A tax invoice must be titled as one and must carry your GST registration number. Without it your customer cannot claim the input tax.
Tax Invoice
Under the Goods and Services Tax Act
A tax invoice must be titled as one and must carry your GST registration number. Without it your customer cannot claim the input tax.
| Invoice No. | [SERIAL] | Invoice date | [DATE] |
| Buyer’s order no. | [REF] | Order date | [DATE] |
| Due date | [DATE] | Terms of payment | [DAYS] days |
| Delivery / job ref. | [REF] | Currency | [SGD] |
| Invoice from — supplier | Invoice to — customer |
|---|---|
| [LEGAL NAME] [Trade name, if different] [ADDRESS] Singapore [POSTAL] GST Reg. No.: [GST REG NO] UEN: [UEN] [PHONE] | [EMAIL] | [LEGAL NAME] [ADDRESS] [COUNTRY] [POSTAL] UEN / GST Reg. No.: [NUMBER] Attention: [NAME] Deliver to (if different) [ADDRESS] |
| # | Description of goods or services supplied | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Amount excl. GST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [DESCRIPTION] | [QTY] | [UOM] | [PRICE] | [AMOUNT] |
| 2 | [DESCRIPTION] | [QTY] | [UOM] | [PRICE] | [AMOUNT] |
| 3 | [DESCRIPTION] | [QTY] | [UOM] | [PRICE] | [AMOUNT] |
| Total excluding GST | [AMOUNT] |
| Rate | Amount (SGD) | |
|---|---|---|
| Total amount payable excluding GST | [AMOUNT] | |
| GST | [9]% | [AMOUNT] |
| [Zero-rated supplies — exports and international services] | 0% | [AMOUNT] |
| [Exempt supplies] | — | [AMOUNT] |
| Total amount payable including GST | S$ [AMOUNT] |
| Payment details | Notes | For [COMPANY NAME] |
|---|---|---|
| A/c name: [NAME] Bank: [BANK] A/c no.: [NUMBER] SWIFT: [CODE] PayNow UEN: [UEN] | [Late payment interest, retention of title, or other standing terms] [Where any supply is zero-rated, retain the supporting export or international service evidence.] | _______________________ Authorised signatory Date: [DATE] |
3 more pages in the Word file
This is page 1 of the Word document, exactly as it appears when you open it. Fields shown like THIS are placeholders for you to complete.
These notes accompany the template and explain the drafting choices, the compliance points and the mistakes most often made with this document. They appear as a final page in the Word file, intended to be deleted before the document is executed.
A standard tax invoice must carry all eleven fields. The one most often missed is the simplest: the document must say **"Tax Invoice"**, prominently. A document headed merely "Invoice" is not a valid tax invoice, and a customer whose input tax claim is disallowed for that reason will come back to you.
The rate rose to 9 per cent with effect from 1 January 2024, having been 8 per cent in 2023 and 7 per cent before. Templates, accounting configurations and quotation documents carried over from earlier years are a recurring source of under-charging, and the shortfall is the supplier’s to bear.
Where the total payable including tax does not exceed S$1,000, a simplified tax invoice may be issued, which need not carry every field — in particular the customer’s name and address may be omitted. Confirm the current requirements before relying on the simplification, and note the threshold is on the total **including** tax.
Where an invoice is issued in a foreign currency, the tax amount must still be expressed in Singapore dollars, converted at an accepted rate. Recording the rate and its source on the invoice, as the summary table does, avoids an argument at audit about which rate was used.
Zero-rated supplies are taxable at nil per cent and carry the right to claim input tax. Exempt supplies are outside the charge and affect input tax recovery. Treating an export as exempt, or a financial service as zero-rated, produces the wrong return and the wrong input tax position. Classify per line, not per invoice.
Zero-rating an export depends on holding the required documentary evidence of export within the prescribed period. Where the evidence is not obtained, the supply must be standard-rated and the tax accounted for. Chase the evidence at the time, not at audit — by then the customer has no reason to help.
Invoice numbers must be identifying and sequential. Separate series for branches or supply types are acceptable if each series is itself sequential. Gaps, duplicates and mid-year restarts are among the first things an audit examines, because they suggest invoices issued and not reported.
Charging tax while unregistered is an offence, and it is a surprisingly common error among businesses that have applied for registration and started invoicing before it takes effect. Charge from the effective date of registration, not from the application.
GST-registered businesses are progressively required to transmit invoice data to the authority through the national e-invoicing network, which operates on the Peppol standard. The requirement began in November 2025 for newly incorporated companies registering voluntarily, extended in April 2026 to all new voluntary registrants, and is being extended to all GST-registered businesses in phases through to April 2031. Existing registrants are being notified of their date. Check your own date rather than assuming it is distant.
The obligation is to transmit prescribed invoice data to the authority through an accredited channel, not merely to produce a structured file. That means the accounting system, the access point and the data quality all matter — incomplete or invalid submissions are rejected. Budget time for the system work rather than treating it as a template change.
An invoice already issued and reported cannot be edited. Issue a credit or debit note carrying its own particulars and referencing the original invoice, and report it in the correct period. Replacing an invoice quietly leaves the customer holding a document that no longer matches your records.
The period in which tax is accounted for is determined by the time of supply rules, not by when the invoice happens to be raised. Invoicing late shifts the reporting period and creates a mismatch with the customer’s claim, which is exactly what reconciliation exercises surface.
Registration is compulsory once taxable turnover exceeds the prescribed threshold on a retrospective or prospective basis. Voluntary registration is possible below it but carries conditions, including a minimum period of registration and, increasingly, the e-invoicing requirement. Monitor turnover against the threshold rather than discovering it late.
Invoices, credit and debit notes, export evidence and the underlying records must be retained for the statutory period, and longer where a matter is under review. Retain the transmitted data as well as the document itself.
Reflects Singapore tax law current as of {{DATE OF USE}}. The rate, the simplified invoice threshold, mandatory field requirements, the e-invoicing timetable and the registration threshold all change — confirm each with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore or a tax adviser, and review your accounting configuration whenever your registration status or turnover band changes.
This is a ready-to-use template provided for convenience. Laws and requirements change, and every situation is different — please have it reviewed by a qualified professional (a lawyer, corporate secretary, or accountant as relevant) before you rely on it.