Fast Company Registration in Singapore

The Complete Guide to Opening a Company in Singapore

It’s not just enough to find the right space and equipment you need for your company. Doing so means you’ll have to work through a lot of documents to be submitted on time, and if it’s your first time, it can be really difficult to do on your own.

This is where a company registration firm can help you. With a team of experts and specialists registering your business under the right company type, starting your business doesn’t have to be as intimidating as you think.

Why Start a Business?

There are many reasons why you would want to start a business in Singapore, whether it’s to pursue your passion, create something from scratch, work on your own hours, or sell the things you want to sell your way.

It’s also really easy to get started in Singapore because there’s so much incentive: aside from the business-friendly environment and the tax returns you can get, you also have access to a diverse pool of amazing local talent that will help you unlock your company’s full potential.

What are the Steps to Start a Company in Singapore?

These are the following steps you need to follow to open a company in Singapore:

Company name

The first step to starting your company is reserving your company name, which needs to be approved by the Singaporean government through the ACRA (the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority).

• What's in a company name? Because company registration can take a while, you want to make sure that your name is distinct from any currently registered company names or free from any conflict with existing trademarks.

• What are the different types of companies? There are different types of companies that ACRA can register you under:

  • Sole proprietorship – This type of business structure allows you to take full control of the company, but also lists the company’s assets as your own personal assets.

  • Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) – A co-owned business structure that limits the liability of partners from each other’s actions, but the partners are still liable since their shares are directly tied to their personal assets.

  • Private Limited Company (Pte. Ltd.) – This type of company is more stringent in its requirements, but is the best choice for many business owners since it differentiates company assets from personal assets.

• What type of company is best for you? You need to know first what kind of business is best suited for both your needs and your budget. For instance, a sole proprietorship may be a great start for business owners with a smaller paid up capital, but you can choose to have your company incorporated later on.

Consult a Company Incorporation Specialist

Company owners, unlike the owners of sole proprietorships and partnerships, have the advantage of limited liability, which allows the company to be separate legal entities not tied to their owners.

While this makes a private limited company a common choice for registering, it’s also quite difficult and time-consuming, and having a company incorporation specialist takes care of the details for you more quickly and easily.

• The different types of documents you need

  When registering your company, keep in mind that you will need to provide the following information:

  • Company name – The company name is what distinguishes the company as an organization, and needs the ACRA’s approval.

  • Brief description of business activities – It’s important to know how the business operates, and the company business profile serves as the company’s resume

  • Shareholders' particulars – These particulars detail the rights attached to the issued shares, which states the shareholders’ rights and entitlements to whoever owned that said share.

  • Registered address – Another thing you need to keep in mind is that your registered address needs to be a physical place, whether it’s residential or commercial.

• Corporate Secretary particulars

  Every private limited company must have a company secretary appointed within six months, and he/she must have the knowledge and skills for ensuring that the company and employees comply with regulations.

Office address

Having a listed physical address serves as your mailing and delivery address for official correspondence, which is why you need to choose your area of operations well.

• What types of addresses can you register? You can register any address you like, whether it’s a commercial space or a residential one as long as it suits the nature of your business.

• Can you register your home as a business address? Yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to use your residential address for certain types of businesses or as a head office to run the administrative functions of your company.

Hire your employees

Hiring employees isn’t just a milestone that needs serious decision-making. It’s also a delicate process where both employees and employers need to adhere to various legal protocols.

• How to find the right employee for your business – It’s not enough to simply post a job opening. You also need to define exactly what the job is so you can plan a solid recruitment strategy.

  You should also make sure to carefully review and pre-screen credentials and applications, especially for delicate or crucial functions for your company.

• When do you need a corporate secretary? Under the SCA, or the Singapore Companies Act, every company needs to appoint a secretary within six months. The appointed secretary needs to be both well-versed in the company functions as well as a current resident of Singapore.

Create your employment contract and handbook

Creating your by-laws and operating agreements is a crucial step, since it’s here that you lay the ground rules that everyone in your company needs to follow to keep your operation as smooth as possible.

• What should the employment handbook cover? – Like most business documents, an employee contract should spell out the full details on the job description, salary, compensation, and benefits.

• How to write a good employment contract Under the SCA, or the Singapore Companies Act, every company needs to appoint a secretary within six months. The appointed secretary needs to be both well-versed in the company functions as well as a current resident of Singapore.

• Can you amend your employment handbook? It’s possible only if your employees all agree, and you need to be really careful when doing so to make sure you comply with the law.

Wait for approval by ACRA

Once you’ve completed all your requirements, the next step is to have them submitted and to wait for your business profile on ACRA to be approved. The good news is you don’t have to wait too long since with a professional company registration agency, you can get registered in under a day.

Congratulations!

Now that you have the official certificate of incorporation and that you are finally a legally recognized organization, you can continue by opening corporate bank accounts and acquiring the business licenses you need to operate.

The Challenges of Starting a Business

You may now have the certificate of incorporation, but starting up doesn’t come without its challenges, especially for aspiring entrepreneurs and company owners. The initial stress of doing most of the functions yourself can be daunting, whether it’s sales, marketing, accounting or IT.

This also means you are pressed for time. Performing many functions at once with a limited number of employees can be difficult to sustain for an extended period.

Why Exactly You Need Capital

One of the biggest challenges every startup faces is finding enough capital. While not every business activity needs a large amount of investment to start, you do want to make sure the business is financially stable and can keep running in the long-term.

How to Register a Company

To register your company, its name first needs to be approved by the ACRA and meet the following criteria:

• The name must be unique, meaningful, and easy to read

• It must not come in conflict with any existing copyrights and trademarks

• For certain names, such as “Finance” or “Bank”, it also needs to have the approval of other regulatory bodies

Once it has met the following criteria, the name is reserved for you up to sixty days, after which you can ask for your registered filing agent to file an extension on your behalf.

You can then proceed to file for company registration. The best way to do this, especially if you’re only starting out, is through a company incorporation in Singapore that will provide you with an agent who can walk you through the process in full detail.

Should You Register Your Branch Office?

Branch offices operating within Singapore also need to be registered with the ACRA as business entities before they can begin their operations. Unlike subsidiary companies, the parent company of the branch office is also liable for the branch’s debts and liabilities since it’s considered as an extension of the parent company.

How SGBusiness Can Help You Get Down to Business

Starting your own company is a difficult process, but with the right people helping you do the heavy lifting, it doesn’t have to be – and this is where SGBusiness comes in.

We at SGBusiness believe in offering professional assistance to make company registration in Singapore as fast, easy, and convenient as possible, and over the years, we have successfully registered over 2,000 companies in Singapore.

With years of experience in the field, our director services and team of experts offer a wide range of services, from company formation to capital requirement assessment, and even business consultation to point your business in the best direction it can go.

So if you’re looking to get started, contact us or pay us a visit at our office today – we’d love to hear from you.