HomeGST Filing
F5 returns prepared and filed for GST-registered Singapore companies, from bookkeeping that is already current, so the quarterly return is a review rather than three weeks of catching up.
A GST return is arithmetic performed on your ledger. Nothing about the filing repairs a ledger with gaps in it, which is why the two jobs belong together.
Output tax at 9%, input tax on purchases and the net position are drawn from Xero and reviewed before submission. Reviewing while the quarter is fresh catches coding errors that would otherwise sit there until year end.
Every figure on the F5 comes from the ledger behind it. Uncoded transactions, missing bank lines and unreconciled accounts produce a return that is wrong and declared by you, which is the worst of both.
A claim needs a valid tax invoice in the company's name, held on file. Claims get disallowed where the document is missing, where the invoice names a director personally, or where the cost was never a business cost at all.
Supporting documents are attached to transactions in Xero while the quarter runs. Producing them a year later, from a supplier who has since changed systems or closed, is a task nobody wins at.
Each quarter carries a filing date and a payment date, and both sit in a calendar we run rather than in your head. Money collected as GST was never yours to hold, and IRAS treats a late return accordingly.
Mistakes found after filing are put right through the proper route instead of being quietly netted off in the next return. Volunteering a correction before IRAS finds it leaves you in a better position than answering a question about it.
Bookkeeping runs monthly, so by quarter end most of the work is behind you. What remains is the review, your approval and the submission itself.
Three months of transactions are coded and reconciled, bank balances agreed to statements, and outstanding queries cleared. A quarter that closes cleanly makes the return a short job, and one that does not makes it a reconstruction.
Within days of quarter endOutput tax and input tax are checked against the coding, with attention on claims that have no document behind them and items sitting in the wrong tax code. Anything doubtful gets raised with you rather than filed hopefully.
Before the draftYou see the figures and what they are made of before anything reaches IRAS. The return carries your company's name and your declaration, so your review of it is not a formality performed on your behalf.
About 15 minutes of your timeThe F5 goes to IRAS by the due date, and you are told what to pay and when. Putting the net figure in front of you early matters, because a large GST payment landing unannounced does real damage to cash flow.
By the filing deadlineIt comes as part of the Complete package. Quarterly F5 filing sits inside it, along with monthly bookkeeping on Xero, management accounts within 10 working days, payroll for up to five staff and the Comply compliance work.
We do not file GST returns for companies whose books we do not keep. A return built on records nobody has checked is a set of figures we have no basis for, and your company is the one that answers for them.
Quoted for your company
Agreed in writing before we start
Ask about CompleteThe Complete package is quoted for your company before we start. Tax payable to IRAS is separate and stays yours to fund.
Most companies file quarterly on the F5, covering three months of sales and purchases, with a filing date and a payment date attached. Some companies sit on different periods, so check what IRAS assigned you at registration instead of assuming your quarters match everyone else's.
IRAS acts on late returns, and the tax stays owed either way. The money was collected from your customers as GST, so there is no argument about affordability to make. Where the books are the reason for the delay, fix the books, because the same problem comes round again in three months.
Usually because the document behind it will not support the claim. A valid tax invoice in the company's name is the starting point, and a card receipt, a bank line or a supplier statement is not the same thing. Costs that were never business costs come out as well, whatever paperwork sits behind them.
No. The return is arithmetic on your ledger, and putting our name to figures from records we have not kept is not something we do. Where you want the filing handled, the bookkeeping comes with it, which is why both sit inside the same package.
Yes. Registration carries a filing obligation whether or not there is anything to report, and a nil return still goes in. Where turnover has fallen well below the S$1 million threshold, deregistration is worth a conversation, though it comes with conditions rather than being a form you tick.
If the last return went in on estimates, or the deadline is close and the books are not ready, tell us where things stand. You will hear what is fixable before the date arrives.
Tell us what you need and we will point you to the right answer, or bring in one of our chartered professionals. Out of hours you get a reply first thing the next working day.