GST-registered businesses will be imposed with a composition amount or face recovery actions for any late or non-filing of their GST returns. GST filing and payment are due 1 month after the end of the accounting period covered by the return.
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Consequences for late or non-filing of tax returns
Failure to file your GST returns by the due date is an offence.
IRAS may take the following recovery actions if you fail to file by the due date:
- Issue an estimated Notice of Assessment and impose a 5% late payment penalty on the estimated tax
- Impose a late submission penalty
- Issue a Notice to Attend Court/ Summons to the business or persons responsible for running of the business (including the sole-proprietor, partner and director) to Court
If you are a GST-registered business that has no business activity during the accounting period, you must still file a 'Nil' GST return. If your business has ceased, please apply for cancellation of GST registration.
Estimated Notice of Assessment
IRAS will issue an estimated Notice of Assessment based on any information that IRAS may have. A 5% late payment penalty will be imposed on the estimated tax.
If your business receives an estimated Notice of Assessment, you must:
- File your GST return immediately
The estimated tax and penalty will be revised once you declare your actual GST liability. Refer to the guide on how to revise the estimated assessment.
- Pay the GST inclusive of 5% late payment penalty before the due date stated on the late payment penalty notice
Recovery actions will be taken on any overdue amount if you fail to pay your GST.
The estimated GST payable can only be revised if the GST F5/F8 is submitted within 5 years from the end of the relevant accounting period.
Late submission penalty
A late submission penalty of $200 is imposed immediately once the GST return is not filed by the due date.
A further penalty of $200 is imposed for every completed month that the GST F5/F8 return is not filed. The maximum penalty amount for each outstanding F5/F8 return is $10,000. You must pay the late submission penalty along with the GST payments (if any).
Paying the late submission penalty
If you make payment for GST via GIRO, the late submission penalty will be deducted via GIRO on the 15th of the month after the due date indicated in the penalty notice.
Businesses under non-GIRO payment modes can make payment via one of the preferred payment modes.
The payment will be processed after 3 working days. To check if payment has been credited, log in to mytax.iras.gov.sg and select "View Account Summary".
Legal actions may still be taken against your business if you do not file the outstanding tax return after paying the late submission penalty.
Appealing for waiver of late submission penalty
Appeals can be made online via our Appeal Penalty Waiver digital service at mytax.iras.gov.sg.
You will need the following information to complete the appeal for waiver of penalty request online.
- Accounting period ending (For example, for the period 1 Jan 2024 – 31 Mar 2024, please indicate “Mar 2024”.)
- Designation
- Contact number
- Email Address
Appeals will only be considered if:
- Your business has submitted the outstanding GST returns; and
- Your business has paid all the overdue GST*; and
- Your business has filed its GST returns on time for the past 2 years.
*Payment must be reflected in your tax account. You can refer to GST payments for the various payment modes and processing times.
Notice to Attend Court/ Summons
If you repeatedly fail to file your GST returns, a Notice to Attend Court/ Summons may be issued to your business and/or persons responsible for running of the business to attend Court on a specified date.
If you do not wish to attend Court, you must do all of the following actions at least 1 week before the Court date:
- File all the outstanding GST returns
- Pay the composition amount
Quote the payment slip number when paying the composition amount using the preferred payment modes. GIRO payment is not allowed.
Postponement of Court hearing
If you need more time to file and/or pay the composition amount, you must attend Court on the specified date indicated in the Notice to Attend Court/ Summons with a Letter of Authorisation to appeal for postponement.
Attending Court
Failure to attend Court will result in further legal actions taken against your business (i.e. a warrant of arrest may be issued against the sole-proprietor, partner or company director).
In Court, if convicted of the offence, your business may face a fine not exceeding $5,000 for each offence.
You must still file the outstanding tax returns. Otherwise, further legal actions may be taken.
Filing outstanding tax returns
e-File your outstanding GST F5/F8 via mytax.iras.gov.sg.
FAQs
Can I request for an extension to file my GST return?
1 month after the end of the accounting period is a reasonable due date, hence no extension will be granted.
You should put in place systems to track your transactions and plan your resources to submit your GST returns on time.
I received an estimated NOA and late payment penalty notice for my GST. What must I do?
File the outstanding GST return immediately to revise the estimated NOA.
After filing, make payment for the actual GST amount inclusive of the 5% late payment penalty before the due date indicated in the penalty notice.