Filing requirements for companies in Singapore
3 minute read
Companies in Singapore must comply with certain filing requirements and obligations every year, regardless of their size, level of activity, or business structure. This guide will take you through what each of these filing requirements are and how to prepare them.
Overview:
- Summary of filing requirements
- Preparing financial statements
- Filing ECI (Estimate of Chargeable Income)
- Auditing your financial statements
- Holding an AGM (Annual General Meeting)
- Filing your annual return
- Filing your annual tax return (Form C or Form C-S)
- Filing your GST
Update as of February 2019:
If you prepare and send your company secretary your financial statements within 5 months of your FYE, you no longer need to hold an AGM. This means your company secretary is able file your financial statements with your annual return. If you do not send your company secretary your financial statements within 5 months after your FYE, you are required to hold an AGM and submit this as part of your annual return.
Summary of filing requirements
- Prepare and file Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI)
- Prepare your financial statements
- Audit your financial statements (if your company needs to)
- Hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM)
- File your annual return
- File your GST (if you need to)
Preparing financial statements
- File with: n/a
- When: after the end of the financial year
If your company performs a moderate amount to many transactions each month, it is highly recommended that you perform bookkeeping consistently during the year to keep your finances in order. On the other hand, if your company doesn’t have many financial transactions each month, you can easily do your bookkeeping monthly or quarterly. Your financial statements consist of the following:
- Comprehensive Income/Profit-and-Loss
- Financial Position (Balance Sheet)
- Cash Flow
- Equity Changes
Filing ECI (Estimate of Chargeable Income)
- File with: IRAS
- When: within 3 months of the end of financial year
Incorporated companies in Singapore must declare their revenue and the Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) by filing an Estimated Chargeable Income form with IRAS. Even if the estimated chargeable income for the company is zero, a “Nil” ECI must be filed. The only way this can be waived is if the annual revenue is not more than $5 million for the financial year, and ECI is ‘nil’ for the year of assessment.
Auditing your financial statements
- File with: ACRA
- When: after your financial statements (if required)
After you have prepared the financial statements, if your Singapore company meets any two of the following three conditions, you will need to be audited:
- Total yearly revenue of S$10 million or greater
- Total assets of S$10 million or greater
- 50 or more employees
Also, if your Singapore company is part of a group, the company will be audited according to the financial standing of the entire group – not just the individual company.
Holding an AGM (Annual General Meeting)
- File with: ACRA (as part of annual return)
- When: once a year
Each Singapore company is required to hold an AGM once during the calendar year. The following are the general guidelines that apply to these meetings:
- 1st AGM held within the first 18 months of the company’s incorporation
- Subsequent AGMs must be held within 15 months of each other
- Accounts that are presented during the AGM should be no more than 6 months old
- A private company can choose not to have an AGM if all shareholders pass a resolution not to hold it
Filing your annual return
- File with: ACRA
- When: within 1 month of your AGM
The annual return must contain the following information:
- Details of company officers
- Company financial report or declaration of solvency for exempt companies
- Your financial statements
- Any/all registered addresses
- Auditors if applicable
Filing your annual tax return (Form C or Form C-S)
- File with: IRAS
- When: Nov 30 (or Dec 15 if e-filing)
Singapore looks to the previous year for taxation. The profits for the fiscal year that ended the year prior will be the foundation for filing the current year’s tax return. Be aware that the company’s directors must be held accountable and responsible for maintaining compliance with the requirements for annual filings.
Filing your GST
- File with: IRAS
- When: Every quarter
If you have registered for GST, you will need to file your GST return. All figures must be reported in SGD (IRAS provides guidelines on how to file if you have transactions in foreign currency).
Even if you do not have any transaction during that quarter, you will still need to file a nil return (ie, fill in ‘0’ for all of the boxes).
Streamlining your annual filing process
Compared to other jurisdictions, the filing requirements for Singapore are not burdensome and have been amended in the last few years to make it even easier for SMEs to set up and run their business in Singapore.
If you want to make filing and staying compliant even easier, consider Sleek – a cloud-based corporate service provider that stores all your important documents online and takes away the hassle of remembering to file all your annual requirements.
Talk to us for practical advice!
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