Singapore is well-recognised as a global business hub and is an excellent choice for aspiring entrepreneurs to start their business ventures. It has an attractive tax system and levies no tax on capital gains or on dividends received from a business.

CorpPass is a corporate digital identity for businesses and other entities (such as non-profit organisations and associations) to transact with government agencies online. CorpPass is the single login method for all government-to-business transactions from 1 September 2018, and is managed by the Government Technology Agency (GovTech).

To set up a company in Singapore, the minimum issued capital must be at least $1.

Anyone can become a shareholder including companies.

The person can be a Singapore Citizen/Permanent Resident or a Singapore Employment Pass Holder/Singapore Dependent Pass Holder. The appointed director must not hold any criminal records, be an undischarged bankrupt, and must be at least 18 years old.

A Company requires a minimum of 1 director that is resident in Singapore.

Yes, the Singapore Companies Act requires all companies in Singapore to appoint company secretary within 6 months of incorporation. The Corporate Secretary must be a Singapore Citizen/Permanent Resident or a Singapore Employment Pass Holder/Singapore Dependent Pass Holder and resident in Singapore.

Not all Singapore companies are subject to an audit of their financial statements. In order to save companies the time and costs of an annual audit, Singapore introduced the concept of a “small company” in 2015. A small company is exempt from the requirement for an annual audit and any private company qualifies as a small company if it meets at least two of the following three criteria: Total revenue does not exceed S$10 million; Total assets do not exceed S$10 million; Number of employees does not exceed 50.

No. The company can decide on a financial year end that best suits its business operation. Common choices by companies include 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December. You must also decide whether your accounting period covers 12 months or over 52 weeks.

With effect from Year of Assessment 2010, a company is taxed at a flat rate of 17% on its chargeable income regardless of whether it is a local or foreign company.

A company is taxed on the income earned in the preceding financial year. This means that income earned in the financial year 2019 will be taxed in 2020.

No. Your liability for GST registration depends on the value of your taxable turnover. It is compulsory to register for GST when your annual taxable turnover exceeds S$ 1million.

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.

A “transaction” refers to each entry passed to record sales, purchases, collections, payments and other business activities.