Quick answer
Singapore lets both businesses and employees claim work phone costs. Employees deduct un-reimbursed telecommunication charges incurred for work, using the incremental before-and-after basis for working from home. Sole traders apportion the bill and deduct the business share. Employer-provided plans are tax-free for business use. GST-registered businesses claim the 9% GST on the business share.
Is a phone tax deductible in Singapore?
Yes, within Singapore’s wholly-and-exclusively framework. Employees may deduct expenses incurred wholly and exclusively in producing employment income, provided the employer did not reimburse them, and IRAS’s own guidance names telecommunication charges among the claimable work-from-home costs. The measurement rule is distinctive: IRAS works on increments. If your monthly charges were S$50 before regular home working and S$60 after, the claimable amount is the S$10 increase attributable to work, not a percentage of the whole bill. Fixed plans that did not grow with home working therefore support little or no employee claim, while usage-driven costs do.
Sole traders and partnerships use the ordinary business-expense logic instead: apportion the plan between business and private on a reasonable, evidenced basis, deduct the business share, add back the rest. Employers close the loop from their side: a company phone or plan provided for work is not a taxable benefit for the business use, and companies deduct their own telco costs as ordinary expenses, with private-use portions creating taxable benefits where they exist.
How much can you claim?
Employee worked example: a marketing manager’s mobile charges averaged S$55 a month before hybrid working and S$72 after, driven by data and calls for work. The claimable increment is S$17 a month, S$204 over a full year, entered as employment expenses in her return. Her colleague on an unchanged S$60 flat plan claims nothing, because no additional expense was incurred.
Sole trader worked example: a private tutor’s S$85 monthly plan runs roughly 60% business by usage pattern: S$612 deductible for the year, with the handset’s business share claimed through capital allowances if material.
| Situation | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Employee, un-reimbursed work use | Deductible; incremental basis for WFH |
| Employee reimbursed by employer | No claim; reimbursement of business use not taxable |
| Sole trader | Business share of plan and handset |
| Employer-provided plan | Business use tax-free; private use a taxable benefit |
GST on phone costs
A GST-registered business claims the 9% input tax on the business share of its telco costs from tax invoices. Private-use portions provided to staff are fringe benefits territory, where input tax is restricted or output tax may be due; the practical rule for small firms is to scope company plans to business use and keep the GST claim aligned with that. Employees claiming employment expenses have no GST recovery; theirs is an income tax deduction only.
Record-keeping requirements
Five years, with invoices, receipts, and the workings. For the incremental method, that means the before and after bills that establish the baseline and the increase; for apportionment, the usage evidence behind the percentage. IRAS’s employment-expense reviews ask for exactly these documents, and the five-year window applies to individuals and businesses alike.
How to claim, step by step
- Employees: confirm the cost was for work and not reimbursed; establish the incremental amount with before-and-after bills.
- Enter the employment expenses in the annual return, and keep the records five years.
- Sole traders: set a defensible business percentage, deduct the business share in the accounts, add back the private share.
- Employers: provide business-scoped plans; reimburse work usage rather than paying private bills.
- GST-registered businesses claim 9% input tax on the business share from tax invoices.
- Revisit the numbers when working patterns change; the increment moves with them.
Common mistakes
- An employee claiming a percentage of a flat plan that did not increase with home working.
- Claiming amounts the employer reimbursed.
- A sole trader deducting 100% of a family plan.
- Input tax claimed on staff private usage.
- No before-and-after bills behind an incremental claim.
Software that helps
- Dext captures monthly telco bills from forwarded emails and keeps the coding consistent.
- ExpenseFlow reads phone bills, applies the business-use split you configure rather than a 100% claim, applies the 9% GST treatment to the claimable share, and syncs approved amounts to Xero or QuickBooks with the bill attached.
- Hubdoc fetches bills from providers automatically so the five-year evidence file maintains itself.
FAQ
See the answered questions above for employee claims, the incremental rule, sole traders, employer plans, and GST.
From ExpenseFlow
GST coding on autopilot
ExpenseFlow reads every receipt, assigns the right GST treatment and account code, and syncs to Xero or QuickBooks Online once you approve.