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contact@accountsavvy.sg
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Singapore has consistently topped the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report that tracks and scores the indicators of the ease of doing business in over 190 countries of the world.
Particularly, Singapore’s score for indicators measuring the ‘ease of starting a business’ has always been remarkably high. It is mainly attributable to factors such as quick and easy online registration, the S$1 minimum paid-up capital requirement and low registration fees. The Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) supervises the process for company registration in Singapore. The following article is an overview of the ten simple steps to register a company in Singapore.
Before you register the business, it is essential to choose the legal structure that is ideally suitable for the nature of your business and would maximize the tax benefits. As a Private Limited Company entity type involves higher registration cost and complex compliance requirements after registration, first-time entrepreneurs must carefully consider the implications of choosing to register a business as a private limited company. It is not prudent to absorb a compliance obligation and cost structure that is disproportionate to the scale of risks involved or incomes generated by the business.
Naming your business is undoubtedly an exciting experience. While you may seek suggestion from your associates and well-wishers, choose a name that is relevant to your business in the long run. You have to be mindful of the fact that ACRA will decline registration of names that are undesirable, or identical to any registered to reserved name, or unacceptable as per the direction of the Minister.
After you have come up with a list of potential names, check if they are available. It is likely that the names are already reserved or registered by some other company or individuals. This name-checking step will help you to identify and shortlist the names on your list.
The following items must be ready before proceeding with the registration process.
Upon approval of the name by ACRA, you may proceed to register your company. After submitting the duly signed application form and all relevant documents and payment of the registration fees, the Registrar will approve the registration within one working day in most of the cases. In some rare cases, the Registrar may request additional information or documents.
When the application of registration is approved, and the Singapore company incorporation is successfully completed, ACRA will send an official email notification to confirm it. The email notification includes the company registration number and is treated as the official Certificate of Incorporation in Singapore, and no hard copy is issued. However, if you need one, you can make an online request to ACRA after incorporation by paying $50 per copy. Hard copy Certificates of Incorporation can be collected from the ACRA office the day after filing the online request.
The Registrar also has a Business Profile created for your company upon incorporation. The Business Profile is a PDF document that has the following information:
A copy of this can be requested online from ACRA by paying a nominal fee. The copy of the Certificate of Incorporation and a copy of the Business Profile are the two commonly requested documents for purposes of contracts and other transactions.