/post delivery to Singapore customs territory, and have an entry sales value not exceeding S$400. The threshold excludes freight, insurance, GST and Customs duties; the taxable supply value can include charges omitted from that threshold. A headset costing S$350 plus S$60 freight/insurance qualifies as LVG but tax is calculated on S$410, not S$350.
LVG retailer and platform responsibility
A registered retailer selling overseas-warehoused LVG directly to unregistered Singapore customers must account for GST. An unregistered retailer includes such sales in taxable turnover for registration assessment. Registered local/foreign suppliers and qualifying marketplaces/redeliverers can be treated as suppliers; where the latter meet the statutory conditions they, rather than the underlying merchant, register and account for the LVG. Use the detailed OVR LVG guide for those conditions and avoid assuming all platforms shift liability.
Amendments and enquiries
The guide began in March 2014; price-display changes followed in March 2015 with Regulation 77 effective April 2015. January 2020 added airport rules, August 2022 added LVG rules for 2023, January 2023 clarified returns/rebates and invoice references, and January 2026 clarified service rebates. The publication list gives 11 March 2015 for edition two whereas the amendment table gives 6 March; these are distinct printed entries. Enquiries go to IRAS’ GST Division via Contact Us, and detailed guides govern voucher, LVG and invoice-specific conditions.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
Read the official PDF ↗