The same plate of food is taxed three different ways in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. In Malaysia, F&B operators with more than RM1.5 million in annual sales charge 6% service tax on food and drinks, but not on the service charge. In Singapore, GST-registered outlets charge 9% GST on the food and on the service charge. In Indonesia, a dine-in restaurant bill usually carries the regional restaurant tax, PBJT, of up to 10%, not VAT. Indonesia's VAT (PPN) is 12% on paper but works out to 11% for most goods and services, and it applies to other sales, such as packaged food sold by a manufacturer. Popcorn POS comes from Rockbell, which has offices in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, and every outlet in Popcorn carries its own tax and service-charge settings. This guide explains each country's rules as of October 2026, works out the same bill in all three countries, and shows how Popcorn POS, Million and AutoCount keep the front counter and the books compliant.
SST, GST and Indonesian VAT at a glance
| Malaysia | Singapore | Indonesia | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax on a restaurant bill | Service tax (part of SST): 6% on food and drinks | GST: 9% | PBJT (regional restaurant tax): up to 10%, set by each city or regency. Jakarta charges 10%. |
| Collected by | Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) | Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) | PBJT: the local government. PPN: the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP). |
| When you must register | F&B sales above RM1.5 million in a 12-month period | Taxable turnover above S$1 million a year | PBJT: above a local threshold (Jakarta: Rp42 million a month). PPN: turnover above Rp4.8 billion a year. |
| Service charge taxed? | No | Yes | Depends on local rules; check with your tax consultant |
| Other tax to know | Sales tax of 5% or 10% on many manufactured and imported goods | No separate sales tax | PPN: 12%, effectively 11% for non-luxury goods and services |
| E-invoicing | LHDN MyInvois. Businesses below RM3 million in annual turnover are exempt. | GST InvoiceNow, being phased in until April 2031 | e-Faktur, issued through DJP's Coretax system, for PPN-registered businesses (PKP) |
Thresholds and rates are explained, with sources, in the country sections below.
Malaysia: service tax on F&B, and the rest of SST
Malaysia's Sales and Service Tax (SST) has two parts. Sales tax, at 5% or 10%, is charged by manufacturers and importers on goods, and basic food is exempt. Service tax is charged on taxable services, and this is the part that lands on a restaurant or café bill.
The rate and the threshold
- 6% on food and drinks. When the general service tax rate went up to 8% on 1 March 2024, food and beverage services stayed at 6% (summary of RMCD's updated F&B guide, 16 April 2024). The rate depends on the type of service, so other services you provide may carry a different rate.
- Register above RM1.5 million. An F&B operator has to register once its taxable sales exceed RM1.5 million within a 12-month period. Below that, registration is not required.
- Eat-in, takeaway and delivery. RMCD's F&B guide covers outlets that serve food "whether wholly or partly eat-in or take-away", and says delivery services by an F&B operator are also subject to service tax (RMCD Guide on Food and Beverages).
No service tax on the service charge
This is the rule owners most often get wrong. RMCD's guide says service tax "is to be calculated on the value of actual price excluding service charge", and its FAQ answers plainly: "No, service charge is not subject to service tax." So on a RM100 bill with a 10% service charge, the service tax is RM6.00, not RM6.60.
Your rent may carry service tax now
Since the SST expansion of 1 July 2025, rental and leasing services can be subject to service tax. From 1 January 2026 the government cut that rate from 8% to 6% and raised the sales threshold for the MSME exemption from RM1 million to RM1.5 million (BDO). If your landlord has started charging service tax on rent, build it into your outlet costs. For Budget 2027, tabled on 9 October 2026, EY's tax snapshot lists no change to service tax on F&B; the service tax cut it lists is for elderly care services (EY Budget 2027 tax snapshot).
E-invoicing: the RM3 million threshold
LHDN's e-Invoice Guideline version 4.8 (30 August 2026) raised the exemption threshold from RM1 million to RM3 million in annual turnover. Businesses below RM3 million are exempt unless they belong to a group with a shareholder, holding company or related company at RM3 million or above, and any business may still join voluntarily (VATupdate). Our guide to LHDN e-invoicing for F&B explains how e-invoices work at the counter, and our comparison of MyInvois e-POS and Popcorn POS covers LHDN's free option.
Singapore: GST for restaurants and cafés
- 9% since 1 January 2024. Only GST-registered businesses may charge GST. If you are not registered, your bills and receipts should not show GST.
- Register at S$1 million. Registration is compulsory once taxable turnover goes above S$1 million in a calendar year, or is expected to in the next 12 months.
- GST applies to the service charge. IRAS treats the service charge as part of the price of the meal, so GST is worked out on the food plus the service charge. On S$100 of food with a 10% service charge, GST is 9% of S$110, which is S$9.90 (IRAS: Hotel and Food & Beverage).
- Menu prices must include GST, with one exception for F&B. Outlets that charge a service charge may show prices before service charge and GST, as long as they display a clear notice that prices are subject to service charge and prevailing GST.
GST InvoiceNow: when it reaches you
Singapore is phasing in the GST InvoiceNow requirement, under which GST-registered businesses send a copy of their invoice data to IRAS through InvoiceNow. At Committee of Supply 2026, IRAS announced it will cover all GST-registered businesses by April 2031. The phases (summarised by 3E Accounting):
| From | Who |
|---|---|
| 1 Nov 2025 | Newly incorporated companies that register for GST voluntarily within six months of incorporation |
| 1 Apr 2026 | All new voluntary GST registrants |
| 1 Apr 2028 | New compulsory registrants, and existing GST-registered businesses with annual supplies up to S$200,000 |
| 1 Apr 2029 | Existing GST-registered businesses with annual supplies up to S$1 million |
| 1 Apr 2030 | Existing GST-registered businesses with annual supplies up to S$4 million |
| 1 Apr 2031 | All remaining GST-registered businesses |
For a restaurant, this mostly happens in the back office: the accounting system sends the invoice data, using the sales the POS has recorded.
Indonesia: VAT (PPN) and the restaurant tax (PBJT)
Many owners call the tax on an Indonesian restaurant bill "VAT", but for food and drinks served at a restaurant it usually isn't. Indonesia has two separate taxes to know about.
PBJT: the tax on restaurant bills
- A regional tax of up to 10%. Food and drinks served at restaurants are taxed by the local government as PBJT (Pajak Barang dan Jasa Tertentu, previously known as restaurant tax). It is set under Law No. 1 of 2022 (UU HKPD), with a maximum rate of 10%, and each region sets its own rate by regional regulation.
- Not PPN. The Directorate General of Taxes says restaurant food and drinks are not subject to PPN, and calls an 11% PPN charge on a restaurant receipt a mistake (DJP: "Makan di Restoran Tidak Kena PPN").
- Jakarta: 10%, with a Rp42 million threshold. Under Jakarta's Regional Regulation No. 1 of 2024, the PBJT rate on food and drinks is 10%, and outlets with sales of no more than Rp42 million a month are exempt (DDTCNews). Other cities set their own rate and threshold.
- What counts as a restaurant. The test is whether you provide tables, chairs or cutlery. DJP gives the example of a bakery with tables and chairs: its sales fall under PBJT even when customers take their bread away. Catering services are covered too.
PPN: Indonesia's VAT
- 12% on paper, 11% in practice. The statutory rate rose to 12% on 1 January 2025. Under Finance Ministry Regulation PMK 131/2024, non-luxury goods and services are taxed at 12% on a base of 11/12 of the price, so the effective rate is 11%. The full 12% applies only to luxury goods, and the Finance Ministry said in August 2025 that this would not change in 2026 (DDTCNews).
- Where F&B businesses meet PPN. Some food and drink sales are outside PBJT and fall under PPN instead, including sales by food and drink manufacturers and by supermarkets and other stores that don't sell only food and drinks (DJP). A central kitchen or food factory selling packaged products is a common example. Example: packaged cookies sold for Rp100,000 carry PPN of 12% on a base of Rp91,667 (11/12 of the price), which is Rp11,000.
- Registration and e-Faktur. A business must register as a PKP (VAT-registered business) once turnover exceeds Rp4.8 billion a year, and PKPs issue tax invoices (e-Faktur) through DJP's Coretax system.
One order, three countries: the same bill worked out
Here is the same order of food and drinks at an outlet that is registered for the local tax in each country.
| Malaysia (registered for service tax) | Singapore (GST-registered) | Indonesia (Jakarta restaurant) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food and drinks | RM100.00 | S$100.00 | Rp100,000 |
| Service charge (10%) | RM10.00 | S$10.00 | Not shown; depends on local rules |
| Tax | Service tax 6% on RM100.00 = RM6.00 | GST 9% on S$110.00 = S$9.90 | PBJT 10% on Rp100,000 = Rp10,000 |
| Total | RM116.00 | S$119.90 | Rp110,000 |
The difference between RM116.00 and RM116.60 looks small, but on a busy outlet it adds up, and charging tax on the wrong base means either overcharging customers or under-collecting tax. This is why the tax order needs to be set correctly in the POS for each outlet before day one, rather than fixed by hand at the counter.
How Popcorn POS handles SST, GST and Indonesian tax
Popcorn POS is built by Rockbell, which has offices in Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta. Within its first year, Popcorn already had partners and customers in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Tax is set up outlet by outlet, so a chain can run each country on its own rules.
- Tax and service charge per outlet. Each outlet has its own Tax & Service Charge settings, including a choice between the Malaysia and Singapore service-charge rules. With the Malaysia rule, SST is worked out on the food price before the service charge. With the Singapore rule, GST is worked out after the service charge, on the subtotal that includes it.
- Tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive prices. Four modes are available: tax exclusive, tax inclusive, tax exclusive from subtotal, and tax inclusive from subtotal. A Singapore outlet that shows GST-inclusive menu prices uses an inclusive mode; an outlet that adds tax on top of menu prices uses an exclusive mode.
- Tax by item or category. You apply the item tax by product category and outlet, so items that carry a different rate are billed correctly without the cashier having to think about it.
- Indonesian outlets. The same settings put the local PBJT rate on the bill, or PPN where a sale falls under PPN.
- Compliance on every plan. GST and SST compliance and Malaysia e-invoicing are included on every plan. For LHDN MyInvois, Popcorn POS generates e-invoices in real time for customers who ask for one and submits the consolidated report for other sales before the 7th of each month.
- Every outlet in one place. Multi-outlet management with a central dashboard comes on every plan, and Edge by Popcorn, the owner app, shows sales reports from anywhere. Our guides to the best multi-outlet POS and consolidated multi-outlet reporting go into more detail.
Real-time sales reports also make it easier to watch the thresholds, such as Malaysia's RM1.5 million over 12 months or Jakarta's Rp42 million a month, before you cross them.
Keep the books compliant too: Million and AutoCount
The POS gets the tax right on each bill. The tax returns, e-invoices and audit trail are handled in your accounting system. Popcorn POS connects to Million Accounting and AutoCount, so outlet sales go into the books without anyone retyping them. Our guide to POS accounting integration explains how each connection works.
Malaysia
Rockbell describes its Malaysian solutions as SST-compliant. Million and AutoCount also support LHDN e-invoicing, covering invoices, credit notes, debit notes and refund notes for business, consumer and government customers (Rockbell e-Invoice). The full range is at rockbell.com.my.
Singapore
Rockbell's Singapore office offers GST-compliant accounting that generates the GST F5 return straight from your books and sends e-invoices through InvoiceNow. Its payroll software is described as IRAS-ready every cycle. Details are at rockbell.sg.
Indonesia
Rockbell's Jakarta office supports Popcorn POS customers in Indonesia. Talk to the team about setting up your outlets and the accounting for your Indonesian company.
Checklist before you open in another country
- Set up the company and tax registration. Check the thresholds above, and register before you cross them, not after.
- Confirm which tax goes on the bill with a local tax agent: service tax in Malaysia, GST in Singapore, PBJT or PPN in Indonesia.
- Set the outlet's tax and service-charge rule in the POS before the first day of trading.
- Assign tax to items by category, especially if some items carry a different rate.
- Check menu price display. In Singapore, show GST-inclusive prices, or the service-charge and GST notice if you charge a service charge.
- Check your receipt for the tax line and your tax registration number where it is required.
- Plan e-invoicing: MyInvois in Malaysia (RM3 million and above), InvoiceNow in Singapore (by phase), and e-Faktur in Coretax in Indonesia (PKP).
- Watch your sales against the thresholds every month, outlet by outlet.
- Keep each country's books separate, connected to the POS so sales post automatically.
Get every outlet set up right
Tax rules in this guide are as of 16 October 2026 and come from RMCD, IRAS, DJP, Jakarta's regional regulation and the sources linked above. This is a general guide, not tax advice. Rates, thresholds and local rules change, so confirm your own position with a tax agent in each country. Product details for Popcorn POS are from popcorntek.com.my, and for Million and AutoCount from Rockbell's websites; check current features and pricing with the Rockbell team.
If you run outlets in more than one of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, or plan to, request a demo. Our team will show you how Popcorn POS sets up tax and service charge for each outlet, and how it connects to Million or AutoCount for the books, with no obligation.
