Many people familiar with the Flag Theory set up their lives based on its recommendations. Singapore is often included as the place to setup a company: Private Limited Company or Pte. Ltd.
We wrote about benefits of having a Singapore Pte. Ltd. in our blog. However, every now and then there are similar questions coming up related to the set-up and day-to-day operations of Pte. Ltd. That’s why we decided to dedicate a new article to the most recent questions in the form of Q&A. We combined them into three sections: 1. Incorporation, 2. Day-to-day business, 3. Striking-off
Incorporation
How fast an incorporation in Singapore can be done?
Once we have all the necessary documents from you and the initial payment arrives in our account, your new company can be ready within 1-2 weeks. If there would be any demand for additional documents from authorities, this term could be eventually extended. Such situation is potentially possible, even though not happened during the 10 years of Singabiz® operations.
What is the minimum paid-up capital to incorporate in Singapore?
Like in most of countries following the Commonwealth legislation, the minimum paid-up capital for an incorporation of a Pte. Ltd. in Singapore is 1 unit of local currency, for Singapore – 1 SGD.
I heard about non-resident companies in Singapore. Can you do it as well? Would you recommend a non-resident company instead of a local Pte. Ltd.?
The main difference between a local Pte. Ltd. and a non-resident company (which is, by the way, also a Pte. Ltd.): the non-resident company
- Does not do any business directly in Singapore
- Does not maintain any bank accounts directly in Singapore
The obligations, however, are pretty similar to those of a standard Pte. Ltd.: filing tax declarations, doing the required accounting, maintaining all required functions of the company, like Nominee Director, Corporate Secretary etc.
Because of it, the costs for a non-resident company would be rather identical to a local Pte. Ltd. However, a non-resident company would not be able to benefit neither from double-taxation agreements nor from the local tax offers which happen to be done regularly in Singapore. From that perspective, we would rather recommend to setup the standard local Pte. Ltd., even though the final decision depends on your individual situation and the expected setup.
What are mandatory cost positions when incorporating a Singaporean Pte. Ltd.?
Here again, it is strongly related to the Commonwealth law. When setting up a company in Singapore you definitely would need the following:
- Registered address
- Corporate Secretary
- Nominee Director
- Local accounting, submissions to ACRA (local company register) and IRAS (local tax authorities)
Do I really need a Nominee Director?
Yes. Nominee Director is a function which is prescribed by the local Singaporean law and cannot be deselected. However, if you hold a residency for Singapore and really reside in Singapore, you can be the local director of your company yourself. In this case, you do not need to book the Nominee Director service.
Do I need the Corporate Secretary?
Yes. The Corporate Secretary is not just an assistant to the Director. It is an official function (rather than a person) required by law as well.
Do you also help to open a business bank account for my company?
Yes, you can book this optional service with Singabiz®. Important to know, however, that Singabiz® helps you to prepare the required documentation and creates personal contact at the bank for you. But we are unable to predict or to guarantee the opening of the bank account as such. The decision about it is completely at the discretion of the bank and cannot be influenced by us.
Can we open the business bank account remotely without travelling to Singapore?
If you do it with Fintecs, like Wise, Revolut, Airwallex etc. – yes. If you are interested in having a business account at a local bank, like DBS, HSBC, Citibank etc., you would most probably not be able to avoid a personal appointment with a bank officer.
Can we open business bank accounts for a company not registered in Singapore, but elsewhere in the world?
A simple answer here: for a local business account you need a local company. Surely, if you would like to invest a 6-7 digits amount right off, the situation could be different. But then we’ll talk about a so-called HNWI account (High Net-Worth Individuals) and the criteria are different there.
Day-to-day business
We do our accounting ourselves. Do we still need to book your financial support in this case?
You can do the accounting and the submission of the required annual returns to ACRA and to IRAS on your own if you find a local accountant whom you would like to work with. Alternatively, if you prepare your accounts on your own and send them to us in a way that our accountant can easily check them, you would not need to book the accounting service, but only the submission service by Singabiz®.
We incorporated a company in Singapore, but in the first year were not able to use it. Could you please skip the Corporate Sercretary and the Nominee Director from your invoice as we were not using them?
Unfortunately, not. It does not matter whether you were using your company and its functions or not during the year. What matters is the fact that the company was already incorporated, and all company functions including Corporate Secretary and Nominee Director had to be there based on the legal requirements. It is simply not possible just to skip them if a client is not using his company.
We have a company incorporated with another service provider but would like to change it to you. Can you accept us even if we did not incorporate the company with Singabiz®?
Yes, we accept clients with incorporated and functioning companies as well. We’ll be glad to setup the annual running support for you.
Striking off
We decided to close our company. What needs to be done in this case?
We would take care of all necessary steps for you. You just need to sign the shareholders’ decision which we would provide you with and to pay our invoice for the strike-off service. You’ll be professionally guided through the entire process by our local colleagues.
How long does it take to strike-off a company in Singapore?
The process of strike-off takes more time than the process of incorporation. It is related to the fact that the final accounts are to be prepared and submitted to IRAS. There are a couple of publications to be made with a mandatory delay between them. All in all, we recommend counting for at least 6-9 months in order to properly complete the company closure. It does not mean that it could not happen faster. But faster terms cannot be absolutely guaranteed.
Singabiz® has a long history of incorporations in Singapore and with us, you can be sure to be in good hands for your Singaporean venture. If you would like to know more about companies in Singapore or incorporate one for yourself, do not hesitate to contact us and one of Singabiz® Representatives will be glad to assist you.
