How to Claim Business Travel in Singapore (2026 Guide)

Quick answer

You can claim business travel in Singapore when it is incurred wholly and exclusively in the production of income ^[2] : fares to clients, between work locations and to temporary sites, and the airfare, ground transport and accommodation of a genuine business trip. Ordinary commuting between home and your regular workplace is personal, whatever the mode ^[2] . The 9% GST on local business transport is claimable with a tax invoice or simplified tax invoice ^[4] , and international transport of passengers is zero-rated ^[5] .

Is business travel tax deductible in Singapore?

IRAS’s list of deductible expenses includes travelling and transport by public transport, and reimbursements to employees for transport expenses incurred for business, overtime transport included ^[2] . Its non-deductible list carries the mirror image: reimbursement of transport not for business purposes, which it describes as travel between home and office for ordinary personal commuting, and personal expenses such as travel not related to the running of the business ^[2] .

The contrast with cars sits next door. Private car expenses are prohibited outright, but paying for transportation services, where someone else carries you without you having control or possession of the car, is deductible ^[1] . That is why so much Singapore business travel runs on ride-hail, taxis and the MRT: the cost stays deductible and the GST stays claimable. When a trip mixes business with leisure, the private days are personal expenditure and come out ^[2] .

Employees: allowances, reimbursements and per diems

The business deducts what it pays; the question is what the employee is taxed on. IRAS’s transport table says ^[7] :

• A fixed monthly transport allowance is taxable.
• Reimbursement of expenses for discharging official duties is not taxable.
• Reimbursed private mileage on an employee’s own car is taxable; reimbursement for specific business trips is not (and remember the business cannot deduct an S-plate car reimbursement at all ^[1] ).
• A taxi between home and office is not taxable only when the employee is working overtime; in all other cases it is a taxable benefit.

For overseas trips, a per diem allowance is taxable to the employee only to the extent it exceeds the IRAS acceptable rate for the country, and those rates are published annually; a per diem reimbursement of business expenses actually incurred is not taxable ^[6] . Build the per diem into your expense policy at or below the acceptable rate and the payroll question disappears. Accommodation on the same trip is covered in the accommodation guide.

GST on local fares and international travel

Input tax on local purchases needs a tax invoice addressed to you, or a simplified tax invoice where the value including GST is $1,000 or less ^[4] . Since 1 April 2022, input tax on the purchase of pay-per-trip chauffeured private hire car services is claimable on that basis, airport transfers and limousine bookings included ^[4] . Taxi receipts work the same way where the operator is GST-registered and shows GST.

International transport of passengers is zero-rated under section 21(3)(a) of the GST Act; IRAS’s own example is an air ticket from Singapore to Japan and on to Los Angeles, charged at 0% ^[5] . There is no Singapore GST to claim on the ticket, though the cost is fully deductible. Hotels and meals bought overseas carry that country’s tax, not Singapore GST, so they are coded out of scope. The Singapore GST guide covers the input tax conditions and the GST calculator extracts the 9% from a local fare.

How much can you claim?

Worked example one. An employee travels from the office to two client sites by ride-hail for $48 including GST, then flies to Kuala Lumpur for a two-day project on a $300 return fare. Both are deductible. The GST in the $48 is claimable from the receipts; the airfare is zero-rated, so there is nothing to claim on it ^{[2] [4] [5]} .

Worked example two. A consultant spends five days in Jakarta, three on client work and two on holiday, with a $540 airfare and $1,200 of hotel. The airfare and three-fifths of the hotel are business; the two private days are personal expenditure and come out of the claim ^[2] . None of it carries Singapore GST ^[5] .

Worked example three. A junior stays past 10pm closing the month and takes a $22 taxi home. The fare is a deductible overtime transport reimbursement, its GST is claimable from the receipt, and it is not a taxable benefit because the employee was working overtime ^{[2] [4] [7]} .

Record-keeping requirements

Keep the receipt for each business journey and note the business purpose and, for ride-hail, the from and to. For an overseas trip keep the itinerary, the airfare and hotel invoices, and enough detail to apportion any private days. For per diems keep the rate used against the IRAS acceptable rate for that country. Records are kept for five years; the Singapore record-keeping guide has the retention rules, and the expense report template has the fields.

How to claim, step by step

1. Confirm the journey is for business, not ordinary commuting.
2. Use fares, not private car costs, which are prohibited.
3. Claim the actual cost of taxi, ride-hail, public transport and airfares for business.
4. Claim the 9% GST on local fares from receipts; treat international airfares as zero-rated and overseas costs as out of scope.
5. Reimburse employees against receipts, or set per diems at or below the IRAS acceptable rates.
6. Apportion any private days out of a mixed trip.
7. Keep receipts and purpose notes for five years.

Common mistakes

• Reimbursing and deducting the daily commute ^[2] .
• Trying to claim GST on a zero-rated international airfare ^[5] .
• Claiming private car running costs as travel; they are prohibited ^[1] .
• Paying a fixed transport allowance and leaving it out of the employee’s taxable income ^[7] .
• Setting an overseas per diem above the IRAS acceptable rate without taxing the excess ^[6] .
• Failing to apportion a trip that mixed business with a holiday ^[2] .
• Losing the local fare receipts needed to claim the GST ^[4] .

Software that helps

Business travel in Singapore is mostly fares and airfares, so the win is capturing every receipt with the right GST code.

• Grab for Business itemises business rides and issues GST receipts.
• ExpenseFlow captures taxi, ride-hail, airfare and hotel receipts, applies the local, zero-rated or out-of-scope GST treatment, and syncs the coded trip to Xero or QuickBooks after approval.
• Xero Singapore edition maps local fares and overseas travel to the right codes.

FAQ

See the answered questions above for commuting, overseas trips, GST, fares, per diems and allowances.