What are key considerations for a Registered Office Address in Singapore?
2 minute read
When you are setting up your business in Singapore, there are several mandatory requirements that have to be followed in order to keep your company compliant with the Singapore regulations.
It is mandated under Section 142(1) of the Companies Act, Cap. 50 for every company to have a local registered office address in Singapore at the point of incorporation.
Overview:
- Criteria for a registered office address
- Using your home address as a registered office address
- Sign up for the registered office address services offered by your corporate service provider
Criteria for a registered office address
A registered office address has to fulfil the following criteria:
- It has to be a place where all communications and notices may be addressed and has to be open and accessible to the public for not less than 3 hours during ordinary business hours on each business day
- It has to be a physical office address in Singapore
- It cannot be a P.O. box address
Take note: You will be receiving mail from government entities like – reminders on annual requirements, new incentives, and also mail from banks. You should check your mail on a daily basis to not miss out on important information.
Using your home address as a registered office address
If you are living in Singapore, you can wish to use your home address as the registered office address. This can be done under the Home Office Scheme with URA or HDB. Do take note that to use your home address as the registered address, there are certain criteria that have to be met with and if those conditions are breached, your permit can be revoked.
You also need to consider the type of business activity that is permitted under the Home Office Scheme. Click here to find out if your business activity is permitted. Many common business types are not permitted such as food catering, manufacturing, courier services, beauty services and more.
By using your home address, you also do not have privacy as the address will be public information as the registered office address of a business can be easily found. Considering all of these points, many entrepreneurs prefer having another registered office address even if they continue to run their business from home.
Sign up for the registered office address services offered by your corporate service provider
If you are living in Singapore and if you are not, getting the registered office address service via your corporate service provider is always the best and mostly chosen option. Find out why:
- Having an office address located at the prestigious central business district will help in attracting potential investors and customers, especially if the business activity is related to the corporate industry. This address can also be printed on business cards, letterheads and corporate collaterals. Many businesses would pick a corporate service provider that has an address in prime locations.
- Renting an office can be costly! If you are from overseas, your office hours might even be different than the office hours in Singapore. Even if you have a habit of checking your email regularly, you cannot open the mail sent in Singapore when you’re overseas.To eliminate the issue caused by time difference, most overseas businesses would rather use their Company Secretary provider’s office address as their registered office address. By doing this, they can ensure that all their mails are handled and checked properly through this virtual office address. Your mails can be checked via email instead after we receive them.
- Go paperless! When you sign up for Sleek’s registered office address service, we can assist with the handling of mails that are received from the Singapore Government Authorities, banks and other government entities and assist with the scanning of the mails to your platform directly. You can always contact us via email for anything regarding your mail.
Next steps
Take note that your registered address will be publicly searchable on ACRA so to avoid customers knowing where you personally live, choosing a registered address option is always better.
At Sleek, we receive mail every day for hundreds of companies and clients. We have developed an AI that analyzes all the mail we receive for our clients, and that dispatches the documents in the right client cloud mailbox.
We offer the use of a local registered address service for SGD $300/year. Our services include not just the reception of all your mail, but also scanning it, digitising it and uploading all your mail to your Sleek Digital Mailroom as email.
You can then easily log in to access the records of your company mail from anywhere and at any time.
Apart from mail forwarding services, we also follow up with the letters received under your business name via email with you. Are you ready to get started with your virtual office address?
Contact us for more details about the services we provide in Singapore today.
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