August 17, 2019
Establishing a company in Singapore is a simple and hassle-free task in contrast to what you may believe. To register your company in Singapore, you need to go through more or less similar prerequisites whether you are a non-Singaporean or a resident. Under the Company Registrar of Singapore, known as the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), a company must adhere to compliance regulations whether it is new or has been relocated from one state to another.
Primarily, there are three types of company structures followed in Singapore under ACRA. If you are establishing a new business frontier, read below to finalize the pros and cons for your business type:
A Private Limited Company in Singapore functions smoothly owing to its robustness with Singapore company regulations. It is by far the most chosen type of business structure since the company directly needs to pay a corporate tax to the state, in comparison to personal taxes levied on owners of a partnership. Anyone above the age of 18 can establish Private Limited Companies. It has its own legal identity. The amount invested in the shares of a Private Limited Company reaps tax benefits to all its shareholders, including 100 percent of ownership rights to non-Singaporean residents as well. Under Singaporean law, non-residents cannot self-register a company and are required to engage a professional firm. A local director can be appointed to oversee the company’s workings in Singapore. You may contact Water and Shark to guide you through this process.
An individual can run a Sole Proprietorship in Singapore. It puts unlimited liability on an individual in comparison to other business structures but is, in fact, easy to incorporate. The legal entity of the company is bestowed upon the business owner rather than creating a separate legal entity. This also allows other business owners or companies to sue the owner directly in case of fraudulent activities. A resident of Singapore above the age of 18 years can set up a Sole Proprietorship business structure in the country. As a sole proprietor, you need to appoint at least one manager who is above the age of 21 years old and is a resident of Singapore with permanent citizenship. This resident will also have to utilize his home address as the standing location of the Sole Proprietorship in Singapore. Foreign residents alone cannot form a Sole Proprietorship in Singapore.
The Limited Liability Partnership constitutes two or more partners where the misconduct of one partner does not affect the other. LLP is highly beneficial for chartered professionals like lawyers or accountants, in comparison to entrepreneurs. Unlike a Sole Proprietorship and Partnership, a Limited Liability Partnership is considered to be a separate legal entity that has its own legal identity separate from its owners. It is not run by directors or secretaries but directly by owners who are the partners in LLP. The profits made by the LLP are taxed personally for each partner based on individual tax rates if the partner is an individual and corporate tax rate if the partner is a company.
Before a Private Company is registered in Singapore, the following requirements must be kept in mind:
While establishing your company in Singapore, you will need a hardcopy or softcopy of the following documents:
Once the initial formalities are completed, you as an individual or company can proceed with registering your company with ACRA. To register your company in Singapore, abide by the following method:
Choose a name for your company that can be readily approved by ACRA. This name should not violate copyrights owned by any other company and should also not be vulgar in any sense. Once ACRA approves the company’s name, you would be granted 60 days from the day of application to incorporate your company in Singapore.
The approval of your company’s name will pave the way for company registration. You will receive a confirmation email via ACRA upon successful company registration. This would be followed by a company number issued for you in a soft copy format. You can request a hard copy as well for a nominal fee later.
In the case of foreign nationals registering their companies in Singapore, there are three requirements which cannot be fulfilled by foreigners normally:
Water and Shark can fulfill the aforementioned requirements for your company in Singapore. We also provide valuable solutions that can save up your time and efforts in establishing your company, whether you are a resident of Singapore or a foreign national. Know about the different benefits you can avail and how easily you can run your business in a culturally invested country like Singapore by getting in touch with us today.
