IRAS reports over 2,800 GST audits in FY 2024-25, recovering SGD 205 million and urging businesses to improve compliance and voluntarily disclose errors.
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has released details regarding its GST audit and enforcement activities, highlighting multiple instances of non-compliance uncovered during recent GST audits.
IRAS conducts regular GST audits using a risk-based approach to select businesses for review. In FY2024/2025, more than 2,800 GST audits were completed across various industries, resulting in a recovery of SGD 205 million, including penalties.
Businesses, regardless of size or type (e.g., sole proprietors, partnerships, corporates), are at higher risk of GST errors and penalties if they lack proper oversight of their GST compliance. Conversely, businesses with strong GST governance can avoid costly mistakes.
Key elements of good GST compliance include personnel with sound GST knowledge, effective records management, robust internal controls and systems, and regular reviews.
IRAS shares selected audit cases and compliance programmes to illustrate common GST errors and compliance gaps, enabling other GST-registered businesses to proactively avoid these mistakes and make voluntary disclosures to IRAS if similar errors have been made. Voluntary disclosures incur no penalty or lower penalties than errors uncovered by IRAS.
Furthermore, individuals can report suspected malpractices through a form. A reward, equivalent to 15% of the recovered tax (capped at SGD 100,000), is available upon request if the provided information and/or documents lead to the recovery of lost tax.
