On 12 June 2024, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) published a draft e-Tax guide for discussion on the approval of InvoiceNow for GST-registered businesses.
Overview of GST InvoiceNow Requirement
InvoiceNow is the nationwide e-invoicing network based on an international standard called “Peppol”. It was introduced by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (“IMDA”) in 2019. InvoiceNow enables businesses to easily send and receive invoices in a structured digital format. This digital invoicing method reduces the need for manual processing and recording of invoices in accounting systems, which helps businesses avoid tedious work and errors. Refer to IMDA’s webpage on InvoiceNow for more information.
To support the nationwide InvoiceNow initiative and as part of our ongoing transformation efforts to digitalise with the wider ecosystem and integrate tax into taxpayers’ accounting and payroll systems, GST-registered businesses will be required to use InvoiceNow solutions to send invoice data to IRAS for tax administration. Invoices that are not issued using InvoiceNow (e.g. for sales made via point-of-sale systems) should also be recorded in InvoiceNow solutions and sent to IRAS.
This is in line with international trends, with governments worldwide actively promoting the adoption of e-invoicing for tax administration. The phased adoption of the GST InvoiceNow Requirement follows a pilot by IRAS, IMDA, businesses and service providers between September 2020 and June 2023.
GST InvoiceNow Requirement
GST-registered businesses will be required to transmit invoice data to IRAS using InvoiceNow solutions via the InvoiceNow network. This requirement will be implemented progressively:
- From 1 November 2025, for newly incorporated companies that register for GST voluntarily.
- From 1 April 2026, for all new voluntary GST registrants.
A soft launch for early adoption will commence from 1 May, 2025, allowing any existing GST-registered businesses that wish to be early adopters to transmit invoice data to IRAS using InvoiceNow solutions via the InvoiceNow network.
There are plans to progressively implement the GST InvoiceNow Requirement for the remaining GST-registered businesses. We will continue to consult industry partners and carefully review the feedback received before announcing further details.
On 15 April 2024, IRAS announced on its website the requirement for voluntary GST-registered businesses to transmit invoice data to IRAS using InvoiceNow solutions via the InvoiceNow network (“GST InvoiceNow Requirement”). There are plans to implement this new requirement for the remaining GST-registered businesses progressively.
