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How do we set up companies in Singapore?

Starting a company in Singapore would be a great idea. And with the help of Startupr, you can easily form a company in Singapore to expand your reach.

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The small island nation of Singapore rose to the top of the best places to do business as reported by the World Bank some 7 years ago and has been in the first position for a long time. As per the report, it takes just three days for setting up a company in Singapore. And isn’t that how many of the owners like it? Fast and simple, without any fuss.

Singapore is very business-friendly and a great place to open a branch of your business or start your new business journey, thanks to all the great business laws and flexible immigration policy. In fact, businesses of all sizes are going global. Globalization and the internet have given businesses a unique opportunity to reach another level and open themselves to customers from all over the world.

Starting a company in Singapore would be a great idea. And with the help of Startupr, you can easily form a company in Singapore to expand your reach. Startupr takes over the administrative maze and offers you the freedom to set up your company in Singapore. Instead of getting baffled with all the complicated processes of running a company in a foreign country, you can easily focus on operating your company and growing it.

How we help entrepreneurs to start their business easily?

With the help of Startupr, you can easily have your company registered in Singapore within 3 days.

Startupr will communicate with you in an efficient and clear way. Our client testimonials are there to confirm this and to give you the assurance that we are trustworthy. We understand the importance of confidentiality and have made it our main priority. Startupr ensures that your information would be safeguarded, even if you are operating your company overseas. We do not share your concept, information, and ideas with anyone. How? With our unique back-office system.

How do we register your company?

Startupr helps you form a company in Singapore in just three to four simple steps. Each has been explained in details below to help you flow smoothly:

Step 1: Pre-incorporation

Before you form a company in Singapore, you need to first gather some details that would be used in the form you file for incorporating your company there. The company has to comply with the Singapore Companies Act, and its laws under ACRA and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). As per the laws, you need the following when you are about to form a company in Singapore:

  • Company name: You will need a unique company name for your business. Ensure that the company name you are selecting is available by checking the name availability. Once you choose a name that is available, register it through ACRA’s electronic filing and information retrieval system – BizFile. You will need ACRA to approve the name before you can move ahead and begin setting up a company in Singapore.
  • Business Entity: Select the type of company structure that you want to adopt for your company. You can choose a company type from the following available types:
    • Private Company Limited by Shares – has a maximum of 50 shareholders
    • Exempt Private Company (EPC) – has a maximum of 20 shareholders
    • Public Company Limited by Shares – can have more than 50 shareholders and has to register a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) before making any public offerings.
    • Public Company Limited by Guarantee – it is normally formed for non-profit activities and has members instead of shareholders.
  • Appoint Officials: The next thing that you need for setting up a company in Singapore is to appoint the various officials. Once selected, gather the personal identification details, contact information, and residential addresses of these officials to be used on the form to set up your company in Singapore. Here are the officials you will need to appoint as per ACRA:
    • Director – He will be the main person who will manage all the affairs of the company. The company needs to have at least 1 director who is at least 18 years old and a Singapore resident. If a foreigner wants to open a company in Singapore, it is important to appoint a director who is a Singapore resident.
    • Company Secretary – The company has to appoint a secretary within 6 months from its incorporation date. Startupr can act as your company secretary if you choose so.
    • Auditor – It is important to appoint an auditor unless the company is exempt from any audit requirements under relevant sections of the Companies Act.
  • Shareholders: Everyone company needs to have at least one shareholder. You will have to give the contact information, personal identification details and the residential address of the person/(s) when submitting the incorporation form. You will also have to indicate the amount of issued capital, which is the amount of funding the shareholder has added to the company.
  • Registered Office Address: You will need to share your registered office address for setting up a company in Singapore. This address would be the place where all the communications and notices would be addressed to. This address has to be a physical location in Singapore and should be operational and accessible during office hours to the public. Startupr can offer you with our own address to be the point of communication for your business if you are going to run your business living out of Singapore.
  • Constitution: This is a legal document that shares the key characteristics of the company, how its operations will be carried out, holds the rules and regulations of the governance of the company, and states all the rights and responsibilities of the shareholders, company secretary, and directors. You need this since a copy of the constitution will have to be given with the form of setting up a company in Singapore.
  • Decide a Financial Year End: This is important as it would help you determine when your taxes and corporate filings are due. Some common choices that companies choose from 31st December, 30th September, 30th June and 31st March. You will also have to decide whether the accounting period covers 52 weeks or 12 months.

Step 2: Incorporation

This is the step where your company is incorporated once you have shared all the information with us and have made the payment.

  • Startupr will fill out the form and send the documents to you for your signature. Once you have signed them, you will then have to send these documents back to us.
  • We will receive the documents and then submit them to ACRA for setting up your company in Singapore.
  • As soon as your company has been incorporated, you will receive an emailed notification for it.

Step 3: Bank account opening

After you have registered your business and incorporated it, you will have to open a bank account for your company and to keep a record of all the business transactions separately. And for this, you will need to give a lot of documents for this including the incorporation certificate to prove that your company exists in Singapore.

The bank that you select in which you are about to open your corporate bank account will let you know about all the other documents that are needed. There are five main local banks in Singapore. These includes:

  • Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (otherwise known as OCBC)
  • Bank of Singapore (part of OCBC)
  • DBS Bank Limited (merged with POSB, known as DBS)
  • Far Eastern Bank Limited
  • United Overseas Bank (otherwise known as UOB)

These are not just all. You can choose from any of these and many more available as you are setting up a company in Singapore and a bank account for it. Most of these banks offer corporate banking facilities. But if you are situated outside the country, it is better to check if you can use the banking facilities round-the-clock.

For most of the banks, the needed documents include the following:

  • Minimum Deposit
  • NRIC / Passport Copies of the proposed bank signatories
  • Certified True Copy of the Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association
  • Certified True Copy of the Official Company Register (known also like the Business Profile) to evidence the current directors and its shareholders
  • Certified True Copy of the Certificate Confirming Incorporation of Company (“Certificate”)
  • Directors’ Resolution in Writing to approve the Opening of the Bank Account and its Certified Extract
  • Application Form

Each of the above-mentioned items, excluding the application form and the minimum deposit, can be prepared by your company secretary, which in this case can be Startupr if you choose us as your company secretary. Talking about the minimum deposit, this amount can vary for different banks. So, ensure that you know all the details of the bank when opening a bank account there.

Startupr can help you with opening a bank by setting a meeting for you with the bank manager. And once you have decided to open a bank account in the bank, we will gather all the documents needed and assist you to open a bank account in Singapore. To know more, please contact us!

Step 4: Post-incorporation

Once your company has been incorporated, you will have to take care of some other things that come after setting up a company in Singapore. The additional post-incorporation activities might include:

  • Registration with Singapore Central Provident Fund (CPF) – CPF (Central Provident Fund) is a compulsory pension fund scheme in which the employer and Singapore’s permanent resident or citizen employee contributes a percentage of the monthly salary to the fund.
  • Goods and services tax registration (GST) – GST is a tax on the supply of goods and services in Singapore and on the import of goods to Singapore. You will have to register for it if your annual taxable income is over S$1 million in a year.
  • Customs registration – In case your business involves exporting or importing, you will have to register your company with the Singapore customs.
  • Registration number – The business registration number provided by ACRA has to be on all your company documents for any official business communications.
  • Registered office hours – You will need to register your office working hours and address. The company has to be open for at least 3 working hours every weekday.
  • Licenses and permits – There are some business activities that would need the approval of the government or some license. Some of the business activities include wholesalers and retailers of liquor, importers, childcare centers, financial advisors, banks, money lenders, liquor distributors, travel agencies, video companies, and private schools.

What you have to file each year?

But this is not all; you will also have to file some important documents every year as per the Companies Act after you form a company in Singapore. These obligations include:

  • Annual General Meeting (AGM) – Companies are required to hold an AGM every year and record the minutes of the meeting.
  • Annual Return – It is important for every company to file for the annual return within 7 months after the closing of the financial year-end.
  • Register of Registrable Controllers – All the LLPs, foreign companies, and companies have to maintain beneficial ownership information in the form of a register of registrable controllers and to make the information available to the public agencies upon request.
  • Electronic Register of Auditors, CEOs, Secretaries, and Directors – Companies have to maintain electronic registers of CEOs, auditors, secretaries, and directors with ACRA. They have to update ACRA within 14 days with the changes in appointments.
  • Electronic Register of Members – Every company has to maintain an electronic Register of Members, which is a listing of all the shareholders in the company with ACRA. The information is updated whenever a company files a registration of shares ownership or changes in share ownership.
  • Changes in Personal Particulars of Company Shareholders and Officers – The company has to update ACRA within 14 days of any changes made to the personal particulars of the company shareholders and officers.
  • Changes in Company Information – Companies need to update ACRA within 14 days of any changes to the company’s address, business activity, address.

Other Important Information

Other than the things mentioned above, there are many other important things that you will need to take care of once you form a company in Singapore. These include:

  • CorpPass – This is a corporate digital identity for businesses and other entities to transact with government agencies online. To set up your CorpPass account, please visit www.corppass.gov.sg.
  • Unique Entity Number – After incorporation, all new companies will get a system-generated Unique Entity Number (UEN). Companies need to use this UEN when transacting with government agencies.
  • Special UEN – ACRA also offers a special UEN (SUN) service that allows you to reserve a preferred UEN from a list of reserved UENs at the point of entity incorporation or registration. The preferred UEN number costs about $1000 to $3000 each based on the selected tier.
  • Free Business Profile – All new companies will get a free business profile, which is an electronic report containing details regarding the new entity.
  • Alternate Address – The company officers and directors have the option of offering ACRA with an alternate address instead of the residential address to be displayed on the public platform. This service costs $40 and ACRA has the rights to display the residential address if the person cannot be reached via the alternate address given.
  • Membership with Singapore Business Federation (SBF) – As per the SBF Act, all the companies registered in Singapore that have a share capital of S$0.5 mullion and above are members of the SBF. So, if your company falls under this, you will receive a letter from SBF regarding your membership.

Why Choose Startupr for Registering Your Company in Singapore?

You now know the process of how you can form a company in Singapore. Moreover, you do not have to be a Singapore resident to start a company here. All you need to do is fill out the application form on Startupr and return it to us by email. Why us? Well, we ensure that you get what you are looking for. Our motive is to help you build and grow your business. Here is we are the best shot you have:

  • Steadfast Focus on Client Satisfaction: We put all our efforts into making our clients satisfied in every aspect. We take our client’s feedback into consideration and go out of the way to offer the best services to them.
  • Proven Honesty & Reliability: We are honest, reliable and consistent. You can easily depend on us to help you form a company in Singapore.
  • Creative and Flexible Approach: We have a very flexible and creative approach due to which we can assist you in any unexpected and difficult cases as well. We also adapt to changing situations and deal with every kind of challenge that comes in the way.
  • 100% Online: We have an efficient online system that ensures the procedure is fast and prompt. Everything you enter will be checked on the same date and after that, your data is automatically used in setting up a company in Singapore.
  • Transparent Pricing: Our prices are accurate and clear with no hidden charges. And our prices are low due to our efficient system. You can see where and what you are spending clearly through our system.

These qualities make a difference to entrepreneurs who are about to move ahead and form a company in Singapore. Contact us at Startupr to get your company incorporated within no time and hassle-free!

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