Before Incorporation
- Private companies may be incorporated with one director and one shareholder, whereby the director and the shareholder can be the same person.
- At least one director must be ordinarily resident in Singapore.
- Dependent Pass Holders and Long Term Visit Pass Holders will need to set up the company with a Singapore citizen or Singapore PR as director, apply for MOM Letter of Consent then be appointed as director.
- Foreigners may set up the company with a Singapore citizen or Singapore PR as director, apply for Employment Pass then be appointed as director. Existing Employment Pass Holders who wish to take up a secondary directorship will need to obtain a MOM Letter of Consent which is typically granted only if the new company is related to the Employment Pass Holder’s current employer.
- Work Permit Holders and S Pass Holders are not allowed to be director or hold shares in another company.
After Incorporation
- Every company must appoint a secretary within 6 months of the date of its incorporation. The company secretary must be residing locally in Singapore. He/She must not be the sole director of the company.
- Decide when the company’s financial year end would be.
- Companies are required to maintain a register of registrable controllers within 30 days after incorporation.
- Every company is required to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) and file its Annual Returns. If your financial year end date is 31 December 2021, we recommend that your AGM be held on 30 June 2022 and Annual Return be filed on 31 July 2022.
- Every company must submit its Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) within three months from its financial year end date, unless its annual revenue is not more than $5 million for the financial year and ECI is nil.
- Every company must e-file company tax return Form C/Form CS by 30 November of each year. Even if the company is making losses, it is required to file its tax return. If the company intends to be dormant for the next 2 years, it may apply for the Waiver of Income Tax Return.
- Companies with 5 or more employees from Year of Assessment 2022 (for income derived in 2021) must submit their employees’ income to IRAS by 1 march of each year under the Auto-Inclusion Scheme.
- If the company falls within any of the situations below, you have to apply for GST registration within 30 days of the date on which your registration liability arises:-
- Your taxable turnover at the end of the calendar year (i.e. 31 Dec 2021) is more than $1 million.
- You are making or intend to make taxable supplies and you can reasonably expect your taxable turnover in the next 12 months to be more than $1 million.
- Check out the tax benefits and government grants:
- IRAS Wage Credit Scheme (WCS), CPF Special Employment Credit (SEC), MOM/CPF Government-Paid Maternity Leave (GPML), IDA iSPRINT, SPRING Singapore Innovation Capability Voucher (ICV), SPRING Singapore Capability Development Grant (CDG), and Health Promotion Board (HPB) Grants