Singapore’s eTRS refund gives back the 9% GST inside a purchase, but only for purchases of at least SGD 100 including GST, from a participating retailer, and only if you depart with the goods through Changi or Seletar Airport within two months of buying. A handling fee comes off what is refunded, so the amount you receive is less than the GST inside the price.
A common error is subtracting 9% from the total. The GST inside a GST-inclusive price is 9 ÷ 109 of it, or 8.26%, and that share is the ceiling before any fee. The VAT calculator does this division for you, and it is the number to compare against any quote.
The conditions that decide eligibility
Five conditions have to hold for a purchase to go through eTRS. The scheme is for eligible tourists, so check your own status against the IRAS page as well. Check every condition before you pay, because several of them cannot be changed once you have left the shop. The conditions are cumulative: missing one removes the claim, even if the other four are met.
- The purchase totals at least SGD 100 including GST.
- You buy from a retailer that takes part in the scheme.
- You depart with the goods through Changi Airport or Seletar Airport.
- Departure happens within two months of the purchase.
- The goods are not freighted home, because freighted goods are excluded.
Freight needs its own note. If the retailer offers to send the goods overseas for you, that is freight home, and the scheme excludes it. Carry the goods on the trip out instead.
Combining up to three receipts from one shop
A single receipt under SGD 100 does not qualify on its own. The scheme allows up to three receipts from the same day to be combined, provided they come from the same GST registration and the same shop name. The combined total must reach SGD 100 including GST.
Check the receipts before you leave the shop. Two branches that trade under different names, or receipts that carry different GST registrations, do not combine under this rule. Ask the retailer to confirm that the GST registration and shop name appear on each receipt, since that match is what allows them to be combined.
The test is the combined total, not each receipt. A SGD 60 receipt and a SGD 40 receipt from the same shop on the same day add to SGD 100, which meets the minimum if both carry the same GST registration and shop name. A second visit on another day is a separate claim, and it has to clear the SGD 100 minimum on its own.
The handling fee and the figure you actually get
IRAS says handling fees reduce the refund but does not set an amount, so no fee is quoted here. The example below uses an assumed fee of SGD 2.00. That figure is invented for this illustration and is not a published eTRS fee. Replace it with the retailer’s or operator’s quote.
| Receipts, GST included: 40 + 35 + 34 | 109.00 SGD |
|---|---|
| Minimum check: 109.00 against 100.00 | Meets the minimum |
| Before GST: 109.00 ÷ 1.09 | 100.00 |
| GST inside at 9%: 109.00 − 100.00 | 9.00 |
| Assumed handling fee (hypothetical) | 2.00 |
| Refund estimate: 9.00 − 2.00 | 7.00 |
| Share of gross: 7.00 ÷ 109.00 | 6.42% |
Before the fee, the GST is 8.26% of the total, which is the ceiling. The assumed fee brings the estimate to 6.42%. If the fee is a fixed amount, a smaller purchase loses a larger share to it, so get the quote before you decide whether a small purchase is worth claiming.
Set against the price, the assumed refund brings the SGD 109 purchase down to an effective 102.00, and the 2.00 fee is the part of the 9.00 GST that you do not get back.
Getting the goods through departure
Departure is part of the claim, not a formality. You must leave Singapore with the goods, through Changi or Seletar, within two months of the purchase. Check how IRAS counts the two months before you rely on a particular date.
Keep the goods with you on the trip out, with the receipts in the same bag. Goods freighted home are excluded from the scheme, so a parcel sent by freight cannot be claimed under it. The documents to keep for refunds and customs article covers the paperwork in more detail.
Working out the two-month window
The two months run from the purchase. As an illustration, a purchase on 2 November 2026 would give a window that ends on or around 2 January 2027. Count from the earliest date you could be given, and confirm the exact cut-off with IRAS before you book.
A flight booked near the end of the window leaves no room for a delay or a rebooking, because the window itself is fixed. Set the departure date with that margin in mind, rather than booking the last possible day.
Questions to ask the retailer
Before you pay, ask the retailer these questions and keep the answers:
- Do you take part in the scheme, and will the receipts show the GST registration and shop name?
- What handling fee applies, and can you give me the quote in writing?
- How and when is the refund paid?
- Will you accept three same-day receipts for one claim?
Then run the figures through the tourist refund calculator with the quoted fee. The result is only as good as the fee you enter, so use the quote rather than an estimate. For the wider picture of why refunds fall short of the tax, see why your tax refund is smaller than the tax.
If the quote is a percentage of the GST rather than a fixed amount, apply it to the GST inside the receipt total, not to the total itself. Then check the result against the 8.26% ceiling, which no quote can beat.