Company Incorporation Guide

Singapore company registration for foreigners

Applicable country/region: SG - Singapore

Published: September 19, 2026Updated: September 25, 2026

Written by our advisory team
Singapore rules and requirements
Checked against official sources

Guide overview

The decisions behind a new Singapore Pte Ltd

Singapore company registration forms a private limited company (Pte Ltd), registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) through Bizfile. The company name is reserved first, then the application is filed under that name with a constitution, the company's own or ACRA's model. Step by step, a founder abroad picks the vehicle that suits the future owners and prepares for checks on each of them. Next come the director seat kept for someone ordinarily resident in Singapore and the address used as the registered office. Tax and the months after approval come last. Only one dependency is fixed. The filing needs the approved name, the resident director and the registered office address.

COMPANY TYPES

Choosing between a Pte Ltd and a foreign company's branch

According to ACRA's guide to company types, most small business owners registering a company in Singapore choose a private limited company. It is a local company and a separate legal entity. Its shareholders, individuals or a foreign parent holding it as a subsidiary, have limited liability, so its debts are not theirs. An existing foreign company can instead register itself as a branch. A branch is not a separate entity, so its debts fall on the parent, and it needs an authorised representative who lives in Singapore. Offering shares to the public needs another form, the public company limited by shares. Which route fits depends on who will own the company.

Reading the company types

Rows cover ownership, shareholder and director rules, capital and notes for each company type.

Singapore PTE LTD Basic Information

Ownership:

Consolidated Ownership

Limited Liability:

Positive

Publicly Participates In Capital Market:

Negative

Singapore PTE LTD Shareholder / Director / Secretary Requirements

Requirements For Shareholders:

1-50

Requirements For Directors:

At least one director ordinarily resident in Singapore

Legal Representative Not Mandatory:

Positive

Local Directors Not Mandatory:

Negative

Local Secretaries Not Mandatory:

Negative

Singapore PTE LTD Registered Capital Requirement

Minimum Registered Capital Requirement:

1. The minimum share capital is S$1, which can be issued without full payment;
2. A local company with paid-up capital of S$500,000 or more becomes a member of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) automatically, with a membership subscription of no more than S$1,500 in any calendar year.

Capital Injection Not Required:

Positive

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

Who files for a foreign founder and who gets checked

A foreigner has to engage a corporate service provider (CSP) to reserve the name and register a company. Under the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024, anyone offering that work must register with ACRA as a CSP and meet anti-money-laundering duties. Before filing, the CSP must identify and verify its customer and find the individuals who ultimately own or control the company. If a shareholder is a company, the CSP looks through it to the people behind it. Unless exempt, the company also keeps a register of registrable controllers and files it with ACRA on the day it is incorporated. The documents feed these checks, so a third party must be able to confirm each one.

Reading the documents

Rows are document types grouped by who provides them; each entry ends with its process and format.

Natural Person Shareholders & Directors's Required Documents

Passport:

Passport scan of shareholders and directors and picture of the bearer holding the passport.

Process: Not ApplicableFormat: Scan Copy

Proof of Address:

Shareholder and director address proof: scan of utility bills or bank statements. Translation into English is required, and the documents must clearly indicate the shareholder/director's name, address, and a date not exceeding 3 months.

Process: Not ApplicableFormat: Scan Copy

Other Entities's Required Documents

Passport:

If the company will have only one director (excluding the nominee director), incorporation documents must be signed under a witness (can be anyone other than the director himself). The witness need to provide a scan copy of his/her passport.

Process: Not ApplicableFormat: Scan Copy

REQUIREMENTS AND ESTIMATED COST

Singapore company registration: resident director and office rules

The Companies Act 1967 requires a director ordinarily resident in Singapore: one seat, not every director. ACRA's residency requirements count Singapore citizens, permanent residents and Employment Pass, Personalised Employment Pass or ONE Pass holders. An Employment Pass holder first needs a Letter of Consent from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Not every work pass qualifies: S Pass holders cannot be directors. With nobody who qualifies, a founder can appoint a nominee director. Since 9 June 2025, one acting by way of business must come through a registered CSP after a fit-and-proper check. Registered office addresses must be in Singapore and, for now, open to the public at least three hours each business day, but need not house the business.

Reading the requirements

Base cost is the service and government fees; each requirement shows if it is included and what solving it costs; the estimate adds them up.

Base Cost

Service Fee:

CNY 10,000

Requirements

Registered Address: A Singapore address is needed

To register a company in Singapore, a Singapore address is required. If you do not have a Singapore address, you can choose the address hosting service provided by TKEG Expat™ (DE). This service already includes one year of Singapore Registered Address.

Included: Yes ×1.00

Nominee Director: At least one company director must be ordinarily resident in Singapore

Singapore company registration must have at least one director ordinarily resident in Singapore. If there is no Singapore resident to serve as the company director, the "Nominee Director Service" provided by TKEG Expat™ (DE) is available. This service already includes a one-year company nominee director service.

Included: Yes ×1.00

Estimated Cost

Estimated Cost:

CNY 10,000

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TAX

What decides a new company's first tax years

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) offers new companies a start-up tax exemption for their first three years of assessment. Within the first 200,000 Singapore dollars of chargeable income, 75% of the first S$100,000 is exempt and 50% of the rest. A qualifying company is tax resident, with no more than 20 shareholders: all individuals, or at least one individual holding at least 10%. A company wholly owned by a foreign parent gets only the partial tax exemption, as do investment-holding and property-development companies. Goods and services tax (GST) follows turnover. GST registration is compulsory once taxable turnover passes S$1,000,000 in a calendar year or is expected to within 12 months.

Reading the tax data

Rows cover corporate income, withholding, value-added and capital gains tax, plus effective rates, for each jurisdiction.

PwC World Tax Summary OECD Statistics

Corporate Income Tax (CIT)

General CIT Rate:

CIT Return Due Date:

November 30

CIT Payment Due Date:

Tax is payable within one month from the date of the Notice of Assessment.

CIT Estimated Payment Due Date:

The estimated income tax assessment must be submitted within three months after the end of the company's fiscal year. The estimated tax should be paid within one month after receiving the assessment notice, or paid in installments according to the installment payment plan. No estimated chargeable income (ECI) needs to be filed for a year of assessment when the company's annual revenue for the financial year is S$5,000,000 or below and its ECI is nil (the IRAS ECI filing waiver).

Withholding Tax (WHT)

Non-Resident Withholding Tax (Dividend/Interest/Royalty):

0/15/10

Value-Added Tax (VAT)

General VAT Rate:

Learn More Value-Added Tax (VAT)

Effective Tax Rate (ETR)

Composite Effective Average Tax Rate:

16.09%

Composite Effective Marginal Tax Rate:

13.15%

Conclusion

The first months after ACRA's approval

ACRA says most applications are approved soon after the registration fee is paid, and the company then exists. Within six months of incorporation it must appoint a company secretary who lives in Singapore. With a sole director, the director and the secretary cannot be one person. ACRA encourages a corporate bank account, and one can be opened right after registration. The bank runs its own checks and usually needs most directors physically present in Singapore. Compliance then runs on a yearly cycle from the financial year end, with the annual return to ACRA and separate tax filings to IRAS. The one thing to settle early is that year end, because every later date follows from it.

Singapore

Jurisdiction Overview

About Singapore

Setting up an offshore company in Singapore means that you can operate a straightforward tax-saving company in the stable political environment of Singapore. It can be used for Singapore entrepreneurship immigration application; personal tax planning; and preserving family wealth.

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