Ultimate guide: How to register a company in Singapore

Company registration – additional considerations for foreigners

Foreigners who are interested in registering their Singapore Company also need to consider the following:

• You will need to hire a professional to file on your behalf. Singapore does not allow a foreign individual/entity to self-register their company.
• If you plan to incorporate your Singapore company, but don’t plan to move, you do not need to obtain any special travel visa. You may operate your company from overseas, and you may visit Singapore on a short-term visitor visa when you need to deal with company issues.
• If you are not planning to have anyone in your company move to Singapore, you will still need to fulfill the requirement to have a local director. You can find a professional service firm in Singapore like Sleek that offers incorporation services including local resident directorship.

You may need to travel in order to set up a corporate bank account, depending on the bank you choose. We have a network of bankers and can help facilitate this. Check out our short guide on how to open a Singapore bank account.

Timeline for registering your company

Once you have all your documents together, a company can be incorporated within one to three business days, as long as you have all of your documentation ready and ACRA does not cause any delays. There are 2 steps involved for incorporating in Singapore.

1. Reserving the company name

To register your business in Singapore, you must make sure that your proposed name is approved by ACRA. Usually, you will find out whether your proposed name has been approved or rejected within a day. However, if your proposed name contains specific words such as media, bank, law, finance, or education, the corresponding external governmental authority may be required to review and approve the name.

We’ve captured some of the Hottest Tips for Picking Your Company Name.

To increase your chances of the proposed name being approved right away, you want to make sure that the name is not:

• Similar/identical to an existing company in Singapore
• Vulgar/obscene
• Already reserved

Approved company names will be held and secured for 60 days from the date of your application. If you need to extend the name reservation for another 60 days, you may do so by filing an extension just before the initial hold expires.

2. Registering the company

Once you have received approval for your name, the process of filing the paperwork and obtaining approval from the ACRA can be done in just a day – as long as the documents are all ready and have been signed by all directors of the new company.

What happens post-incorporation?

• You receive a Certificate of Incorporation. ACRA will send an email notification confirming the registration of your company. This is your official Singapore Company Incorporation Certificate and will include your business registration number. If you want a hard copy of the certificate, you can make an online request to ACRA for S$50.
• You receive a Business Profile (”Bizfile”). ACRA will also provide the business profile of your new company for free. The business profile is the identity card of the company.
• You are able to open a corporate bank account. For more details refer to our short guide on How to open a Singapore bank account.
• Business Licenses Application. Depending on the activities that your business will be doing, you might also need to apply for business licenses. You will complete this process after registering your company and before starting your business. Refer to our Guide for the Most Common Licenses in Singapore.
• Registration for Goods and Service Tax (GST). If you expect your business’s annual turnover to exceed S$1 million, then you must register for Goods & Services Tax, or GST (also referred to as value-added tax, VAT, in many countries). If you do not expect your business’ annual turnovers to reach S$1 million, you are not required to register for GST.

(Want to learn more about GST in Singapore? Read our Simple Guide to GST in Singapore in Singapore or download our GST Cheat Sheet.)

Ongoing requirements/formalities for filing

Once you have officially incorporated your Singapore business, the Companies Act requires specific annual filing requirements to be made. Check out our guide on the annual filing requirements for companies established in Singapore.

If you’re not Singaporean and you want to have a hassle-free experience, you might want to consider hiring a professional company secretary.. like us!

Below is an example of some of the key deadlines you will need to keep on top of:

Why incorporate in Singapore?

Tax Benefits – the Delaware of Asia

Tax benefits are one of the main reasons why many companies choose to register a company in Singapore. Singapore has business-friendly tax rates and a wealth of tax incentives to encourage the growth of businesses and entrepreneurship, which makes incorporating a company in Singapore a good idea. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the favorable tax policies:

• Tax-exempted profits: For YA 2020 onwards, 75% of the first S$100,000 of profits earned in Singapore for the first 3 years from a company’s incorporation are exempted from taxes. More information in our 5 minute Guide to Singapore’s Corporate Tax System.
• Tax Minimization: Shareholders of Singapore companies can benefit from 0% tax on dividends and 0% tax on capital gains.
• Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTA): Singapore currently has treaties with over 50 countries, including some of the most influential economic nations in the world such as Australia, China, Japan, UK, Canada, France, and Germany. Here is a list of Singapore’s DTA’s currently in force.
• Extra tax reduction: On top of tax exemptions, an incorporated company can further lower its taxable income by setting up benefits programs for its employees. Specific programs can be classified as business expenses such as leasing of vehicles, pensions, and retirement funds.

Singapore has an excellent international reputation as a stable jurisdiction with a robust financial infrastructure and a well-regulated economy. From government grants, accelerators, incubators, VCs, and banks, there are several ways to get access to capital at any stage of development.

This has spurred the growth of the start-up scene in Singapore, with capital pouring into the city-state: in 2016 there was US$3.5 billion in private equity and VC investment alone.

More details are captured in our additional resources:

• Grants & Funding Schemes in Singapore for Entrepreneurs
• The 6 main sources of funding for your startup in Singapore
• A beginner’s guide to accelerators and incubators in Singapore

In comparison to other countries like China, opening a corporate bank account is also a simple process. Some corporate service providers such as us at Sleek offer matchmaking services with their network of bankers, making the process even smoother. Singapore banks also offer excellent Letters of Credit (LC) support to Singapore companies engaging in international trading.

Entrepreneur-friendly government policies

In addition to the ocean of venture capital pouring into Singapore, the Singapore government has also adopted several very pro-innovation and entrepreneur-friendly policies in a bid to attract foreign startups. These policies include several forms of grants, tax incentives, and assistance schemes. Additionally, if your business falls within specific economic sectors, the government also subsidises labor costs for your new business.

One example is the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), which subsidizes the cost of digitally enhancing your business. Sleek is a pre-approved PSG vendor, which means entrepreneurs can get some of our services subsidized by the government. For example, eligible clients can get up to 70% off their yearly accounting fees. 

More information on how to get started with Sleek through the PSG grant can be found here.

The gateway to Asia

Singapore is an international hub with a prime location in South East Asia. Sometimes referred to as ‘entry-level Asia’ or ‘Asia lite’ by expats (and currently rated as the #1 city in Asia for quality of life), it’s a country where east meets west.

As a logistics hub, Singapore is one of the best locations for regional business – the award-winning Changi International Airport is known for its efficiency and frequency of flights (currently with more than 400 direct flights!). Business is best when it’s done face-to-face – and with a base in Singapore, there are several key emerging markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines a few hours’ plane ride away.

Singapore companies also enjoy a positive and transparent image in the region–a reputable foundation for the promotion of the company to customers, suppliers, and investors, as well as opening doors to business alliance opportunities.

Finding and managing local talent

If you have a head office in an English-speaking country, setting up a subsidiary or other corporate entity in Singapore is a smart choice – Singaporeans have a reputation for being hardworking, rule-abiding, and highly productive. The talent pool is highly educated, literate, and English-speaking, minimizing communication difficulties between offices.

Singapore’s liberal immigration laws also allow businesses to easily hire employees from any country, which can lower the company’s operating costs. Nearly a third of the country’s workforce are foreigners and Singapore makes it easy for any foreign professionals to obtain work visas or permanent residence (PR) status.

World-class telecommunication infrastructure

In today’s world, the availability of lightning-fast internet communication infrastructure is crucial to the success of any new business. The telecommunication infrastructure of Singapore covers the entire country, with near zero blackouts or downtime.

Based on official figures, there are over 43,000 public Wi-Fi access points and 15 million mobile subscribers. Businesses can connect to the internet from almost anywhere without suffering a loss of network connection or delays.

Strong anti-corruption stance

Singapore has a strict policy against corruption on any level. To deter corruption, their government employees are some of the highest paid in the world. This policy is effective as Singapore is currently ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world.

Instead of dealing with “connections” or bribes, which makes palm-greasing necessary to get things completed, Singapore is the exact opposite. In this sense, you can know your business will succeed or fail based on its own merits, and not because of corrupt officials.

Easy company registration process

The requirements for starting a company in Singapore are low. It’s one of the easiest places to start a company in the world – it’s currently ranked #2 in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings. 

Next steps

Incorporating in Singapore is a strong choice when deciding where to base yourself. A stable economy, a strong workforce, and business-friendly tax policies let you get up and running sooner- so you can spend less time tangled in admin and more time growing your business.

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