Business Central: Set Up Malaysia SST and Singapore GST, and Find Tax in VAT Entries

You search Business Central for SST or GST and find nothing. Everything says VAT.

That's because Business Central uses one tax engine for every country, and it calls it VAT. Malaysian SST and Singapore GST are set up in the same place. Wherever you see VAT, read SST or GST.

Quick answer

• VAT Product Posting Groups: one for each country's tax, for example SST and GST.
• VAT Business Posting Groups: one for each tax code, for example SVC-8, SR-9, TX-9.
• VAT Posting Setup: one line for each combination, with the rate and the tax accounts.
• Put the codes on your customers, vendors, items and G/L accounts. BC then calculates the tax on every document.
• To find posted tax for your return, open VAT Entries and filter by code and VAT Date.

How BC finds the tax rate

Customer or vendor card VAT Bus. Posting Group SVC-6

G/L account or item VAT Prod. Posting Group SST

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VAT Posting Setup
the line for SVC-6 + SST

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6%
tax you charge → Sales VAT Account  |  tax you pay → Purchase VAT Account

No line in VAT Posting Setup for a combination means no posting. That's behind most tax errors in BC (see the FAQ).

Step 1: Create the VAT Product Posting Groups

1. Search VAT Product Posting Groups → New.
2. Add one group for each country's tax: SST (Malaysia Sales and Service Tax) and GST (Singapore Goods and Services Tax).

This demo company has both so you can see each. In real life, a Malaysian company only needs the SST lines and a Singapore company only the GST lines.

Step 2: Create the VAT Business Posting Groups (your tax codes)

1. Search VAT Business Posting Groups → New.
2. Add one group for each tax code you use.

Malaysia SST

Code	Use for	Rate
SVC-8	Service tax, standard rate	8%
SVC-6	Service tax, reduced rate for some services (for example food and beverage, telecommunications, parking)	6%
SLS-5	Sales tax on goods at 5%	5%
SLS-10	Sales tax on goods at 10%	10%

Singapore GST

Code	Use for	Rate
SR-9	Standard-rated supplies (your sales)	9%
ZR	Zero-rated supplies, for example exports	0%
OS	Out-of-scope supplies	0%
TX-9	Purchases from GST-registered suppliers (claimable)	9%
NR	Purchases from suppliers not registered for GST	0%

Good to know

• Put the rate in the code. Rates change: Singapore GST went to 9% in 2024, and Malaysian service tax to 8% the same year. With the rate in the code, a change means adding a new code, and older invoices still report under the old one.
• Why is the tax code the business group? Many BC setups do it the other way round (DOMESTIC and EXPORT as business groups, STANDARD and ZERO as product groups). Here the tax code sits on the customer or vendor card, so a GST-registered supplier gets TX-9 and a non-registered one gets NR automatically. Both designs work. What matters is that every combination you post has a line in VAT Posting Setup.

Step 3: Fill in VAT Posting Setup

1. Search VAT Posting Setup → New.
2. Add one line for each tax code with its country's product group, for example SVC-6 + SST, or TX-9 + GST.

Field	What to enter
VAT Identifier	Groups the tax on the invoice printout and statistics. Using the tax code (SVC-6, TX-9) keeps it simple.
VAT %	The rate: 8, 6, 5, 10, 9 or 0.
VAT Calculation Type	Normal VAT for all of these.
Sales VAT Account	Where tax you charge customers goes: your SST or GST payable account (5780 here).
Purchase VAT Account	Where tax you pay suppliers goes (2350 GST Receivable here).

SST on purchases is not like GST

GST you pay a GST-registered supplier (TX-9) can be claimed back, so it belongs in GST Receivable. SST has no input tax credit: SST you pay suppliers is generally part of your cost. If you'll use the SST codes on purchase invoices, don't let it sit in a receivable account. BC's Non-Deductible VAT feature (VAT Setup → Enable Non-Deductible VAT, then Non-Deductible VAT % = 100 on the SST lines) adds it to the cost instead. Test it in a sandbox first, because it can't be switched off once enabled, and agree the treatment with your tax adviser.

Step 4: Put the codes on your cards

• Customers and vendors: set the VAT Bus. Posting Group, for example TX-9 on a GST-registered supplier, or SVC-8 on a customer you bill for services.
• G/L accounts, items and item charges: set the VAT Prod. Posting Group (SST or GST). On G/L accounts, also set Gen. Posting Type to Purchase or Sale.
• On a document line, you can still change the VAT Bus. Posting Group if one invoice mixes rates.

Step 5: Try it on a purchase

A GST-registered supplier bills 109.00, including 9% GST. In a general journal:

1. Line 1: the vendor, Amount = −109.00.
2. Line 2: the expense account (8330 here), Amount = 109.00, VAT Bus. Posting Group = TX-9. BC fills in VAT Amount = 9.00.

Good to know

• Journal amounts include tax. Enter the supplier's total (109.00). BC splits it into 100.00 cost and 9.00 GST.
• VAT Amount stays 0.00? Check Gen. Posting Type on the G/L line. It must be Purchase (or Sale). If it's blank, BC treats the line as having no tax.

3. Choose Preview Posting to check where it goes.

Step 6: Try it on a sales invoice

1. Create a sales invoice. Five services at 1,200.00 each, with VAT Bus. Posting Group = SVC-6, give Total VAT = 360.00 (6% of 6,000.00).

"Sales VAT Account is missing in VAT Posting Setup." The line for this combination exists (that's why the 6% works), but its Sales VAT Account is blank. Open VAT Posting Setup, find SVC-6 + SST and fill in the account. Same fix for "Purchase VAT Account is missing" on a purchase.

2. Post as usual.

Step 7: Find the posted tax in VAT Entries

Every posted document with tax creates a VAT Entry. This is the list you use for your SST-02 or GST F5 return.

1. Search VAT Entries.
2. Filter VAT Date on the return period, for example 01/01/26..28/02/26.
3. Filter on the codes you need: VAT Bus. Posting Group = SVC-8|SVC-6 for service tax, or VAT Prod. Posting Group = GST for all GST.

Column	What it tells you
Type	Purchase (tax you paid) or Sale (tax you charged).
Base	The amount the tax was calculated on.
Amount	The tax. Sales are negative because it's tax you owe: −233.58 is 6% of 3,892.94.
VAT Date	The date the tax is reported on. Usually the same as Posting Date.

Good to know

• Base and Amount are in your local currency, even when the invoice was in a foreign currency.
• Need one total per code? Turn on Analysis mode and group by VAT Bus. Posting Group and Type, or use Open in Excel.
• Tax for one document? Select an entry and choose Find entries to see everything posted with that document. From a posted invoice, Find entries → VAT Entry works the other way.

✓ Done. BC now calculates SST or GST on every document, and VAT Entries gives you the figures for your return.

FAQ

Why does Business Central say VAT? We use SST or GST.

BC uses one tax engine for every country and calls it VAT. SST and GST are set up and posted the same way. VAT Posting Setup, VAT Entries and VAT Amount all mean your SST or GST.

"The VAT Posting Setup does not exist. Identification fields and values: VAT Bus. Posting Group='…',VAT Prod. Posting Group='…'"

There's no line for that combination. Either add the line in VAT Posting Setup, or fix the card that has the wrong group. The message tells you exactly which two codes it looked for.

"Sales VAT Account is missing in VAT Posting Setup."

The line exists but its account is blank. Fill in Sales VAT Account (or Purchase VAT Account) on that line. See Step 6.

The VAT Amount on my journal line stays 0.00.

Check Gen. Posting Type on the G/L line. It must be Purchase or Sale. Also check the code: NR, ZR and OS are 0% on purpose.

One customer buys services at both 8% and 6%.

Leave the customer on the code they use most. On the invoice, change VAT Bus. Posting Group on the lines that need the other rate.

The rate changed. Do I just edit the VAT %?

Better to add a new code (for example SVC-8 next to SVC-6) and switch your customers or vendors to it from the change date. Older invoices keep the old code, so earlier periods still report correctly.

Stuck somewhere? Drop a comment below — happy to help.