GST on subscriptions in Singapore: apps, streaming, software

If you live in Singapore and are not GST-registered, you pay 9% GST on apps, streaming, software and cloud storage bought from a GST-registered overseas provider. IRAS says only registered providers may charge it, that it may not be feasible for them to show prices including Singapore GST, and that a provider adds GST to your final bill after confirming that you live here, so GST on subscriptions in Singapore may not show on the price page and may appear only once you give your address and payment details.

This guide covers who may charge it, why the price page can leave it out, and a “GST line check” for comparing plans on one footing, with a worked example in S$. It also asks whether AI plans are covered: IRAS names no AI tools, so that answer is our reading. It is general information from IRAS’s pages, not tax advice, and it does not say which providers are registered.

Which apps and subscriptions carry GST?

IRAS’s consumer page on remote services, rewritten on 9 October 2026, says that if you are not GST-registered and buy remote services from a GST-registered overseas provider, you must pay GST at the prevailing rate of 9%. It defines remote services as services you can use without being physically present where they are performed. IRAS’s examples:

• Digital content: mobile apps, e-books, movies and music downloads.
• Streaming services: IRAS names Netflix and Spotify, along with news subscriptions and magazines.
• Software: programs, drivers, website filters and cloud storage.
• Professional, personal and education services delivered remotely, such as investment advice, consultancy, online counselling, telemedicine, dating services, online courses, professional certifications and membership subscriptions.
• Support services, such as booking fees and transaction facilitation services.

Services that need you present, such as hairdressing or beauty treatments, attending an event or show in person and land tours, are not remote services; if you use them overseas, IRAS says, you may pay that country’s local taxes instead.

The rule has applied to digital services since 1 January 2020 and, according to IRAS’s e-Tax Guide on imported remote services (Sixth Edition, published 30 January 2026), to non-digital remote services since 1 January 2023. The same guide records the rise to 9% on 1 January 2024, and IRAS’s GST basics page gives 9% as the standard rate.

Who may charge GST, and why can the price page leave it out?

Only GST-registered providers may charge GST to consumers. IRAS’s page for overseas businesses (last updated 18 September 2026) says an overseas business must register if its annual global turnover is above S$1 million and its business-to-consumer sales of remote services or low-value goods to customers in Singapore are above S$100,000 a year. So not every overseas provider charges it.

The consumer page says that, because most registered overseas providers sell to customers in different countries, it may not be feasible for them to show prices including Singapore GST on their websites or online stores. You must therefore give a provider complete and accurate information, including your residential address, IP address and payment and billing details, and IRAS says the provider adds GST to your final bill after confirming that you live in Singapore. The e-Tax Guide adds that registered overseas providers are on a simplified “pay-only” regime in which the local rules on tax invoices and GST-inclusive price display do not apply.

On how a provider decides, the e-Tax Guide says it should hold at least two non-conflicting pieces of evidence of where you belong, usually card details plus a billing address or another clue such as a SIM card’s country code or an IP address. In IRAS’s Example 8, an Australian resident visiting Singapore buys a virtual fitness session from a registered provider: the card and billing address are Australian, so no GST is charged even though the IP address shows Singapore. For an individual, the guide’s test is a usual place of residence in Singapore, not where you are when you subscribe.

For apps bought through a store, the position may differ. The e-Tax Guide’s definition of an electronic marketplace includes a “distribution platform” (it names no app store). It says a marketplace operator is regarded as the supplier if any one of five conditions is met, such as authorising the charge to the customer, and must then register, charge and account for GST on remote services that overseas suppliers sell through it, instead of those suppliers. Our inference: an app store may fall under that wording, in which case the registration that matters could be the store’s, not the app maker’s. We do not say whether any named store or app maker is registered.

Can I avoid GST by changing my billing details?

No. IRAS says you must give providers complete and accurate information, and its consumer page calls providing false information to avoid paying GST a serious offence. Its examples are using a fake address outside Singapore, or giving another business’s GST registration number when you are not GST-registered. Two IRAS pages give penalties, and each covers customers who give false information:

• The consumer page says you may face penalties of up to 3 times the tax amount and a jail term of up to 7 years.
• The e-Tax Guide (paragraph 13.4) applies to non-GST-registered customers, and to GST-registered customers buying for non-business purposes. On conviction, it says, they may face a fine of up to S$10,000; where there is evidence of wilful intent to evade tax, a fine of up to 3 times the tax chargeable on the supply in addition to an amount not exceeding S$10,000, and/or imprisonment of up to 7 years.

How do I compare two plans when only one shows GST?

Use the GST line check. Put every plan on one footing before you compare prices.

1. Note what each page says: “excluding GST”, “including GST”, “plus applicable taxes”, or nothing.
2. Add GST to a price that excludes it: multiply by 1.09.
3. Take GST out of a price that includes it: divide by 1.09. The GST inside is 9/109 of the price.
4. Multiply by 12 for a year, and treat the final checkout total, not the headline, as the price.

Here it is on invented plans. The prices are illustrative, not real, and the sums are our arithmetic at 9%, rounded to the cent.

• Plan A: S$28.00 a month, “excluding GST”. GST is S$28.00 × 0.09 = S$2.52, so you pay S$30.52 a month, or S$366.24 a year.
• Plan B: S$30.00 a month, “including GST”. You pay S$30.00 a month, or S$360.00 a year. Taking GST out leaves S$27.52 (S$30.00 ÷ 1.09), with S$2.48 of GST.
• Result: Plan A’s headline is S$2.00 lower, yet Plan B is cheaper by S$0.52 a month, or S$6.24 a year.
• Plan C: S$29.00 a month, nothing said about GST. It could be S$29.00 or S$31.61 (S$29.00 × 1.09), so it cannot be ranked against A or B until you see the last checkout screen.

IRAS’s e-Tax Guide does the same sums from the provider’s side. In its Example 12, a music streaming service charges S$40 a month before GST and the GST is S$3.60 (the S$43.60 total is our sum). In its Example 14, the S$40 monthly fee includes GST, so the GST inside is S$3.30 and the price before GST is S$36.70.

How do I check whether a provider is GST-registered?

The consumer page tells you to check whether a provider is GST-registered using IRAS’s GST-registered Business Search. We did not open that search, so we do not say which providers it lists. Our suggestion: search the company name on your receipt or in the terms, which may differ from the app’s brand.

If a provider that is not GST-registered charges you GST, the consumer page says you may report it to IRAS with a “Reporting Wrong GST Practices of Businesses” form, which we also did not open, and IRAS’s 2019 media release on overseas digital services says consumers should alert IRAS. The pages we read give no refund route for ordinary consumers, so asking the provider’s billing support which entity charged you, and why, is one option (our suggestion).

Do AI subscriptions carry GST too?

IRAS’s pages do not mention AI tools. They define digital services as services supplied over the internet or another electronic network that are essentially automated, with minimal or no human intervention, and the e-Tax Guide says overseas vendors need not distinguish digital from non-digital remote services. Our reading, not IRAS’s: an online AI assistant plan appears to fit, so expect a registered provider to add GST, and rely on your receipt rather than this article.

To compare AI plans, run the line check first, then the quiet, typical and busy month method in our guide to comparing AI tool pricing. Its invented quotes do not say whether they include GST: if Quote C there, a S$150-a-month flat plan, were priced before GST, you would pay S$163.50 a month (S$150 × 1.09; illustrative, our arithmetic). Our inference: usage charges would carry GST too. If a free trial is about to turn paid, check the first charge for a GST line (our suggestion); our two-week AI assistant trial plan covers what to test first.

What if I run a business or freelance?

If you are not GST-registered, IRAS counts you as a consumer here: you pay the GST, and under its GST basics page (last updated 16 October 2026) you cannot claim GST on purchases. If you are GST-registered and buying for business, the e-Tax Guide says to give the provider your GST number so it does not charge you, and you may need to account for GST under the reverse charge. If you are charged anyway, ask for a refund rather than claiming it as input tax.

What to check before you subscribe

Copy this before you commit to a plan, and save the pages and receipts as in our guide to what to save before you pay.

• Does the price page say “including” or “excluding” GST, or nothing?
• What does the last checkout screen total, with your real Singapore billing details?
• Is each plan on one footing (× 1.09 or ÷ 1.09), then × 12?
• Who charges you, the app maker or the store, and does your receipt show a GST line?
• No GST line? Keep the receipt. One possible reason is that the provider is below IRAS’s registration thresholds.
• GST from a provider that IRAS’s search does not list? Ask the provider, then consider IRAS’s reporting form (our suggestion).
• Reopen IRAS’s consumer page (last updated 9 October 2026) in case it has changed again.

For other costs at checkout, see our year-end sales total price check. Physical goods ordered from overseas follow different rules, in GST on overseas online purchases. More tools are under comparing.

Common questions