Registering a company in Singapore is, as most individuals believe, either too easy or a mountain of paperwork. The reality is somewhere in the middle, the structure is in fact friendly, but the specifics are sharp. The government of Singapore has designed its business registration system to enable it to capture capital and talent all over the world. Low corporate tax rates, clear legal framework and political stability that will not have an entrepreneur up late at night. That’s the pitch. And it holds up. However, there exists a disconnect between, Singapore is business-friendly and, in fact, getting your company off the ground without running over landmines you did not know existed. To understand the required documents, find out more through our detailed guide.

The most frequently used form of new business organization in this country is the Private Limited Company, the Pte. Ltd. that you will find appended to the name of every store and on every invoice. Why? Since it isolates your personal and company money. Creditors claim the business once the business goes through rough waters- not your savings account or the flat belonging to your grandmother that you borrowed money. You can own 100% as a foreigner. The paid-up capital begins at a ridiculously low amount of S$1. Registration is done at ACRA, the corporate regulator in Singapore, using the BizFile+ portal – and a simple, clean application can be approved in a day. Registration fee by government is S$315. So far, so good. That is where it gets hot: at least one of the directors of every Singapore company has to be a Singaporean resident. Not just visits. In fact lives here – citizen, permanent resident or a valid work pass holder. In case you are operating abroad, this can freeze you even before you can begin.

This is precisely what Hub Corporate Services was created to do. With over 20 years of experience in the same location, (Chinatown Point) Hub offers you a Nominee Director service whereby a qualified local director is offered to your board to fulfill that legal obligation. The nominee does not operate your business, does not handle your money or does not make any operational decisions. They are there on paper to keep your company in line – nothing more, nothing less. Hub also combines this with compulsory appointment of company secretary, which is however sensible in practical terms as the two are inseparable in the compliance machinery of Singapore. What Hub also has over some of its competitors is that they do not require a security deposit deposited beforehand. That is not a small thing to a first-time founder who already has to deal with incorporation costs. Their packages include the address of the registered office, secretarial services, and annual compliance filings- all in one package saving a lot of time on who do I call to this? issue that bedevils firms with many vendors.

In Singapore, compliance is not a choice, nor does it subside once incorporated and that it merely changes form. You are required to invest a company secretary within six months of incorporation, or risk financial fines. Annual general meetings, annual returns to ACRA, and corporate income tax returns to IRAS are all due on a calendar which is linked to your Financial Year End date. Denominating that FYE date may seem like a footnote during registration, but it sets the tempo of all the compliance requirements your company will bear in the future. Get it wrong- or rather just get it blindly- and you will spend years frantically banging against the deadlines, which have been unfortunately timed to arrive at the worst moment. These are things that Hub flags before it turns wrong and this is the very form of proactive service that makes it worth using a corporate firm instead of winging it.