GST is one of those things salon owners in Singapore tend to ignore until it is suddenly urgent. The good news is that the rules are simpler than they sound, and for most small salons the honest answer is "you probably do not have to worry about it yet." This is a plain-language walk through what GST actually means for a salon: whether you charge it, when you are required to register, what the 9% rate does to your prices, and how to keep your records so that if you ever do register, it is not a scramble.
A quick note before we start: this is general information, not tax advice, and the rules can change. For your own situation, check the IRAS website or talk to an accountant.
Do salons charge GST in Singapore?
Only if the salon is GST-registered. GST (Goods and Services Tax) is a tax on what you sell, and only businesses registered for it charge it and pass it on to IRAS. A salon that is not registered simply does not add GST to its prices, and does not file GST returns.
So the real question is not "do salons charge GST," it is "does my salon have to register." That comes down to one number.
When you have to register: the S$1 million threshold
Registration becomes compulsory once your taxable turnover crosses S$1 million. IRAS applies that single threshold under two separate tests, and you have to register if either one is triggered:
- Looking back (retrospective). At the end of the calendar year, you add up your taxable turnover for the year just past (1 January to 31 December). If it came to more than S$1 million, you are liable to register.
- Looking forward (prospective). At any point, if you can reasonably expect your taxable turnover to be more than S$1 million over the next 12 months (say, you have just signed a second location or a big contract), you are liable to register then, not at year-end.
For a salon, "taxable turnover" means the value of what you sell here: your services and your retail product sales. It is your top-line sales, not your profit, so it is the total that runs across the threshold. A one-chair studio turning over a few hundred thousand a year is comfortably below it. A busy multi-stylist shop with a strong retail side is the one that needs to keep an eye on the running total.
If you cross the line, register on time. Registering late means IRAS can backdate the GST you should have collected, which is money you then owe out of your own pocket, so it genuinely pays to watch the number rather than discover it after the fact.
What the 9% rate means for your prices and your clients
Singapore's GST rate is 9%, raised from 8% on 1 January 2024. Once you are registered, you charge 9% on your standard-rated sales: a S$100 cut becomes S$109 to the client, and a S$40 retail product becomes S$43.60.
Two practical things follow from that:
- The 9% is not yours. It is collected on behalf of the government and handed over at filing time. That is why it should never sit in your revenue. If your books mix it in, your revenue looks 9% healthier than it is and your filing becomes a manual untangling exercise.
- You can claim back the GST you pay. The other side of being registered is input tax. The GST you were charged on business purchases (supplies, some equipment, the product you buy in) can generally be claimed back, subject to IRAS conditions, so what you actually hand over is the GST you collected minus the GST you paid.
For pricing, you decide whether to absorb the 9% or add it on top. Many salons that cross the threshold move to GST-inclusive pricing so the sticker price a client sees is the price they pay, and the tax is worked out from inside that figure.
Registering voluntarily when you are below the threshold
You are allowed to register for GST even if you are under S$1 million. It is a real option, with real trade-offs.
The upside is that you can claim input tax on your purchases, which can help if you buy a lot of product and equipment, and being GST-registered can read as more established to certain business clients. The downsides are the ones most small salons weigh more heavily: you now have to charge your clients 9% more (or absorb it), you have to file returns every quarter, and IRAS attaches conditions. In particular, once you register voluntarily you generally must stay registered for at least two years, and you are expected to keep a GIRO arrangement for payment. It is not a decision to toggle on and off.
For most solo or growing salons, the sensible default is to wait until registration is compulsory, unless a clear input-tax benefit or a specific client requirement tips it earlier. This is exactly the kind of call worth running past an accountant once, rather than guessing.
Keeping your records filing-ready
Whether you register now, later, or not for years, the same habit makes GST painless: keep the tax you collect separate from your revenue, from day one.
Once you are registered, you file a GST return (the GST F5) for each accounting period, usually quarterly, within one month of the period ending. That return needs your total sales, the GST you collected on them, and the GST you paid on purchases. If those numbers are already sitting cleanly in your system, filing is a matter of reading them off. If they are not, it is a weekend of digging through receipts and checkout records four times a year.
The cleanest way to stay ready is to capture GST at the moment of the sale, split out from the service or retail income, so the running total is simply always correct. That is the same principle behind keeping any salon's books sane, which we go into in the guide to salon bookkeeping without QuickBooks.
Where Flowesce fits
Full disclosure: this is our tool. Flowesce is an all-in-one platform for salons that runs your bookings, inventory, and the money side in one place, and it bills in SGD (from SG$25 a month). On GST specifically, it is a tracking tool, not a filing service: you set your GST rate, and the tax you collect on services and retail is recorded as a liability separate from your revenue, so the numbers stay filing-ready for you or your accountant. It also gives you an owner-readable profit and loss, so you can see whether you actually made money rather than just what you rang up. To be clear about what it is not: Flowesce does not file your GST returns and is not an IRAS agent. It keeps you organised so that filing, by you or your accountant, is straightforward.
If you are weighing tools more broadly, our guide to choosing salon software in Singapore covers the local field and what to check before you commit.
GST is not something to fear. Know your threshold, keep the tax you collect separate from your revenue, and confirm the specifics with IRAS or an accountant. If you want your sales and GST tracked cleanly in one place, start a free trial, no card required.
Frequently asked questions
Do salons charge GST in Singapore?
Only if the salon is GST-registered. GST-registered businesses charge the tax on their sales and pass it to IRAS. A salon that is not registered does not add GST to its prices and does not file GST returns. Whether you must register comes down to your taxable turnover.
When must a salon register for GST?
Registration is compulsory once your taxable turnover crosses S$1 million. IRAS checks this two ways: retrospectively, if your turnover for the past calendar year exceeded S$1 million, and prospectively, if you can reasonably expect to exceed S$1 million in the next 12 months. If either applies, you are liable to register. Below that figure, registration is optional.
What is the GST rate in Singapore?
The GST rate is 9%. It was raised from 8% to 9% on 1 January 2024. A GST-registered salon adds 9% to its standard-rated sales, such as services and retail products, and hands that tax to IRAS at filing time.
Can a small salon register for GST voluntarily?
Yes. A salon under the S$1 million threshold can choose to register voluntarily, which lets it claim back the GST it pays on purchases. The trade-offs are that you must then charge clients GST (or absorb it) and file returns every quarter, and IRAS attaches conditions, including generally staying registered for at least two years and keeping a GIRO arrangement. Most small salons wait until registration is compulsory unless there is a clear reason to register early.
What counts as taxable turnover for a salon?
For a Singapore salon, taxable turnover is the value of the taxable sales you make here, which for most salons means your service revenue plus your retail product sales. It is your total sales, not your profit, so that top-line figure is what runs against the S$1 million threshold.
How do I keep my salon's GST records filing-ready?
Capture the GST you collect at the point of sale, kept separate from your service and retail revenue, rather than working it out afterwards. When you are registered, each quarterly GST F5 return needs your total sales, the GST collected, and the GST paid on purchases, so having those numbers already split out turns filing into a quick read rather than a reconstruction. This is general information, not tax advice, so confirm the details with IRAS or an accountant.