- Simpler Tax
- Input tax: the blocked list
Input tax I can and cannot claim: the blocked list, family by family
The GST on a purchase made for the business is claimed back as input tax in box 7, with the purchase itself in box 5, unless the purchase is in one of the five families Regulations 26 and 27 block: a motor car and its running costs, club subscription fees, benefits for a staff member's family, betting and lotteries, and staff medical expenses and insurance. A blocked purchase leaves both box 5 and box 7, whatever the business use, and the GST on it is simply a cost.
Two of the five have a way out. A lorry, van or bus is not a motor car, so its running costs are claimable; and staff medical cover is claimable where it is obligatory under the Work Injury Compensation Act or under a collective agreement, and, since 1 Oct 2021, a medical treatment cost is claimable where it meets a work-related health risk or requirement and is also required by written law, or by a government advisory in the case of COVID-19 treatment.
Rulebook list, conditions checked by hand Edition YA-2027 · sources verified through 24 Jul 2026
The five families
IRAS publishes the blocked list as one list under Regulations 26 and 27 of the GST (General) Regulations. Three of the five families have no exception at all: a club subscription is blocked, full stop, and so are family benefits and betting. The other two turn on a fact about your business that no invoice carries.
| Family | What it covers | The exception |
|---|---|---|
| A motor car, and everything spent running it | The purchase or hire of a motor car, and its running costs: petrol, maintenance, parking. | Regulation 25(1) excludes lorries, vans and buses from the definition of 'motor car'. The running costs of a vehicle outside that definition are ordinary claimable input tax. |
| Club subscription fees | Subscription and transfer fees charged by sports and recreation clubs, a golf or country club for instance. | none |
| Benefits for a staff member's family | Anything bought for the family members or relatives of staff, rather than for the staff member. | none |
| Betting, gaming and lotteries | Any transaction involving betting, sweepstakes, lotteries, fruit machines or games of chance. | none |
| Staff medical expenses and medical insurance | Medical expenses for staff, and medical or accident insurance premiums for them. | Claimable where the cover is obligatory under the Work Injury Compensation Act or under a collective agreement, and, from 1 October 2021, where it meets a work-related health risk requirement. |
A car you hire counts as a motor car for this rule, the same as one you own. The full definition of a motor car, and the split between what Regulation 26 lists and what Regulation 27 lists, sit in the Regulations themselves; the list above is IRAS's own combined reading, which is the one the rulebook carries.
The exception column is the rulebook's own sentence, the one the engine applies when it asks the question below. On staff medical the note the rulebook was read from states the 1 Oct 2021 limb more narrowly, and the narrower sentence is the one to act on: a medical treatment cost is claimable where it is connected to a work-related health risk or requirement and is required by written law, or, for COVID-19 treatment, required by a government or public authority advisory. The older limb, obligatory under the Work Injury Compensation Act or under a collective agreement made under the Industrial Relations Act, stands on its own.
The two questions, and who answers them
For the motor car and staff medical families the invoice cannot decide: a delivery company's diesel receipt and a director's petrol receipt look the same, and an insurer's premium note does not say whether the cover is obligatory. The rulebook carries the question for each family and the two answers it accepts.
| Family | The question | The answers |
|---|---|---|
| A motor car, and everything spent running it | Is this a motor car, or a vehicle Regulation 25(1) excludes from that term: a lorry, a van or a bus? | Blocked: a motor car: Regulation 26/27 blocks its purchase price and its running costsClaimable: a lorry, van or bus, which Regulation 25(1) excludes from 'motor car' |
| Staff medical expenses and medical insurance | Is this medical cover obligatory under WICA or a collective agreement, or provided to meet a work-related health risk requirement? | Blocked: ordinary staff medical expense or insurance: Regulation 26/27 blocks itClaimable: obligatory under WICA or a collective agreement, or a work-related health risk requirement |
The wording of the answers is the rulebook's, short enough to sit on a door; on staff medical the fuller condition is the one set out under the table above, and it is the one to test your cover against. The answer is a standing fact about the business: given once against the account or the supplier, it settles every later purchase in the same family. Until it is given, the purchase stays where the books put it and the pack says the question is open: as a note where the sum at stake is inside the thresholds IRAS lets you self-correct in the next return, and as a refusal of the whole return where it is not. The engine does not decide either way by default.
The BL code
BL is the purchase-side tax code for GST incurred and not claimable. It is a classification your books make, not one the supplier makes: the supplier charges 9% and codes the sale SR, and the same invoice is coded BL on your side when it is a blocked purchase. A purchase coded BL is treated by the engine as already decided and folded out of box 5 and box 7 without a further question.
The 14 category codes a supplier can tag a line with on an InvoiceNow (PINT-SG) invoice run from SR through ZR and ES33 to NG; BL is not among them, and the engine gives BL no meaning on a sale. Fold a sale coded BL and its value reaches no supply box: it is reported as unclassified instead, under the code it arrived with, for someone to answer. The GST your ledger already carries on that sale stays in box 6, because a return may not quietly drop output tax the books hold. This page's build folds one such sale and checks both halves: 1,000.00 in no supply box and in the unclassified list, 90.00 still in box 6.
A worked purchase list: 1 Apr 2026 to 30 Jun 2026
Ten purchases, one quarter
A GST-registered trading company with a delivery van and a director who drives his own car on company petrol. Its quarter holds four standard-rated invoices, three blocked purchases, one zero-rated purchase and two purchases on which no GST was charged. GST is at 9%.
| Date | Purchase | Net, S$ | GST, S$ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Apr 2026 | Office rent, tax invoiceCode TX. Standard-rated | 4,000.00 | 360.00 |
| 5 Apr 2026 | Supplier invoice, stockCode TX. Standard-rated, tax invoice held | 30,000.00 | 2,700.00 |
| 20 Apr 2026 | Petrol for the director's carCode BL. Blocked: a motor car's running cost | 1,000.00 | 90.00 |
| 2 May 2026 | Golf club subscriptionCode BL. Blocked: club subscription fee, no exception | 3,000.00 | 270.00 |
| 9 May 2026 | Laptop for the officeCode TX. Standard-rated | 2,500.00 | 225.00 |
| 16 May 2026 | Diesel for the delivery vanCode TX. A van is not a motor car under Regulation 25(1), so its running costs are ordinary input tax | 600.00 | 54.00 |
| 27 May 2026 | Air ticket, Singapore to Kuala LumpurCode ZP. Zero-rated purchase: in box 5, no GST to claim | 900.00 | 0.00 |
| 11 Jun 2026 | Medical insurance for staff, ordinary coverCode BL. Blocked: not obligatory under WICA or a collective agreement, no work-related health risk | 1,800.00 | 162.00 |
| 18 Jun 2026 | Stationery from a supplier not registered for GSTCode NR. No GST was charged, no box | 200.00 | 0.00 |
| 30 Jun 2026 | Bank chargesCode EP. Exempt purchase: no GST was charged, no box | 50.00 | 0.00 |
What lands in box 5 and box 7, and what stays out
| Where it went | Arithmetic | Net, S$ | GST, S$ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box 5, taxable purchases | The four standard-rated invoices, 30,000.00 + 4,000.00 + 2,500.00 + 600.00, and the air ticket, 900.00 | 38,000.00 | |
| Box 7, input tax claimed | GST on the four standard-rated invoices: 2,700.00 + 360.00 + 225.00 + 54.00. The air ticket carried none | 3,339.00 | |
| Out: blocked, Regulations 26 and 27 | The petrol, the club and the medical cover: 1,000.00 + 3,000.00 + 1,800.00. Their GST, 90.00 + 270.00 + 162.00, is a cost | 5,800.00 | 522.00 |
| Out: no GST was charged | The bank charges and the unregistered supplier: 50.00 + 200.00 | 250.00 | 0.00 |
| Every purchase accounted for | 38,000.00 + 5,800.00 + 250.00 | 44,050.00 |
Box 7 is S$3,339.00. Had the three blocked purchases been coded like the rest, the claim would have been S$3,861.00: the S$522.00 of GST on the petrol, the club and the medical cover is the difference, and it is borne by the company. The bank charges and the unregistered supplier's stationery carried no GST at all, so they are not taxable purchases and appear in no box.
The conditions for claiming, as far as this page states them
Staying out of the five families is necessary, not sufficient. IRAS's conditions for an input tax claim are that the goods or services were supplied to you (or imported by you), that they are used for the purpose of your business, that the input tax is attributable to taxable supplies, and that the claim is supported by a valid tax invoice or import permit. An invoice received over the InvoiceNow network counts as a tax invoice even without the words "Tax Invoice" printed on it, provided it carries everything a tax invoice must.
Three more rules the engine applies. Only a GST-registered business claims, and a purchase dated before the registration date is kept out of box 5 and box 7 by this engine, in every return, and reported by name on the pack. That is the engine's rule, not the whole of the law: a pre-registration purchase that meets the conditions for the claim is claimed in the first return, in box 5 and box 7 like any other taxable purchase, with the same amount declared again in box 12, "Pre-registration input tax claimed", which only the first return accepts. The conditions rest on stock still held at the registration date and on which services were used before it, so that claim is yours to make. The claim falls in the period of the invoice date. And a private purchase is not a taxable purchase at all, blocked or not.
Simpler Tax tests the blocked list, the registration date and the period. It does not test whether a purchase was for the business, how a mixed-use cost should be apportioned, or whether the document you hold is a valid tax invoice: those are facts about the purchase that the books do not carry, and every standard-rated purchase is claimed unless the list names it. The simplified tax invoice threshold and the time limit for a late claim are not in the rulebook and are not stated here.
The blocked list, applied from the words in your books
Post the quarter's purchases and the F5 pack reads each one against the five families: by the BL code where your books already say so, and otherwise by the account it was posted to and the words on the document. A club subscription or a family benefit is taken out of box 5 and box 7 and the pack prints the word it matched beside the money it moved; a petrol receipt or a medical premium raises the question above once, and your answer settles the account. Nothing is moved on a question nobody has answered: a small unanswered sum is noted on the pack, a large one holds the return until you answer. You type the boxes into myTax Portal and sign; Simpler Tax files nothing.
Download for WindowsQuestions people ask
Can I claim the GST on the company car?
No. A motor car is the first family Regulations 26 and 27 block: the purchase price, the hire, and the running costs (petrol, maintenance, parking) all stay out of box 5 and box 7, however much the car is used for the business. The GST is part of the cost of the car.
What about the diesel for my delivery van?
Claimable. Regulation 25(1) excludes lorries, vans and buses from the definition of a motor car, so a van's running costs are ordinary input tax. In the worked list the van's diesel, S$600.00 with S$54.00 of GST, goes in box 5 and box 7 like the stock and the rent.
Is staff medical insurance blocked?
Usually. Staff medical expenses and medical insurance are blocked unless the cost is obligatory under the Work Injury Compensation Act or under a collective agreement made under the Industrial Relations Act. From 1 Oct 2021 a medical treatment cost is also claimable where it is connected to a work-related health risk or requirement and where it is on that footing required by written law, or, for COVID-19 treatment, required by a government or public authority advisory. Whether yours is one of those is a fact about the business, not something the invoice says, so the app asks once and applies the answer.
If the GST is blocked, does the purchase still go in box 5?
No. A blocked purchase leaves both boxes: its value is not in box 5 and its GST is not in box 7. Box 5 is not everything you bought; it is the purchases whose GST you are entitled to claim, plus zero-rated purchases and imports.
What is the BL tax code, and will I see it on the invoice?
BL is the buyer's own code for GST incurred but not claimable. It is not on the 14-code category list a supplier tags an InvoiceNow invoice with; the supplier charges you at the standard rate and codes the sale SR, and it is your books that code the purchase BL. On a sale the code decides nothing: the engine puts such a sale in no supply box and reports it as unclassified, leaving the GST your books recorded on it in box 6.
Can I claim the GST on purchases made before I registered?
Sometimes, in your first return, and not through Simpler Tax. A pre-registration purchase that meets the conditions for the claim is claimed once: its value goes in box 5 and its GST in box 7 of the first return, like any other taxable purchase, and the same amount is declared again in box 12, which is the disclosure IRAS accepts only on that return. The conditions turn on stock still held at the registration date and on which services were used before it, facts your books do not carry, so Simpler Tax keeps every pre-registration purchase out of box 5 and box 7 in every return and reports it by name, leaving the claim to you and your accountant.
Is the GST on an air ticket claimable?
There is none to claim. An air ticket is IRAS's own example of a zero-rated purchase: its value goes in box 5 and nothing goes in box 7, because no GST was charged. In the worked list that is the S$900.00 ticket.
Sources
Statutory figures on this page are read from the Simpler Tax rulebook at build time, edition YA-2027, every source last checked 24 Jul 2026. The rulebook entries named below are the ones this page was computed from; the IRAS pages are what they were verified against.
- IRAS, Conditions for claiming input tax (the disallowed list and the general conditions)
https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/goods-services-tax-(gst)/claiming-gst-(input-tax)/conditions-for-claiming-input-tax - IRAS e-Tax Guide, How do I prepare my GST return? (boxes 5 and 7 and the Regulation 26/27 list, paras 5.11, 5.13, 6.5.1(l) and 6.7(n))
https://www.iras.gov.sg/media/docs/default-source/e-tax/etaxguide_gst_how-do-i-prepare-my-gst-return.pdf - Blocked input tax: the five families, the two exceptions, the BL code, the boxes a blocked purchase leaves rulebook gst.blocked-input-tax
- GST rate, 9% rulebook gst.rate.2024
- The InvoiceNow (PINT-SG) category code list, which has no BL rulebook gst.categories
- The F5 box labels this page names, box 5, box 7 and box 12 "Pre-registration input tax claimed" rulebook gst.f5.boxes
- research/gst-f5.md: the Regulation 26/27 list as IRAS publishes it, the two limbs of the staff medical exception, hire cars, pre-registration purchases in box 5, and InvoiceNow invoices as tax invoices
- research/f5-coverage-manifest.md: the four general conditions, the period of a claim, box 12 as a disclosure of an amount already in box 7, and what the engine does and does not test