FAQs

They are the natural residents of Singapore (Singapore citizens) or permanent residents or holders of Employment Pass, EntrePass or Dependant’s Pass.

During the time of opening a branch office in Singapore you need two Singapore resident agents who will act as staff in the country.

Yes. You need to have at least 1 local director who is either a natural resident of Singapore or permanent resident or holder of an Employment Pass, EntrePass or a Dependant’s pass, in order to incorporate a company in Singapore.

Not at all! It is not required. You can hire SBS Consulting for the purpose. All you have to do is to supply us with all the original documents with your signatures where they are required. We will do the paper work to get your company registered in Singapore.

No, it is not mandatory, it will depend on the company's business requirements. if you would like to open corporate bank account, you will have to visit Singapore to do so, along with the majority shareholders and directors of the company. SBS Consulting will assist you with the task.

Incorporation experts at SBS Consulting can register a Singapore company in a day. However, you must supply all the necessary documents to us.

Yes! After incorporating your Singapore company with SBS Consulting, you are notified about due dates. We will inform you about the due dates for all annual compliance matters and annual filing to government authorities. Business owners, shareholders, and directors of the company receive emails from us.

Yes, SBS Consulting does provide these services. Our existing clients which run from small-scale, medium and to multinationals are totally satisfied with the quality and promptness of our services.

Some of our clients also rely on us for immigration, payroll, XBRL filing, IT, Software development, and Website designing services.

Hiring SBS Consulting to register your company in Singapore will get a qualified professional allocated to you. This expert, will handle your queries about incorporation and assist you in the registration of your company. In future, SBS could assist you or give free consultation or advice you for any changes in corporate structure required.

You can start the company with just S$1 share capital and it is allowed as per provisions of the companies act in Singapore. If you would like to increase share capital in future, you can increase as well , SBS will assist you for that if required.

Yes! SBS Consultancy does provide services of a company secretary to its clients. A newly incorporated company must appoint a qualified company secretary within six months of its registration. This individual takes care of the statutory compliance matters by informing the owner and the directors of the company about due dates. This individual also maintains statutory registers, company kit and the company seal.

When you want to replace your local nominee director, send intimation to SBS Consulting, if it is acting as your company secretary, about it. We will put together necessary paperwork for doing so. You will have to supply us the details of the person you have chosen to act as the new local nominee director for you.

Yes! 100% foreign shareholding is allowed for Singapore registered company. Hence, either foreign individuals or foreign company can own 100% shares of a Singapore company.

Yes! You, as a Singapore company can hire foreign employees. They will need work permits.

1. Open your company’s corporate bank account, if your business needs them.
2. Acquire licenses, if your business needs them.
3. Apply for work visas to Controller of Work Passes, if you are employing foreigners.
4. In case of locally hired employees, contribute to CPF.

Yes, it is.

Many business organizations are under the impression that compliance rating means not being fined or penalized. It is totally, wrong.

A compliance rating is awarded in the form of a Green Tick Mark or a Check Mark to companies only if they hold timely AGM, table up-to-date accounts and file their Annual Returns, If not, Red Cross Mark rating given by ACRA.

All compliance rating records for local companies are available on ACRA’s website, Directory of Registered Entities. Investors or any member of public can view it. Because of this, for every company it is important to achieve a favorable compliance rating as it can use it for brand equity.
Receiving a GREE Tick Mark is a sign that the company is in capable hands.

A private limited (Pte Ltd) company limited by shares in Singapore is a business structure of choice for the local as well as foreign entrepreneurs. It can have 1 – 50 shareholders. In Singapore, individuals aged 18 years or above are eligible to register it.

A Pte Ltd company, unlike a sole proprietorship, has separate legal existence from its owners. According to the law, it is a legal person. It has the rights of natural born person. It has the right to buy and sell the property. It can sue and be sued by the others. Unlike a sole proprietorship or a partnership, it limits the liability of its owners (shareholders) to the amount they have invested in the shares of the company.

The Singapore Pte Ltd company needs at least a local director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. Such an individual needs to be 18 years of age or above. Singapore citizens, permanent residents, and holders of Employment Pass or Entrepreneur Pass can act in this capacity. Also, the company can have as many directors as it deems necessary. In absence of a local director, an entrepreneur needs to get nominee director service from the corporate services providers active in Singapore.

A Singapore Pte Ltd company needs at least one shareholder, and it can have as many as 50. The shareholders can be local as well as foreigners. Singapore's Company Act allows for the 100% foreign ownership. At the time of registration, the business owner must provide at least a local director (or nominee director) and registered office address. The new company must hire at least a company secretary within six months and an auditor within three months from its date of registration (if accounts need to be audited)

When we incorporate a company in Singapore, we create an artificial legal person who has the legal rights of a natural person. It has a separate identity from its shareholders. A sole proprietorship does not have this luxury. An incorporated company is of more advantage than a sole proprietorship and a partnership when it comes to liability and tax benefits. The process of incorporation of a Singapore company has two steps; registration of the name of company name and registration of company itself.

An individual entrepreneur has the option of registering his or her business in the form of a sole proprietorship, partnership or an incorporated private limited company. The private limited company has a separte legal identity from its owner i.e. shareholders. It is the better option as it limits the personal liability of shareholders to the money they have invested in shares. In the case of a Sole Proprietorship or a Partnership, the owner's private assets are used to pay the debts of the business firm. An incorporated company can sue or be sued by others, can buy or sell the property, and pays its own taxes.

The financial year end (FYE) of Singapore is the end of the fiscal accounting period of a company which is up to 12 months.

All companies incorporated in Singapore which are either limited or unlimited by shares (except exempted companies) are required to file their full set of financial statements in XBRL format according to the recent guidelines released by ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority) Singapore June 2013.

Companies, however small, hire accountants to take a stock of their financial health. The financial reports prepared by these professionals are useful in assessing present situation of the company and in taking decisions about the future direction of the company.

During compilation of financial statements, provided data is arranged in the predetermined form. While going through it, accountants check its form, whether it is free of material errors and issue a certificate saying so. The certificate does not say anything about the reliability of the data.

Alternately, an accountant can also be engaged to conduct a review or the audit of a business. Here, accountants check for the reliability of the data provided by the company and submits a report. Such a report gives true state of the financial health of the business. Government regulators, investors, creditors, and management use this report to make decisions.

XBRL is an acronym for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. Financial information is converted to XBRL format then, sent to and fro between business entities. Singapore government has mandated it for each Singapore company to file its financial statements only in XBRL format. The analysis of the data, thus, accumulated gives accurate information about the trends in finance.

It is very important for corporations to know about their financial and operational health. Investors are more interested in knowing financial health and the management in operational efficiency of the company.

Management account reports gives information on operational efficiency of the company.

Financial accounting report conveys financial health of the company to the investors, creditors, and government regulators.

Under the corporate accounting, statements about company’s final accounts and cash flow are considered. The reports present analysis and interpretation of financial results. Such reports are taken as stepping-stones for company’s plans.

Yes, SBS Consulting offers bookkeeping services as a part of under-the-one-roof complete accounting solutions to its Singapore clients.

For you to produces accurate accounting statements, you will have to keep updated with the latest changes in the Singapore accounting laws. If you can spare the time and efforts, it is ok. However, it is far better to let the professionals handle accounting and auditing tasks. This will free you to concentrate on core function of your business.

Professional accountants at SBS Consulting make sure that they are updated with the changes in rules, so that, their reports are accurate. SBS Consulting can also advice you on issues related to your business.

You will have to choose a trustworthy Singapore accounting service like, SBS Consulting. This helps you in saving money on selecting and training accounts professionals for your company.

Professionals at SBS Consulting submit accurate and timely reports for your consumption. They use latest accounting software to process your data securely. They also handle compliance issues for you easily, as they are far more experienced in these matters.

An Annual Return is an electronic submission made to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”), A company’s submission of its Annual Return is dependent and contingent on when it holds its Annual General Meeting (“AGM”); and it is a statutory requirement under Section 197 of the Companies’ Act to file an Annual Return within one month from the date of the company’s AGM. As the name implies, an AGM and Annual Return should be submitted by a company annually and is one of the ongoing compliance requirements that companies are obliged to comply with. The only exception to this requirement would be newly incorporated companies, which are allowed a longer period of 18 months from the date of incorporation to hold their first AGM.

Yes, it is possible to transfer money from Singapore. Singapore has signed double-taxation treaties with more than 50 trading partners. These help businesses and individuals in avoiding double taxation on their cross-border income.

The destination country may apply tax when your money arrives in its jurisdiction. Check with a tax consultant to know the latest situation.

Following list gives Tax Deductible Donations:

• Cash Donations
• Artifact Donations
• Public Art Tax Incentive Scheme
• Computer Donations
• Land and Building Donations
• Shares Donations

As per the Singapore Companies Act, all the companies incorporated in Singapore must employ a qualified company secretary within 6 months of incorporation.

The company secretary must be ordinarily a resident of Singapore or permanent resident or holder of Employment Pass, EntrePass or Dependant’s Pass.

Yes! You need a Singapass to log in on BizFile+ web portal and for the online registration of the company in Singapore. You also need it to access other eServices portals made available by the government. To conduct an e-transaction on these portals, you need to go through a 2-step verification process involving OTP and Singpass username and password.

Foreigners do not have Singpass and cannot self-register their Singapore company online. They need to hire a registered filing agent like SBS Consulting Pte Ltd for the task.

SBS Consulting's annual fee the routine company secretary services covers (Non-routine services are charged on a time-cost basis):

• Assigning one qualified and experienced individual who will act as the secretary of your company (named Company Secretary in ACRA Records) for a year
• Preparation & filing of forms & board resolutions with the ACRA
• Maintaining the statutory registers
• Preparation of minutes of AGM meetings
• Sending emails to inform directors and other concerned staff about Compliance Alerts & Reminders sent by ACRA and IRAS

The non-routine secretarial services are chargeable on a request-to-request basis. They include changes in:

• Shareholding
• M&AA
• Directors
• Registered address; and
• Opening of additional bank accounts
• Increase in paid-up capital

After successful registration of the company, its directors must hold the first board meeting. Its agenda is as follows:

• Registration of Company
• Appointment of company officers, like directors, company secretary, auditors, etc
• Issuance & subscription of company's initial shares
• Registered local address for Singapore office
• Deciding dates for first and subsequent financial year-end;
• Common seal (if required) and etc

The responsibilities of a corporate secretary extend to establishing and maintaining the statutory records of the company. Taking steps to ensure and monitor that company is complying with all the relevant regulatory requirements, including the Companies Act on a timely basis:

• Changes in the company directors or their particulars; names or local address
• Removal/appointments / resignations of director / deaths
• Filing of annual return
• Changes in the company name
• Adoption, alteration, and revocation of the company constitution
• Shares issuance, etc

As per Section 171 of the Singapore Companies Act (Cap. 50), every Singapore company must appoint at least a corporate secretary within the six months of its date of incorporation. The appointee needs to be a natural person ordinarily resident of Singapore.

Secretary needs to take care of the company's on-going statutory compliance issues. You can also appoint SBS Consulting as your named Company Secretary.

Accounting And Corporate Regulatory Authority considers a company secretary as one of the officers of the company. The appointee needs to be registered with the ACRA Records.

Yes! You must appoint at least one company secretary within the six months of registration of the company in Singapore. Appoint a natural person who is ordinarily resident of Singapore.

No! There is no need for you to hire a corporate secretary for your branch office in Singapore. However, you can ensure its compliance by appointing an experienced provider of secretarial services in Singapore. SBS Consulting can assist you with its compliance with statutory regulations.

CPF is a short name for Central Provident Fund. Each employer in Singapore must deposit CPF contribution in each employees CPF account. Employee and employer both contribute to this deposit. The amount contributed by an employer depends on the age of employee. CPF rates change according to the age of the employee. The changes occur on employee’s 35th, 50th, 60th, and 65th birthday.

Participating in Auto Inclusion Scheme (AIS) obliges an employer to report information about employee’s salary and the deductions from it to the IRAS. The benefit is that this information appears prefilled in the forms when employee chooses to e-file his or her income tax.

If the employee has no other income than his or her salary, then, IRAS may also inform him or her not to file income tax.

Participating in AIS means employers has to fill Forms IR8A, Appendix 8A, and Form IR8S by 1st of March each year.

Yes, SBS Consulting offers it reliable payroll services to its Singapore clients. Professionals working in our Payroll services use state-of-the-art software for handling tiny details about employee salaries or wages on a monthly/weekly basis.

Payroll experts at SBS Consulting also look after generation of accurate pay-slips, prompt transfer of salary credits and crediting the contributions into CPF/MPF accounts.

We also update and maintain payroll-related employee information, like, status of increments and deductions in salary, etc. we also generate and submit Monthly payroll reports and CPF (Central Provident Fund) reports to our clients using our payroll services.

Payroll management involves recording numerous details about an employee work record. An employee’s days present, leave, leave-without-pay, status of leaves, increments, CPF contribution, bonus or gratuity paid on retirement, benefits and etc details need to be recorded.

These details are vital for producing an accurate paycheck for an employee. If you decide to process your payroll in-house, you are increasing the workload on finance and HR department. Payroll processing is a time consuming task.

Outsourcing your payroll to SBS Consulting, frees you to focus on Core functions of your business. Our experts process your payroll using state-of-the-art software.

Yes, SBS Consulting relieves its clients from the statutory filing and reporting requirements.

CPF contributions are deposited in employees CPF/MPF accounts and CPF reports are submitted to the authorities each month.

Under income reporting, information about an employee’s salary, deductions, etc, details are submitted to IRAS.

A foreign worker ceasing his or her employment is reported to the authorities. His or her payment is withheld pending tax clearance.

It is mandatory for all the private limited liability companies of Singapore to abide by the guidelines and set policies of IRAS. Any act of non-compliance would lead to the regulatory body taking punitive measures in the form penalties and court proceedings.

Yes. It is an offence to register late and if found guilty you will be fined up to S$10,000 and an additional penalty equivalent to 10% of the tax which you are due to pay right from the time you were expected to register for GST.

Companies whose taxable income is more than S$300,000 are charged at the rate of 17%. However, in reality, effective corporate tax is much lesser because of the exemptions, incentives, and rebates offer by the government.

In case of a newly registered Singapore company, tax rates for first 3 years are:

1. Initial taxable income of up to S$100,000 is taxed at 0%.
2. The next S$200,000 of taxable income is charged at 8.5%.
3. Taxable income above S$300,000 is charged at 17%.

After 3 years, tax rates are:

1. Initial taxable income up to S$300,000 is charged at 8.3%.
2. For income more than S$300,000 is charged at 17%.

In addition to above, IRAS has given 30% or 50% corporate tax rebate on above tax for few years.

Singapore has abolished capital gain tax. Singapore corporate tax is single-tier tax system. Corporate income tax, once paid by a company is taken as the final tax on its taxable income. If the company distributes dividend to its shareholders, then, it is not taxed with capital gain tax. It is tax-free income for the shareholder.

Singapore Employment Pass is the most popular form of work visa in the country. It is applicable to foreign professionals, entrepreneurs, executives, directors, shareholders and general managers. The validity period of this work visa ranges from a minimum of 1 year to 3 years.

However, you need to have a minimum salary of S$3,300 per month in order to become eligible for this pass. You also have the option of renewing it as long as you are employed in the country.

In accordance with the companies act, every company must appoint an auditor within 3 months of its incorporation.

External audits are performed to present a fair image of an organization’s general polices. The financial audits, operational audits and the statutory audits come under the external auditing process.

Exempt Private Limited Company (EPC) and Dormant Company do not have to file their audited annual accounts with ACRA if the certain criteria fulfilled. Other than these, all other Singapore companies have to file their accounts with the ACRA.

An EPC must file its solvency declaration or certificate with ACRA. These companies must maintain their accounts properly. They must also present financial statements to ACRA in compliance with the Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) and the Companies Act.

Dormant companies must submit Form C or Form C / S to the IRAS, unless IRAS has granted a waiver. Dormant companies must also prepare their accounts and submit them to IRAS when demanded.

ACRA has waived audit requirements for some of the companies and so, they do not have to hire auditors.

Exempt Private Limited Companies and Dormant Companies do not have to hire auditors if the certain criteria fulfilled. All other types of Singapore companies must hire services of auditors within 3 months of their incorporation.

Each year Singapore companies are required to conduct statutory audits. During it, auditors analyze financial transactions of the company to verify their credibility. The Statutory Audits are conducted to reveal frauds, misstatements, or discrepancies in the maintenance of accounting records.

As per ACRA, an external auditor is hired to conduct a statutory audit. The external audit report submitted reflects on the true state of the financial affairs of the company. For this reason, the investors, government regulators, creditors and the management of the company use it to make important decisions.

It is not a legal obligation for a company to conduct its non-statutory audit. It is aimed at reviewing and determining efficiency of business activities of a company. It reveals weaknesses in operations of a company.

A non-statutory audit is helpful to Sole proprietors, limited and unlimited liability partnerships, small companies, clubs, associations, and charitable trusts.

Non-statutory audit report is a review of various functions of a company such as, processes, inventory control, and even employment of human resources.