• Your company name needs to be approved before registration. See ACRA.
• You need to appoint a minimum of one resident* director. An unlimited number of additional resident or non-resident directors can be appointed as well. Both resident and non-resident directors need to be at least 18 years old, not bankrupt, and free of any malpractice charges in the past. 

• You can have anywhere between 1-50 shareholders, which may or may not be directors. Shareholders can consist of both local and non-local individuals or companies, and 100% non-local shareholding is allowed. After a Singapore company is incorporated, shares can be freely issued or transferred at any time.  
• You need to appoint a qualified resident* company secretary within 6 months of your Singapore company’s registration. Sole directors and/or shareholders cannot act as the company secretary. 
• You need to possess a minimum of S$1 worth of paid-up capital (also known as share capital) to register your Singapore company. This amount can be increased any time after your company is incorporated. 
• You need to provide a local, physical Singapore address as the registered address of the company. The registered address can be either a residential or commercial address, but not a P.O. Box. 
• Singapore-registered companies enjoy attractive tax exemptions and incentives. Your company pays less than 9% for the first S$300,000 you make in annual profits, followed by a flat rate of 17% flat thereafter. Singapore companies do not have to pay capital gains or dividend taxes. For further information on taxes, refer to our Singapore corporate tax guide. 

*Refers to a Singapore Citizen, Permanent Resident, or holders of Singapore work visas (EntrePass or Employment Pass) 

ACRA refers to The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority which is a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance of the Singapore Government. ACRA is the national regulator of business entities, public accountants and corporate service providers in Singapore.

The timeline needed to register a new company can vary from a few hours to days. When working with a company secretary the timeframe is primarily determined by how quickly each shareholder and director can send to the company secretary their personal documentation for verification such as a proof of identification and residential address.

• You must engage a professional firm to register your Singapore company – under Singaporean law, non-resident individuals or entities cannot self-register a company. 
• You are not required to obtain a Singapore work visa to incorporate a private limited company if you are operating your company from overseas. You can visit Singapore on a visitor visa when you need to attend to company matters on a short-term basis. However, in such cases, you will need to find a local director to fulfil the minimum one resident director requirement. We can elect a nominee local resident director on your behalf. 
• If you plan to move to Singapore to operate your company, you are required to obtain an Employment Pass or Entrepreneur Pass, which will allow you to act as the local resident director of your company. 
• All Singapore company registration and work permit formalities can be handled without you having to physically visit Singapore – unless you intend to open a bank account at a Singapore-based bank. (DBS, OCBC, UOB, POSB to name a few)

To register your company in Singapore, you’ll need to provide the following documents:   

• Company name 
• Brief description of business activities 

• Shareholders’ particulars 
• Directors’ particulars 
• Registered address 
• Company secretary particulars 
• Constitution 

If you are engaging the services of a professional service firm, they will typically require these documents from you in order to prepare the necessary paperwork:  

• For non-residents: Copy of passport, proof of overseas residential address, as well as other Know-Your-Client (KYC) information such as bank reference letters, personal and business profiles, etc. 
• For Singapore residents: Copy of Singapore identity card 
• For corporate entity shareholder(s): Copy of registration documents, such as a Certificate of Incorporation and Constitution 

At Count On Me, We can help you with registering your company.

Starting from $500+

Once you have all your documents together, a company can be incorporated within one to three business day, as long as you have all of your documentation ready and ACRA does not cause any delays. Read on to find out how you can set up a company in Singapore via ACRA.

There are 2 steps involved in the company formation procedure for incorporating in Singapore: reserving a name, and registering the company.

Step one: Reserving your company’s name

To register your business in Singapore, you must make sure that your proposed name is approved by ACRA. Usually, you will find out whether your proposed name has been approved or rejected within a day. However, if your proposed name contains specific words such as media, bank, law, finance, or education, the corresponding external governmental authority may be required to review and approval the name.

However, the company name wouldn’t be approved if: 

• similar/identical to existing company in Singapore
• vulgar/obscene
• already reserved

Approved company names will be held and secured for 60 days from the date of your application. If you need to extend the name reservation for another 60 days, you may do so by filing an extension just before the initial hold expires.

Step two: Registering the company

Once you have received approval for your name, the process of filing the paperwork and obtaining approval from the ACRA can be done in just a day – as long as the documents are all ready and have been signed by all directors of the new company.