GST GUIDE · UPDATED OCTOBER 2026
Cancelling GST registration: approval takes a day, the final return taxes what you still own
A bakery café closes on 31 December 2026, when its lease ends. Cancelling its GST registration is one application on myTax Portal, and IRAS approves most on the day they are made. The cost arrives a month later, in the final return: GST at 9% on the ovens, the coffee machine and the furniture still in the company’s hands on the last day, valued at what they would cost to buy. This guide covers when you must cancel and when you may, how the final GST F8 is worked out, the S$10,000 line that decides whether your assets are taxed at all, and the order to do things in.
THE FINAL RETURN
One café, two last days: S$3,717, or nothing.
The café is a private limited company, GST-registered since 2018 and filing quarterly. It stops trading on 31 December 2026 and applies to cancel in the first week of January. IRAS confirms cancellation from 1 January 2027, so 31 December is the last day of registration. The final return, the GST F8, covers October to December and is due by 31 January 2027. In the left column the company still owns everything on 31 December. In the right, it sold the kitchen and coffee equipment to a GST-registered second-hand dealer on 15 December for S$33,000, what the same items would have fetched on the open market.
| Open market value on 31 December 2026, S$ | Everything still held | Equipment sold on 15 December |
|---|---|---|
| Ovens, mixers and blast chiller | 22,000 | 0 |
| Espresso machine and grinders | 11,000 | 0 |
| Tables, chairs and display counters | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| Packaging and dry stock | 1,500 | 1,500 |
| Laptops and POS terminals | 800 | 800 |
| Assets held on the last day, input tax claimed | 41,300 | 8,300 |
| Output tax on those assets in the GST F8 | 3,717 | 0 |
| GST on the S$33,000 equipment sale, paid by the dealer | 0 | 2,970 |
| GST the company funds itself | 3,717 | 0 |
On the left, the assets held total S$41,300, above the S$10,000 line, so the F8 carries 9% of all of it: S$3,717, reported as a sale in Box 1 and Box 6 although nothing was sold. On the right, the equipment sale is an ordinary taxable sale in the same return. The company charges the dealer S$2,970 of GST and pays it over, and the dealer claims it back. What is left on 31 December is S$8,300, under the line, and the asset charge is nil.
Two things are not in the table. The company car, worth about S$45,000, is left out of both columns: GST on motor cars is blocked, so none was ever claimed, and an asset you never claimed on is not taxed when you leave. And selling the equipment in January instead would not have helped. By then the F8 has already taxed it as held on 31 December, and the company, no longer registered, sells it without GST.
The S$10,000 line is a cliff, not an allowance.
If the café’s furniture had been worth S$8,000 rather than S$6,000, the right-hand column would hold S$10,300. The F8 would then carry S$927, 9% of the whole S$10,300, not of the S$300 above the line. Value is open market value, not cost and not book value. IRAS’s own example values equipment bought for S$100,000 at the S$120,000 it would cost to replace, and a fully depreciated asset that still works still has a price.
MUST OR MAY
Closing is a deadline. Shrinking is a choice.
IRAS has two routes out of GST. One is compulsory, with 30 days to act. The other is an application a business may make once it is no longer liable to be registered. The final return and the tax on assets are the same on both.
| Aspect | Compulsory cancellation | Voluntary cancellation |
|---|---|---|
| When | The business has ceased; it has stopped making taxable supplies and does not intend to make any; it has been transferred as a whole to someone else; or its legal form has changed, such as a sole proprietorship becoming a private limited company. | The business is no longer liable to be registered: it does not expect taxable turnover above S$1 million in the next 12 months, and it is not liable under the reverse charge. |
| Deadline | Apply within 30 days. | None. It is an application you may make. |
| What IRAS asks for | The date the business ceased or changed. | If last calendar year's taxable turnover was above S$1 million, certainty that the next 12 months will not be, because of a specified circumstance, with documents and a computation to show it. |
| Who cannot | Not applicable. | A business that registered voluntarily, until it has been registered for two years. |
| Afterwards | The new owner or the new entity decides for itself whether it must register. IRAS cancels a sole proprietorship that becomes a partnership, or the reverse, and an amalgamated company, from ACRA's records. | The S$1 million tests still run. If either is failed again, registration is compulsory again. |
The specified circumstances are the same four that let a business which passed S$1 million stay unregistered: a high-value contract with a major customer expiring or terminated with no replacement in sight, a large-scale downsizing, a licence or distribution right lost, or the business closing. A softer year that may not repeat is not one of them. The sole proprietor is tested as one person, adding together all of their sole-proprietorship businesses and any income from a trade, profession or vocation, and two partnerships with the same partners are cancelled only if their combined turnover qualifies.
SHOULD A SHRINKING BUSINESS LEAVE?
It depends on who pays your prices.
A business that sells to GST-registered companies gains almost nothing by leaving. Its customers claim the 9% back, so a price without GST is not cheaper to them, and the business loses its own input tax claims. A business that sells to the public is different. Take a shop whose taxable turnover has settled well under S$1 million, taking S$800,000 a year at shelf prices that include GST, and buying S$300,000 a year from GST-registered suppliers.
GST inside its takings, paid to IRAS
S$66,055
9/109 of S$800,000
Input tax it could no longer claim
S$27,000
9% of S$300,000
Kept each year if shelf prices hold
S$39,055
Before the one-off F8 charge on assets
Against that sit three costs. The F8 charge on the assets the shop keeps, which it pays once and in full. The S$1 million tests, which keep running every 31 December and on every large contract signed: a business that grows back over the line must register again, and a business that misses it is backdated. And a voluntary registrant cannot leave at all in its first two years. The decision is worth making on the numbers, once a year, after the December test.
IN ORDER
Six steps from the last sale to the last return.
Fix the last day, then apply within 30 days of it
Cancellation is applied for on myTax Portal by the person authorised to file the business's GST returns. IRAS approves most applications on the day and the rest within 1 to 10 working days, then writes with the effective date. The last day of registration is the day before it. Until then you are still registered: GST is charged, returns are filed.
List every asset you claimed GST on, at today's price
Fixed assets, unsold stock and non-residential property, if input tax was claimed when they were bought or they came to you with a business bought as a going concern. Value each at what the same item in the same condition would cost on the open market, not at cost and not at book value. Leave out what you could never claim on, such as motor cars and anything bought from suppliers who were not registered.
Sell what can be sold before the last day
A sale while you are registered carries GST on the price, invoiced to the buyer, and a GST-registered buyer claims it back. An asset still held on the last day carries GST at its open market value in the F8, and nobody else pays it. Selling the same asset after cancellation does not undo that: the F8 has already taxed it.
Invoice everything delivered before the last day
Goods delivered or services performed while you were registered, but invoiced or paid for afterwards, are taxed in full in the F8. After cancellation you cannot issue a tax invoice, so a customer who could have claimed the GST cannot. Bill outstanding work, deposits and retentions while you still can.
Stop charging GST on the effective date
From that date, charging or collecting GST is an offence. Take the GST number off your invoice template, mark any pre-printed invoices “GST cancelled with effect from” the date, and update your point-of-sale and online checkout. If you ran the Tourist Refund Scheme, tell your Central Refund Agency. Import GST suspension and deferment schemes end too.
File the F8 and anything outstanding within a month
IRAS issues the final return, GST F8, for the period ending on the last day of registration. It is filed like an F5, with two additions: the open market value of the assets held goes in Box 1 and the GST on it in Box 6, and supplies spanning the date are taxed in full. File it, and every earlier return still open, within one month of the end of that period, and pay what is due.
Selling the whole business? The F8 may carry nothing.
A business transferred as a whole, as a going concern, to a buyer who is GST-registered, is outside the asset charge. The transfer is not a supply at all, so no GST is charged on it either, and the assets go on carrying their GST history with the buyer: if the buyer later deregisters, they count towards its own S$10,000. The seller still has to cancel within 30 days and still files an F8 for its last period.
IF YOU DO NOTHING
A registration nobody closes keeps sending returns.
The usual way this goes wrong is quiet. A business stops trading, the books stop, and the GST registration stays open because nobody applied to close it. Every quarter a return falls due, and a business that is registered must file one even if every box is zero. A return not filed by its due date attracts S$200 at once and S$200 for every completed month it stays outstanding, up to S$10,000 per return: S$2,600 for one return a year late, and a new return joining it every quarter. IRAS may also issue an estimated assessment with a 5% penalty on the estimate, and summon the directors or the owner.
It also blocks the exit. IRAS will not treat a company’s tax as settled while its GST registration is open, and objects to a strike-off application until it is. A dormant company that keeps its registration for a restart must keep filing a nil return every quarter until it trades again.
Common questions.
How do I cancel my GST registration in Singapore?
Apply online on myTax Portal. The person authorised to submit the business's GST returns can make the application. IRAS approves most applications on the day they are made and the rest within 1 to 10 working days, and notifies the effective date of cancellation. IRAS then issues a final GST return, the GST F8, covering the period up to the last day of registration, which is due within one month of the end of that period.
How long do I have to cancel GST after my business stops?
30 days. Cancellation is compulsory within 30 days when the business has ceased, has stopped making taxable supplies with no intention of making more, has been transferred as a whole to another person, or has changed its legal form, for example from a sole proprietorship to a private limited company. Until the cancellation takes effect, GST returns keep falling due, including nil returns.
Do I have to pay GST on my assets when I deregister?
Yes, if their total open market value on the last day of registration is more than S$10,000. The assets counted are those you claimed input tax on, such as equipment, unsold stock and non-residential property, and assets that came to you with a business transferred as a going concern from a GST-registered person. Output tax is 9% of the whole value, not just the part above S$10,000, and is reported in the final GST F8. Nothing is due if the total is S$10,000 or less, or if the whole business is transferred as a going concern to another GST-registered person.
What is open market value for the GST F8?
The price at which a similar, if not identical, asset in the same condition could be bought on the open market on the last day of registration. It is not the original cost and not the depreciated value in the accounts. In IRAS's own example, equipment bought for S$100,000 that would cost S$120,000 to replace is valued at S$120,000.
Can I cancel GST if my turnover falls below S$1 million?
Yes, once you are no longer liable to be registered. If last calendar year's taxable turnover was S$1 million or less and you do not expect the next 12 months to exceed S$1 million, you may apply. If last calendar year was above S$1 million, IRAS expects you to be certain the next 12 months will not be, because of a specified circumstance such as a major contract ending or a large-scale downsizing, and to keep documents and a computation to support it. You must also no longer be liable under the reverse charge.
I registered for GST voluntarily. When can I cancel?
Not until you have been registered for two years. After that the voluntary registrant is in the same position as anyone else: it may apply to cancel if it is not liable to be registered, and the final GST F8 taxes the assets it still holds on the same terms.
Do I need to file GST returns if my business has no sales?
Yes. As long as the business is GST-registered, every return must be filed, with zeros if nothing happened. A return filed late attracts a S$200 penalty at once and S$200 for each completed month it stays outstanding, up to S$10,000 per return, and IRAS may issue an estimated assessment with a 5% penalty. If the business has stopped trading, cancel the registration instead.
I am converting my sole proprietorship into a company. What happens to the GST registration?
The sole proprietorship's registration must be cancelled within 30 days, because the form of the business has changed, and the company decides separately whether it must or wants to register. If the whole business is transferred to the company as a going concern and the company is GST-registered, the sole proprietorship does not account for GST on its assets in its final return.
Official sources
The cancellation triggers, the two-year rule, the final GST F8, the tax on assets held at cancellation and the obligations from the effective date as published by IRAS on the pages below; the specified circumstances from IRAS’s registration page; deemed supplies, open market value and supplies spanning de-registration from paragraphs 4.5, 5.3 and 5.5 of IRAS’s GST General Guide for Businesses. All checked on 5 October 2026. The café and every figure in its return are illustrative.
- IRAS: Cancelling GST registration (triggers, the F8, assets, effective date)
- IRAS: Do I need to register for GST (the tests and specified circumstances)
- IRAS: Factors to consider before registering voluntarily for GST
- IRAS: Late filing or non-filing of GST returns (F5/F8)
- IRAS: Transferring businesses (transfer as a going concern)
- IRAS e-Tax Guide: GST General Guide for Businesses (deemed supplies, open market value, supplies spanning de-registration)
- IRAS: Companies applying for strike off
This guide provides general information, not accounting, tax or legal advice. The café and its figures are illustrative. Whether a business must or may cancel its registration, which assets are taxed in its final return and at what value depend on its own facts; GST rules are as published on the date shown and change from time to time.
WRITTEN BY
Jacqueline May
Principal Accountant · Chartered Accountant (Singapore), in practice since 2008
Jacqueline is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore) and the Principal Accountant at Synergy Accounting, in practice since 2008. She works on corporate tax, GST and ACRA compliance for small and medium businesses — the filings, deadlines and judgement calls most owners would rather hand over. These guides are written from what she sees in practice.