Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
Accounting and Book-keeping (FAQ)
All types of Directors including Associate Directors of the company are responsible for the accuracy of the records, no matter whether they are involved in the operations or registered with ACRA or not.
End of the year Financial statements cannot be generated, which means Directors cannot sign of the accounts and Annual returns cannot be filed. Due to this Tax cannot be calculated correctly and IRAS may discretionarily charge an estimated tax amount on the company in a manner that they see fit. Company will be penalised for delayed filing.
Under Chapter 50 of the Companies Act, all accounting documents must be retained for not less than 5 years from the end of the financial year in which the transactions or operations to which those records relate are completed.
Yes, you can change the accounting year-end, but it must be approved and resolved at a director’s meeting by passing a relevant resolution.
No, it’s not necessary to maintain the full amount of paid-up capital in the bank, but the company will always be liable for a minimum of $100,000 if in case of claim.
Corporate Secretarial FAQ’s
Yes it’s mandatory. A local Singaporean or a Singaporean Permanent Resident or Employment Pass holder can be a resident director.
Yes, all Singaporean companies must have a local registered address. It’s printed on all legal documents. If you don’t have an office address, use our service. We handle your incoming letters and store them safely until you are able to retrieve the same. We can even open, read and scan the same over to you at a nominal fee.
Yes. It’s mandatory to file corporate tax. Paying the tax is dependent on whether the company has declared profits. If no profits are being declared then there is no tax to be paid, but filing is still mandatory.
A corporate secretary is like a gate-keeper who ensures that all resolutions are passed for all types of decisions taken on behalf of the company by all its members. These decisions need to be registered with ACRA also. It’s mandatory for every Singapore business to have one.
Yes & No.
Yes, if your company has 2 or more Directors then one of you can be a Corp Sec too.
No, if you are the only Director.
No, also if you are not qualified then you will not know the filing procedures and so you have to outsource the filing services to a filing agent, in simpler terms it’s easy to out-source the complete function to a Corporate secretary itself.
To register a business in Singapore you need to have a local address, a corporate secretary, a resident director. Paid up capital starts at $1.
Anybody above 18 years old: Singapore locals or foreigners. You can have as many directors as you want, or it could be just you.
No. only Director’s and Corporate secretary need to be present.
Your company becomes dormant if you haven’t had any transactions or income for a year. The year, in this case, is your tax evaluation period, not a calendar one. Annual Tax still needs to be filed. If you intend to restart, we just need to inform IRAS a month in advance.
Only if you wish to retain the company branding then keeping the company dormant is advisable, otherwise definitely closing the same down is the right approach.
From a pure operational costing perspective its expensive to operate a Pte. Ltd. Company. But a Pte. Ltd. Income attracts corporate tax. Sole proprietorship income attracts personal income tax. On a one to one scale personal tax is higher than Corporate tax. So even though operationally its expensive, it brings along a lot of Tax benefit thus overall it does become cheaper to operate a Pte. Ltd company in the long run.
Yes! 100% foreign shareholding is allowed for Singapore registered company. Hence, either foreign individuals or foreign company can own 100% shares of a Singapore company.
A company with SGD 1 million in Top line Revenue needs to register for GST. So if the company is projecting crossing the 1 million mark in the current annual year then yes, its mandatory to register for GST before the 1 million mark is crossed.
Any two of the below conditions should be fulfilled to qualify for Audit:
- The total annual revenue of the company must not exceed S$10 million;
- The total assets of the company for the financial year end must not exceed S$10 million;
- The number of full-time employees at the end of the financial year must not exceed 50.
Visa FAQ’s
It’s a type of working visa issued per specific company so it can invite foreign professionals, managers, executives, and technicians. It allows you to work exclusively for that company, live and bring your family to Singapore. It’s valid for 1 or 2 years and can be renewed afterwards.
No, EPs/DPs are issued per one specific company. You can only work for the employer that sponsors your visa. A new EP then needs to be applied under the new company.
No. there is no such guarantee. As a founder you can surely try and apply for a Employment Pass, if approved then you can move, otherwise it will not be possible.
It’s a standard application, nothing very specific. Most important is the company should be able to pay you a salary of SGD 6000/Month minimum.
A Dependent pass holder requires a Letter of Consent (LOC) to work in Singapore and it’s granted to DP holders by the Ministry of Manpower.
It’s a visa for an EP holder’s immediate family members: the spouse and unmarried children under 21. It allows them to relocate to Singapore, live, study and apply for Letter of Consent In order to work.
