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If you are new to corporate services in Singapore, here are answers to some common questions about us, the services we offer, and how to get started.
If the FAQs below do not address your inquiry, please check out the following resources.
- General
- Incorporation
- Secretarial
- Dormant Company
- Nominee Director
- Work Pass
- Accounting / Tax / Payroll
General
You can file all documents through our online cloud digital platform. We encrypt all data that goes between clients and platforms protecting all personal and company data.
ACRA stands for the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore. It’s responsible for regulating business registration of corporate entities, financial reporting, public accountants, and corporate service providers in Singapore.
ACRA’s job is to promote enterprise by creating a good environment for businesses in Singapore to thrive, thereby making Singapore the preferred country to set up and grow businesses.
Incorporation
Unique Entity Number (UEN) is an identification number issued by the Singapore government to all entities in Singapore. You will receive your UEN upon the completion of your Singapore company registration.
Entities that can get the UEN are local companies, LLPs, societies and representative offices. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is responsible for issuing UEN to all the entities with limited partnership, limited liability partnerships, foreign companies and public accounting firms.
SSIC codes, or a Singapore Standard Industrial Classification Code, is a number provided to classify a company’s business activities in Singapore. SSIC codes are primarily used by the Singapore Government for statistical purposes (i.e. how many dentists, travel agents or mushroom growers there are registered in Singapore), however they also help with regulation and governance of certain restricted activities.
Yes, you can. The primary code should describe the main business activity and source of income and if using two codes then the activities should be somewhat closely related or complimentary.
To incorporate a company in Singapore, you need to have at least 1 shareholder, a company secretary, 1 resident director, at least $1 capital (in any currency), and a local business address in Singapore.
Yes, all Singapore companies must have a local registered address. If you do not have a local office address, use our service. For locals, you can use your residential address as your company address if your business is not going to disturb your neighbours. You will require additional approval from the authorities for this.
No, it is possible to incorporate a company completely online.
Registering a Private Limited Company (Pte Ltd) with ACRA, the fees payable is $315.
The entire process takes within a day or two, depending on the required documents that are ready for us to process.
Once you have completed the onboarding process with us, we will start conducting due diligence by checking the documents you prepared for us. While you sit back, we will take care of the rest, and notify you once Company is incorporated.
- We will cover the following services in the package:
- Checking and registering company name
- Prepare all registration forms
- Prepare your company constitution (memorandum and articles of the company)
- Filing with ACRA
- Prepare the compliance corporate kit
- Assistance to open a bank account
- Company constitution
- Form 45 Consent to Act as a Director Nominee Director Service Agreement & Deed of Indemnity – if using our Nominee Directors, then these documents will need to be signed as it outlines the non-executive nature of the position.
You will receive a Certificate of Incorporation and a business profile from ACRA. The incorporation certificate will have your Singapore business registration number as a soft copy. You can also request for a hard copy for S$50.
Once you have completed the registration process, you can open a corporate bank account with any banks in Singapore.
Before commencing your business, you need to check if your business requires a license. You can check here.
The good news is that Singapore has set up a user-friendly business license portal. Commonly restricted Company Names and Company Activity can also be viewed here.
If you select a restricted business activity or company name, then approval of use from the relevant authority may take between 14 days to 2 months. You will also be required to apply for the relevant licenses for your business once your company is set up and you have received your Unique Entity Number (UEN) and CorpPass.
Yes, you can apply for an Employment Pass (EP) which you will receive within six months if you are qualified for it.
Secretarial
XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data worldwide. As one of the family of “XML” languages, it is becoming a standard means of communicating information between businesses and on the Internet.
BizFile is an information storage portal for companies in Singapore to upload, store and retrieve business data. It was set up in 2004. Since then, ACRA requires companies to submit all due filings online via BizFile. In 2016, BizFile went through a major system upgrade and was renamed BizFile+.
Before 2004, a business owner had to personally go to the Registry of Companies to manually fill in and submit paperwork for any corporate-related tasks. This took up a busy entrepreneur’s time. For entrepreneurs, time is money.
Since 2016, BizFile+ has enabled a business owner to access more than 400 services online. BizFile+ has reduced the time for entrepreneurs to complete corporate administrative tasks such as submitting statutory documents and retrieving and buying information on business entities registered with ACRA. It is also the tool that companies use to submit due filings online and perform other essential corporate tasks.
Every registered company will also need an auditor for your company within 3 months of your incorporation date, unless your company is exempted from audit.
A corporate secretary is a person responsible for all necessary documents required by law. For example, issuing company resolutions, managing regulatory filings, and maintaining company books. Every Singapore business must have one. This critical role requires various certifications and involves a lot of responsibility.
We will only need you to provide us the information on your current corporate secretary, and we will work out the take over with them.
Dormant Company
Your company becomes dormant if you haven’t had any transactions or income for a year. The year, in this case, is your tax evaluation period, not a calendar one.
You still need to submit your annual tax return so that IRAS (tax authority) knows your company is dormant. You also need to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM). You don’t have to gather physically, releasing necessary documents is enough.
The procedure to notify the Authorities (ACRA & IRAS) about your company’s dormancy status is, in essence, preparing your annual filings accordingly. The most important part is to make sure that you comply with the requirements for Dormant of each authority. When providing this service, we make sure that all the requirements are fulfilled and take care of the filings.
When the time comes for your annual filings and AGM preparation, we’ll send you reminders all documents in a chat. You don’t have to keep these deadlines in your mind.
Sure, you just need to inform IRAS within a month after you go back to business. We’ll do that for you.
If you want to close your Singapore business, we can assist you to strike it off. However, if you do not rule out that you might use this company again, consider keeping it Dormant. It makes sense if you have a brand name, licenses or patents related to it. You can also use it to strategically hold investments in Singapore, however, you may not derive income from them.
Yes however, the assets of your dormant company cannot exceed $500,000.
Nominee Director
A nominee formally holds a director’s position, without any actual decision-making powers or authority to run the company. His only obligations are to act in the interests of the company and in compliance with the law.
Anybody above 18 years old can be a director, Singapore locals or foreigners. You can have as many directors as you want, or it could be just you.
An individual can be disqualified to act as a director or to directly/indirectly manage a company if he: a. is an undischarged bankrupt (section 148 of the Companies Act); b. has been convicted for an offence involving fraud or dishonesty that carries an imprisonment term of 3 months or more (section 154 of the Companies Act); c. has been convicted by the court of 3 or more ACRA filing offences (section 155 of the Companies Act); d. has
three or more companies that were struck off by ACRA within a 5- year period (section 155A of the Companies Act).
Only foreigners who are on Employment Pass are allowed to act as a director for a Singapore company, if they have a Letter of Consent from the Ministry of Manpower (MoM).
Work Pass
It’s a type of working visa issued per specific company to invite foreign professionals, managers, executives, and technicians. It allows you to work exclusively for that company, live and bring your family to Singapore. It’s valid for 1 or 2 years. You can renew it afterwards.
No, EPs/DPs are issued per one specific company. You can only work for the employer that sponsors your visa. So after you’ve incorporated, your new business has to apply for your new EP.
It’s an employment visa, so your professional qualities and fit with the company will be evaluated. We will file your CV with relevant professional experience, education data and the company profile to get the visa. The most important factor is your fixed salary amount that the company commits to paying you. It needs to be no less than S$6,000, especially if you want to bring immediate family under Dependants’ Passes.
When applying for an EP for yourself (as the business owner) or a potential employee, you will need to submit 3 standard documents in PDF along with your Employment Pass form:
- Copy of your passport
- Company’s latest business profile registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).
- Your educational certificates (diploma, degree certificate etc. must be translate by a certified translator).
Yes. Any foreigners working in Singapore on a Work Pass (not eligible for Work Permit), may apply for PR to the ICA. The application will be assessed based on ICA’s PR criteria. You will need to provide at least six months of latest payslips issued by your local employer.
You can renew your employment pass with us by supplying a copy of your EP, a copy of your passport, your residential address, and your monthly salary in SGD – we can take care of the rest.
Yes, an Employment Pass holder is allowed to own shares in a Singapore-registered company.
No, an S Pass holder cannot be a director or sole proprietor of a business. If you are an S Pass holder who wants to set up a business in Singapore, you should terminate your current employment and apply for an EntrePass or Employment Pass.
Accounting / Tax / Payroll
Accounting is important for small business owners as it helps the owners, managers, investors, and other stakeholders in the business evaluate the financial performance of the business. Accounting provides vital information regarding cost and earnings, profit and loss, liabilities and assets for decision making, planning, and controlling processes within a business.
The main objective of accounting is to record financial transactions in the books of accounts to identify, measure and communicate economic information. Moreover, tax reporting agencies require you to keep books at a minimum level that tracks income and expenditure.
Singapore has its own system called Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS). It’s like IFRS and it’s accrual-based accounting. Which means transactions are recognized when they take place and not when the money is paid. Outsourced accounting services in Singapore must comply with SFRS requirements.
Feel free to fill in the form to contact us for tailored packages based on the service(s) you require.
Customized packages could include monthly bookkeeping, monthly management report, Xero Accounting Software subscription, setup and onboarding to our company, monthly payroll support including payslip, Annual IR8A, CPF & SDL Processing, preparation of unaudited financial statements, preparation of Estimated Chargeable Income & Corporate Income Tax Return, and tax support.
Please contact us for more details on specific services you require.
Absolutely! Please provide us with any bank statements from the previous months (if any). In addition, we will also need any bills (receipts or supplier invoices), or all your invoices issued previously, if any.
If your total revenue is more than S$1M (irrespective of whether the revenue is generated onshore or offshore) then your company must apply for a GST Exemption with IRAS to defer the need to conduct ongoing GST compliance. Going forward and to maintain this exemption your company will need to constantly monitor your total offshore/international revenue to ensure that it continues to form at least 90% of your total revenue allocation.
At any time, if your offshore revenue drops below 90% (let’s say, consistently for 3 months), then you need to inform IRAS and register for GST as soon as possible. It is also likely that IRAS will backdate the effective date of GST registration to the date where the offshore/international sales fall below 90%.
We can assist you to apply for the GST Exemption if you are eligible.
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