GST for services

[c_salvarin]

Hello guys,

I would like you guys to share experience on GST. The thing is I am opening consulting firm. I will set it as Private Limited Company (Pte. Ltd.) I will provide consulting service to client in Thailand and charge them as consulting fee.

Because I don't think my turnover would exceed 1 million/annum so don't plan to register GST.

However, I would like to know:
Does the consulting fee subject to GST?
If yes, then do i need to register GST and what is the GST rate(0% or 7% rate) for consulting fee servicing overseas? and
The process of GST registration and submission?


Would you guys please kindly share your experience?

Thanks so much in advance & Cheers!

[sundaymorningstaple]

That is too big a subject for an online forum and trying to condense it to something easily digestible. Basically, if your turnover (total revenues) does not exceed 1 million, you don't need to register for, or charge GST to your clients either within or without Singapore. For all the nitty-gritty start here for the short-course on GST in Singapore:

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page01.aspx?id=768

[ksl]

Hello guys,

I would like you guys to share experience on GST. The thing is I am opening consulting firm. I will set it as Private Limited Company (Pte. Ltd.) I will provide consulting service to client in Thailand and charge them as consulting fee.

Because I don't think my turnover would exceed 1 million/annum so don't plan to register GST.

However, I would like to know:
Does the consulting fee subject to GST?
If yes, then do i need to register GST and what is the GST rate(0% or 7% rate) for consulting fee servicing overseas? and
The process of GST registration and submission?


Would you guys please kindly share your experience?

Thanks so much in advance & Cheers!

If you are not GST registered, you cannot charge GST.

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page.aspx?id=2176

Do you have to register
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page02.aspx?id=2546

[c_salvarin]

That is too big a subject for an online forum and trying to condense it to something easily digestible. Basically, if your turnover (total revenues) does not exceed 1 million, you don't need to register for, or charge GST to your clients either within or without Singapore. For all the nitty-gritty start here for the short-course on GST in Singapore:

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page01.aspx?id=768

Dear sundaymorningstaple and ksl,

Many thanks for sharing. Cheers!

[Strong Eagle]

Consulting services are subject to GST IF you are GST chargeable, that is at least 1 million turnover.

GST is generally not applied to services not performed in Singapore IF the business entity you are working for has an office in the country in which you are working.

But, until you hit 1 million, don't worry about it. When you get close, ask IRAS.

I have had contracts in Oz, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and for the most part no GST was collected. There are exceptions.

[c_salvarin]

Consulting services are subject to GST IF you are GST chargeable, that is at least 1 million turnover.

GST is generally not applied to services not performed in Singapore IF the business entity you are working for has an office in the country in which you are working.

But, until you hit 1 million, don't worry about it. When you get close, ask IRAS.

I have had contracts in Oz, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and for the most part no GST was collected. There are exceptions.

Thanks so much for sharing!

[MauMau]

Consulting services are subject to GST IF you are GST chargeable, that is at least 1 million turnover.

GST is generally not applied to services not performed in Singapore IF the business entity you are working for has an office in the country in which you are working.

But, until you hit 1 million, don't worry about it. When you get close, ask IRAS.

I have had contracts in Oz, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and for the most part no GST was collected. There are exceptions.

We have a sales office here. Revenue not exceeding S$1mil. Almost all of our parts and machines are imported from Japan, so we have to pay import duty?/or GST.

But we are not registered for GST, hence can't charge customer GST. I think that means we have to absorb GST for goods coming into Singapore.

I understand from IRAS website that you can voluntarily register for GST. Shall I do it? So that I can "offset" the GST I pay for goods coming in.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[Strong Eagle]

Consulting services are subject to GST IF you are GST chargeable, that is at least 1 million turnover.

GST is generally not applied to services not performed in Singapore IF the business entity you are working for has an office in the country in which you are working.

But, until you hit 1 million, don't worry about it. When you get close, ask IRAS.

I have had contracts in Oz, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and for the most part no GST was collected. There are exceptions.

We have a sales office here. Revenue not exceeding S$1mil. Almost all of our parts and machines are imported from Japan, so we have to pay import duty?/or GST.

But we are not registered for GST, hence can't charge customer GST. I think that means we have to absorb GST for goods coming into Singapore.

I understand from IRAS website that you can voluntarily register for GST. Shall I do it? So that I can "offset" the GST I pay for goods coming in.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

I would most definitely register for GST as this allows you to recover GST paid to the customs authorities. The only downside is that you must raise your prices 7 percent because you will now need to collect GST on all sales.

The real question then is will this price increase reduce your sales by an amount greater than the GST you must pay to customs? If yes, then you might rethink.

Relevant web pages:

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page_ektid668.aspx

[MauMau]

Consulting services are subject to GST IF you are GST chargeable, that is at least 1 million turnover.

GST is generally not applied to services not performed in Singapore IF the business entity you are working for has an office in the country in which you are working.

But, until you hit 1 million, don't worry about it. When you get close, ask IRAS.

I have had contracts in Oz, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and for the most part no GST was collected. There are exceptions.

We have a sales office here. Revenue not exceeding S$1mil. Almost all of our parts and machines are imported from Japan, so we have to pay import duty?/or GST.

But we are not registered for GST, hence can't charge customer GST. I think that means we have to absorb GST for goods coming into Singapore.

I understand from IRAS website that you can voluntarily register for GST. Shall I do it? So that I can "offset" the GST I pay for goods coming in.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

I would most definitely register for GST as this allows you to recover GST paid to the customs authorities. The only downside is that you must raise your prices 7 percent because you will now need to collect GST on all sales.

The real question then is will this price increase reduce your sales by an amount greater than the GST you must pay to customs? If yes, then you might rethink.

Relevant web pages:

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page_ektid668.aspx

I'm already factoring in the 7% in my selling price. That's why I thought to claim GST, so I can actually reduce my selling price by 7%.

Thanks for the info.

[paramountac]

Why do you want to be GST registered when you are providing a service when your sale target is not 1mil? I don't see the logic.

[bookkeeper]

nowadays IRAS advocate voluntary registration for all biz. Biz owners are not supposed to suffer GST costs, its meant for consumers. The 1million threshold is no more applicable now.

[sundaymorningstaple]

nowadays IRAS advocate voluntary registration for all biz. Biz owners are not supposed to suffer GST costs, its meant for consumers. The 1million threshold is no more applicable now.

From the IRAS Website (last updated Dec 2009 - 7 months ago)

GST is a self-assessed tax. Businesses are required to continually assess the need to be registered for GST.

In most cases, registering for GST is compulsory when:

* the turnover of your business is more than $1 million for the past 12 months; or
* you are currently making sales and you can reasonably expect the turnover of your business to be more than $1 million for the next 12 months.

Otherwise, you can choose to be voluntarily registered for GST. Please refer to the following links for more details.

Don't see anywhere where they "advocate" registering for GST.

[louisloo]

I'm already factoring in the 7% in my selling price. That's why I thought to claim GST, so I can actually reduce my selling price by 7%.
Thanks for the info.

Well, you can reduce your selling price, but now you have to collect 7% from your customer.

What you will be actually doing is that you are able to claim the GST from your purchases, plus all the gst you paid for your business expenses, like rental, postage stamps etc. This will lower your cost of operating your business.

However, now that you are registered for GST, you or your accounts staff must be able to submit your gst claims properly as there are conditions and penalties for non compliance.

Hope this helps.

[bookkeeper]

nowadays IRAS advocate voluntary registration for all biz. Biz owners are not supposed to suffer GST costs, its meant for consumers. The 1million threshold is no more applicable now.

From the IRAS Website (last updated Dec 2009 - 7 months ago)

GST is a self-assessed tax. Businesses are required to continually assess the need to be registered for GST.

In most cases, registering for GST is compulsory when:

* the turnover of your business is more than $1 million for the past 12 months; or
* you are currently making sales and you can reasonably expect the turnover of your business to be more than $1 million for the next 12 months.

Otherwise, you can choose to be voluntarily registered for GST. Please refer to the following links for more details.

Don't see anywhere where they "advocate" registering for GST.

They did, a restaurant owner was asked to pay estimated GST for the past 3 months because his reported turnover hit $800,000 only for the year. They sent a letter to him to payup the estimated GST base on last quarter's sales and gave him a GST number! I had to write in to haggle and haggle, at last IRAS relented and settle for half the amount.

They say this is voluntary GST registration because his expected sales is about to hit S$1m!!!

[sundaymorningstaple]

I actually filed for de-registration of one of our 5 companies this week. It's been GST registered for the last 5 years. As our annual turnover on that company has been less than 1 million (around the 7-900K) for the past 5 years, we've decided to stop. Not a real problem. It's the 2nd of three of our GST registered companies to de-register.