In the ensuing pandemic, there has been an increase in company incorporation. Many entrepreneurs have been birthed and the trend does not look like it is going to stop anytime soon. What did the pandemic teach us? A number of things in fact. It has taught us not to take our health, jobs, families and even freedom for granted. Some established businesses shuttered unfortunately. Eg. Robinsons, Esprit and etc.
The aviation industry was affected the most and some entrepreneurs are from this industry. You read their stories everywhere on various media – airline crew turned bakers and bistro owners.
Some of them transformed the opportunity of adversity into a thriving business while some of them simply followed their hearts and crafted their dreams into reality. This quote rings so true for them. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” – Joseph Kennedy.
So what do you need to do if you want to set up a company in Singapore? Fret not, we got you covered! Setting up a company aka company incorporation in Singapore is easy and hassle free.
The process can be summarised in 3 simple steps:
1. Choose your business entity
The Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) acts as the Company Registrar, supervising the company registration process in Singapore. It is as per the Companies Act, Chapter 50. All compliance requirements must be met.
There are 5 types of business structures in Singapore – sole proprietorship, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, private company limited by shares and ordinary business partnership. Here are some key factors to take into consideration when deciding on the type of business structure:
- The nature of core business activity
- Number of shareholders/ owners
- Amount of capital invested
- Degree of risk you are willing to take
- Long term business plan
2. Choose the company name
After you have decided on the type of business structure, it is time to choose the company name. You start registering a new company by getting its name approved from ACRA. The choice of a company name is governed by Section 27 (1) of the Companies Act (2006). The company name will be rejected if it is:
- Obscene, vulgar or includes religious names
- Identical to any registered name of a company, corporation, business, partnership and limited liability partnership
- Identical to any reserved name as per the Business Registration Act 2014, Limited Liability Partnership Act or Limited Partnership Act
- Infringes on any trademarks, copyrights and patents
3. Register with ACRA
There are specific documents that need to be prepared before registering your company with ACRA. The company incorporation documents are:
- Registered company name with ACRA
- A brief description of core business activities
- Details of the registered company address in Singapore
- The particulars of shareholders
- The particulars of directors
- The particulars of company secretary
- Foreign entrepreneurs must submit a copy of their passport and overseas residential address
- Foreign companies must submit Memorandum and Articles of Associations
- Singapore Residents must submit a copy of their Singapore identity card
In summary, you can open a corporate bank account after successful company incorporation so you can keep track of how much revenue comes in and how much monies are used to cover company expenditure and overhead costs etc.
The company incorporation process looks easy but it might actually take 2 weeks to 3 months depending on your business size because in some rare cases, the company incorporation needs to be referred to a government agency for further vetting.
Therefore it is highly recommended that you engage a local corporate service provider who has a team of professionals to help you from start to finish so you will have a seamless company incorporation process. All the best in your new business venture!
