Do I charge GST on sales to overseas customers?

Exports of goods to a destination outside Singapore can be zero-rated, provided you keep the required export evidence. Sales to customers in Singapore are standard-rated at 9%. HelloBooks applies the treatment per order based on the ship-to location and tracks export evidence for zero-rated shipments.

How does HelloBooks handle Shopee and Lazada settlements?

It ingests the settlement/payout report and decomposes it into gross sales, commissions, fulfilment fees, refunds and adjustments, posting each to the correct account so output GST sits on gross sales and input GST on GST-registered fees is captured. The net deposit reconciles cleanly against your bank.

When do I have to register for GST as an online seller?

When your taxable turnover exceeds S$1 million over the past calendar year, or you expect to exceed it in the next 12 months. You can register voluntarily below S$1 million — worth it if you import stock and want to recover input GST — but voluntary registration carries a two-year minimum commitment.

Singapore · E-commerce

Accounting software for Singapore e-commerce sellers

SGD sales, Shopee/Lazada/Amazon.sg and gateway reconciliation, reverse charge and OVR on imports, zero-rated exports, and the IRAS GST F5 — built for Singapore online sellers.

SingaporeLast updated: 2026-07-10

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The short answer

Singapore online sellers face a GST question on almost every order: local sales are standard-rated at 9%; exports of goods are zero-rated; imported low-value goods and services can trigger the reverse charge or arrive already taxed under Overseas Vendor Registration; and marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada and Amazon.sg settle net of commissions, fees and returns that have to be unpicked before the numbers are trustworthy. HelloBooks reconciles the payout, applies the right GST treatment per order, and prepares the GST F5 from the reconciled ledger.

The facts

Singapore e-commerce sellers at a glance

Field	Value
Authority	Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) GST on e-commerce follows the standard GST law.
Local sales	9% GST Standard-rated to Singapore customers.
Exports of goods	Zero-rated (0%) Subject to export-evidence requirements.
Imported services / low-value goods	Reverse charge / OVR Self-account, or GST charged by an OVR-registered vendor.
Marketplace payouts	Net of fees Commission, fulfilment and refunds reconciled to gross sales.
Registration threshold	S$1 million Compulsory; voluntary registration allowed below.

Rates and thresholds verified against IRAS as at 2026-07-10. Re-verify after each Singapore Budget.

Reconciling marketplace and gateway payouts

Shopee, Lazada, Amazon.sg and payment gateways like Stripe and HitPay pay you net: gross sales minus commission, fulfilment, chargebacks and refunds, often across a settlement window that straddles two GST quarters. Booking the net deposit as revenue understates your output GST and loses the input GST on the fees.

HelloBooks ingests the settlement report, splits it into gross sales, platform fees (with their own input GST where charged by a GST-registered entity), refunds and adjustments, and posts each to the right account — so your GST F5 output tax sits on gross sales, not net deposits, and the deposit reconciles to your bank feed.

Reverse charge, OVR and imported stock

From 2023, Singapore extended GST to imported low-value goods and non-digital services. Depending on the supplier, GST either arrives on the invoice (Overseas Vendor Registration) or you self-account under the reverse charge. Getting this wrong understates GST or double-counts it.

HelloBooks records the GST correctly whichever way it applies — posting the reverse charge on imported-service bills and recognising OVR GST already charged — so the GST F5 is complete without manual adjustment.

Frequently asked

Questions Singapore e-commerce sellers ask

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Singapore

GST & the IRAS GST F5

9% GST, the S$1M threshold, reverse charge and the F5 return.

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Singapore pricing

SGD billing, GST F5 preparation included on every paid plan.

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Accounting, GST, banking, inventory, AI assist.

HelloBooks prepares the IRAS GST F5 return from your ledger — standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt supplies, reverse charge on imported services, and input tax — plus Section 45 withholding tax on non-resident payments. For online sellers it decomposes marketplace settlements into gross sales, fees and refunds so output GST is never understated on a net payout.