FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION (FAQ)
COMPANY INCORPORATION
Here’s a step-by-step guide to incorporate a company:
– Reserve a company name
– Appoint the Company’s Directors and Shareholders
– Decide the shareholding structure
– Select two minimum business activities
– Apply for a business license if needed
Once we receive all the necessary documents from you, we can have your company registered within 24 hours.
– Three choices of unique company names
– Description of business activities – max two
– Shareholding percentages
– Registered office address in Singapore
– Company’s directors and shareholders’ identification documents
Yes. You can not incorporate a company without providing a local address. Some businesses are allowed to incorporate by declaring a director or shareholders local residence address as the office address. However, if the company needs a more professional address set-up, we offer such a service. Our local office can be declared as the company’s registered address at a minimum charge.
No.
Our incorporation process is 100% digital, so physical presence is not needed.
The major difference between the various business entities is the legal status and taxation of each entity. Click here to read about each entity.
A corporate secretary’s job is to ensure the company meets the compliance requirement as mandated by the government. It’s mandatory for every company to have a corporate secretary.
Anyone who is 18 years old.
Should not be a bankrupt, convicted or disqualified by any court.
A nominee director is someone who holds a director’s position, with no authority to run the company nor making a decision.
The minimum capital is SGD 1. However, we recommend putting a standard capital of SGD 100.00
The good news is a foreigner can incorporate a company and also be a 100% shareholder of the company
There is only one requirement. If the foreigner can appoint a local director, then he can incorporate a local company in Singapore without any problems.
Yes.
At least one director has to be present.
CORPORATE SECRETARY
A corporate secretary’s job is to ensure the registration and paperwork of the company is in order and comply with the authorities’ requirement. He / she also needs to ensure that the compliance obligations of the company are met. It’s mandatory for every company in Singapore must have a corporate secretary.
There are few criteria’s to be a corporate secretary. Firstly, a corporate secretary shall have the qualification and experience of a minimum of 5 years. Secondly, only Singapore citizens, permanent residents, and EntrePass holders are allowed to be corporate secretaries, not foreigner’s.
Foreigners who don’t have EntreePass holders, a sole director of a company, and a corporate secretary who was debarred can’t be a corporate secretary.
If your company has only one director (yourself), then you cannot be a corporate secretary. You have to appoint us as your corporate secretary.
Under the Company Act, every company in Singapore has to appoint a corporate secretary upon the incorporation of the company.
The best time is during incorporation itself, so to ensure that the company complies with all the regulations as per company law.
Yes, as per company act.
No, both roles are different and have different duties and responsibilities. As the director, you are the leader of the company. You are to ensure the sustainability and profitability of the company. A corporate secretary is an officer whose role is taking care of government compliance related work.
By outsourcing the corporate secretarial services, you can have all your paperwork done without needing to engage a full-time staff. Unless the scale of your business is big and having a lot of regular changes, it’s a cheaper and more convenient to oursource your corporate secretarial services. Not only you don’t need to pay a full-time salary, you also save on logistic e.g. providing a station for the full-time corporate secretary.
Yes.
At Accounts Guru, the process of corporate secretary transfer is seamless and convenient. We will contact your current corporate secretary, take over the necessary documents, and process it.
Steep fine’s are imposed by ACRA on companies that miss filing deadlines.
Yes, it is mandatory by the law to file the Annual return and hold Annual General Meeting (AGM) although a company was dormant.
Yes, you are required to update the registration in ACRA for change of director although the company is dormant.
On completion of the financial year, by end of the 3rd month, the company should have filed its estimated chargeable income (ECI). By the 6th month, the compilation report should be ready to be tabled during the AGM. The board has to sign off the said report. Thereafter by end of 7th month the annual return should be filed. If not filed, the company is liable to pay fines to ACRA for delayed filing.
Within one month of the AGM, the corporate secretary shall file the annual returns to ACRA.
Yes
We have different packages depending on your needs. Click the “Meet Online” button at the top right side of the header so that we can understand your needs better. Or you may also drop us a message by clicking “Contact”.
REGISTERED OFFICE ADDRESS
Yes, by law, it is mandatory for every company in Singapore to lodge a Singapore address during the company incorporation.
Yes, the government allows a home address to be lodged as the registered address. However, there are a few rules to be complied with, and only permitted for certain industries are permitted. Read the article above for more information.
During the company incorporation process, you will be prompted to fill in the registered address on the ACRA website.
You have to report it to ACRA. Usually, it’s the duty of a corporate secretary.
- All physical post/letters can be received at this address.
- This address can feature on all the companies marketing material
- Government will send all its communication to this address
BOOK-KEEPING & ACCOUNTANCY
Yes, but with a slight difference. The book-keeper handled does day to day data entry work. An accountant is responsible for the over-all financial health of the company.
Accounting though the back-bone of a successful company unfortunately is a cost on the company. It is not considered a profit centre. Therefore outsourcing the same helps in reducing not only the cost but an accounting firm like AccountsGuru offer’s an experience team of chartered accountants to oversee the companies accounts on a daily basis. Lastly AccountsGuru will ensure that all ACRA & IRAS deadlines are met and no penalties are paid due to delayed submissions.
From day one of operations. The later you do may result in fines being attracted due to delayed filing with the authorities.
So that at all times, the company management is well aware of the financial health of the company. How much money is in bank? How much is to be collected? How much is to be paid to the supplier? How will salary for comparing months be funded? Will the company be able to meet the cash flow needs for how many months?
To ensure that the company management is able to answer such & similar questions, accurate booking is important.
Yes. At AccountsGuru we offer Accounting as well as Corporate Secretary services separately. But for specific reasons we also offer combine packages so that companies can keep cost in control.
Are you eligible for it, click on the “meet online” button and talk to us to find out.
Two simple thumb rules:
1) Does the accounting firms have chartered accountants working on their payroll?
2) Is the accounting team in-house?
We don’t believe that one price fits all. As all companies are unique and their accounting needs also differ vastly depending on their sales volume. So the cost for our book-keeping services range from SGD 100 per month to even SGD 3000 + per month for a full suite of services.
We accept data in two forms:-
- For Traditional companies, we accept data in a physical manner, such as paper receipts/invoices and bank statements. Over a period of time we will assist them to become more digital.
- For newer firms that are more tech-savvy, we have a compatible digital platform that makes it easy for companies to submit the data to us at regular intervals.
GST COMPLIANCE
The current GST rate in Singapore is 7%
Yes and no. It depends on the company’s annual turnover. If it’s more than S$1 million, it’s mandatory for the company to register as a GST registered company with IRAS.
The following forms are to be submitted:
- GST F1 (Singapore Goods and Services registration form)
- GST F3 to include the details of all the partners
- Supporting documents
The process takes about 10 days. Upon approval, you will receive your GST number, your filing frequency, and filing due dates.
It depends on the financial year-end. For instance, if the financial quarter-end is March, June, September or December, the cycle of the accounting period is January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December.
It’s recommended to register early once you are expecting for more than $1 million of turnover. Once a company has more than $1 million of turnover, it has to be registered to IRAS within 30 days.
There will be a 5% late payment penalty if a company doesn’t register for GST within the timeframe. After the first note is issued, if the company still doesn’t make the payment, another 2% will be imposed for each month the tax is outstanding.
WORKING VISA
The processing time depends on many factors, such as the qualification of the applicant and the employing Singapore company. This could take a few days to several weeks.
The employing Singapore company will receive an In-Principle-Approval (IPA) letter from the Ministry of Manpower (OMM) when the application is approved. The letter is valid for 6 months.
There’s no quota for an employment pass.
It depends. It varies from 12 – 24 months for new application and 12 – 36 months for renewal.
Yes, the government allows an EP holder to be a director of a company.
Employment pass is for salaried employees while Entrepass is for business owners.
STRIKING-OFF THE COMPANY
The entire process of striking off a company can take 4-5 months if there’s no objection. However, if there’s objection throughout the process, it will take longer.
The directors of the company and the company secretary can apply. You may appoint us as your agent to submit an online application to strike off your company. Book an online application with us, and we’ll happily advise you on the necessary requirement and information required to strike off your company.
The application can be filed online through the ACRA BizFile website.
During the striking-off application, you may submit a letter to inform that since the date of incorporation, there’s no transaction was made and there’s no bank account was opened.
If the application is not approved, most likely it was because some requirements are not complied with. ACRA will return the application for you to make any necessary changes. Upon ensuring all requirements have been complied with, you may resubmit the application.
DORMANT COMPANY
Yes, you can resume business anytime. Within one month it has a business transaction, the company has to inform IRAS.
1) Email ctmail@iras.gov.sg
2) Subject header: “Recommencement of business and request for Income Tax Return”
3) To include in the email:
- UEN of the company
- Date of recommencement
- New business activity
If you want to close down your Singapore business, you can have it stricken off. But if you think in the future you might use this company again, you might want to keep it dormant. The cost of keeping it dormant is considerably low.
– Appoint a company secretary
– File the annual return
– Submit a tax waiver to IRAS
To be exempted from submitting financial statements and holding AGMs, the following requirements must be met:
- The company is not a listed company or a subsidiary of a listed company
- It holds less than S$500,000 in asset
- It has been dormant since the formation of the end of its previous financial year