🇸🇬 Singapore
Singapore is a stable, business-friendly gateway to Asia with strong rule of law, excellent banking and broad startup incentives.
Who it suits
Who it does not
Living
A clean, safe and highly developed city-state where English is an official language. Living costs are high, but infrastructure and services are world-class.
Business
A private limited company (Pte Ltd) can be incorporated quickly online; Singapore consistently ranks among the easiest places in the world to do business.
Tax
Corporate tax is a flat 17%, with partial exemptions and start-up reliefs that lower the effective rate. Foreign-sourced income is often exempt and there is no capital-gains tax.
Figures are indicative and change over time. We confirm the current rules, rates and requirements for your specific situation before you commit.
How incorporation works
- Name reservationReserve the name with ACRA. Names that touch a regulated activity are referred to the relevant authority and take longer.
- The resident directorSettle who the locally resident director will be. Every company needs at least one, and for most foreign founders this single requirement shapes the whole structure.
- StructureFix the shareholders, the share capital, the financial year end and the constitution.
- Office and secretaryGive the company a physical Singapore address and appoint a company secretary, who must be resident.
- IncorporationFile with ACRA through BizFile. Where everything is in order, registration is usually same-day.
- RegistersSet up the register of registrable controllers, and the register of nominee directors where a nominee is used.
- Tax and GSTRegister with IRAS, and for GST where turnover requires it or voluntary registration makes commercial sense.
- Bank accountOpen the account. Singapore banks look hard at substance and at why a foreign-owned company is here — this is the long pole in the tent.
What we need from you
- Passport and proof of address for every director, shareholder and controller
- Details of the proposed resident director, or instructions to arrange a nominee
- A preferred company name, with an alternative
- A description of the business, its customers and its markets
- The share split and the intended capital
- The intended registered-office address
- Parent-company documents where a corporate shareholder is used
- Signed consents to act for the directors and the secretary
What you end up with
- The ACRA business profile, with the unique entity number
- Constitution
- Share certificates and the statutory registers
- Register of registrable controllers
- Registered office and company secretary
- Tax reference, and GST registration where applied for
- A corporate pack banks and counterparties will accept
Every year after that
- An annual general meeting, or the written resolutions that stand in for it
- An annual return to ACRA
- Financial statements under Singapore standards, audited unless the company qualifies as small
- Estimated chargeable income, then the corporate tax return to IRAS
- GST returns where registered
- Keeping the register of registrable controllers current
Common questions
Do I need a local director?
Yes. At least one director must be ordinarily resident in Singapore. A nominee can fill the seat, and since mid-2025 nominee arrangements must be made through an ACRA-registered corporate service provider and recorded in the register of nominee directors. A nominee is a compliance role, not a substitute for someone actually running the company.
How long does it take?
Registration is often same-day once the name is approved and the consents are signed. The bank account is the slow part, and for a foreign-owned company it is realistically measured in weeks.
What is the real tax rate?
The headline rate is 17%. A qualifying new company gets a partial exemption on its first tranches of chargeable income for its first three years of assessment, and rebates are announced budget by budget. Investment-holding and property-development companies are excluded from the start-up exemption.
Is foreign income taxed?
Singapore taxes income accruing in or derived from Singapore, and foreign income when it is received here. Exemptions exist for foreign dividends, branch profits and service income where the conditions are met — it is not an automatic territorial exemption.
Do I have to audit?
Not while the company qualifies as small, which turns on revenue, assets and headcount. Growing past those thresholds brings the audit with it, so it belongs in the plan rather than in a surprise.
Can I run it from abroad?
You can own it from abroad. Running it from abroad raises the usual question of where the company is really managed, and whether another country will claim it. Singapore tax residency turns on where control and management are exercised, and the certificate of residence that unlocks the treaties depends on it.
Set up your company in Singapore
Tell us about your business and we will confirm whether Singapore is the right fit — and handle the full incorporation.
- A reply within one working day
- The first consultation is 30 minutes
- Confidential, no obligation