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CSV with commission and marketing accounts mapped to QuickBooks GST codes. Import file and GST code list below.
Download chart of accounts (CSV)Also available
In Singapore a property agent’s car is the deduction that is not: private-car running costs are denied for income tax, and the GST on a car is blocked. A QuickBooks chart for an agent has to code the car as a dead cost and put the weight on the marketing and communications lines that actually carry the deduction. This is a Singapore real estate chart of accounts for QuickBooks Online, with those calls mapped. It ships as a readable reference (CSV) and a QuickBooks import CSV.
Setup, then the codes that matter
The QuickBooks import has no tax column, so you import the structure first and set each account’s GST code afterwards from the CSV. For an agent the codes to get right are SR (9%) on commission, BL (9%) on the private car, TX (9%) on marketing and communications, and OP (0%) on the statutory CEA fee.
The car is blocked, both ways
No deduction is allowed for motor vehicle expenses on private S-plate cars and most business cars, even where used for business, and Regulation 27 blocks the input tax. So motor vehicle expenses maps to BL (9%), which records the GST but bars the claim, with TX (9%) listed only for a genuinely commercial vehicle. This is the cleanest rule in the chart: the agent’s car gives neither an income-tax deduction nor a GST credit, and it is the single biggest difference between Singapore and the UK, Australia, or Canada.
Commission is standard-rated
A GST-registered agent charges 9% on commission, a taxable supply, so the commission income account (replacing the generic Sales line) maps to SR (9%), with ZR (0%) listed for commission earned on property outside Singapore. Registration is compulsory once taxable turnover passes S$1 million.
Where the deductions actually are
With the car out, the deductible base is everything spent to win and service listings, and the chart breaks those out:
- Property photography and staging and listing and portal fees on TX (9%), with TX-RE (9%) listed on portal fees billed from overseas.
- Advertising and marketing for wider campaigns on TX (9%).
- Professional subscriptions and CEA fees on TX (9%) for bodies and courses, with OP (0%) for the statutory CEA registration fee.
- Telephone and internet and travel (taxi and public-transport fares) on TX (9%), claimable where the car is not.
Because the car is blocked, these lines carry more of the deduction weight than they would elsewhere, so capturing every listing and advertising receipt matters more, not less.
How to use it
- Open the CSV, which maps each account to its QuickBooks GST code, and adapt the names to the agent or agency.
- In QuickBooks Online, go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
- On the import wizard, confirm the Type and Detail Type for each account.
- After import, set the GST code on each account from the CSV, applying BL (9%) to the private car and SR (9%) to commission.
The recurring work is marketing spend and fares, captured on the move:
- Dext pulls recurring portal and advertising bills into the file.
- ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and invoice from a phone photo or forwarded email, flags input tax that looks blocked (a private car) so it is not wrongly recovered, and posts the transaction into QuickBooks Online against the right account, building the receipt archive a busy quarter would bury.
- Aspire and similar business cards feed spend through for coding.
Keep the trip purpose against each fare so a private commute is not swept into the business claim, and leave the borderline deductibility calls to you or your accountant.
On Xero instead? See the Singapore real estate chart of accounts for Xero, where the import sets the GST codes directly. For the full GST picture, see the Singapore real estate expenses guide.