What do you need to do to open a company in arguably the best place to do business in the world? What is the registration process for opening your own company in Singapore? In this article, we look at how you should move forth with setting up a business in Singapore.
Always Work with an Incorporation Service Provider
Opening a company in Singapore is very simple compared to other countries. However, registration of a company itself isn’t a straightforward process. You need to fulfil various requirements for the type of the company you choose.
Hence, to start a business smoothly, you should work with an incorporation service provider. Especially if you are a first-time applicant, registering for a business is going to be hefty and troublesome as you know little to nothing about the incorporation process and the legal issues. As the process may be tedious, you should not waste too much time and effort to go through unnecessary stress and confusion. So, it is imperative to hire an incorporation service provider.
Keeping this in mind, the Singapore government has made it compulsory for foreign investors to hire a Singapore registered representative to open a company. In other words, foreigners must hire an incorporation service provider to start a business in Singapore.
What to Look Out for When Selecting an Incorporation Service Provider
It may be easy to decide on hiring an incorporation service provider, but it is challenging to choose the right one. As Singapore has a lot of options when it comes to choosing an incorporation service provider, settling on one is going to be staggering.
You should choose an incorporation service provider which quotes competitive rates and has skilled employees. . You may also need to look for an incorporation service provider which provides other administrative services; for example, accounting and bookkeeping, as you may need them while running your company.
How to Evaluate if the Service Provider is the Correct one
If a service provider interests you, the first thing to do would be to visit their website. The content and insights on their website will provide you an idea of their talent and skills.
You may also look into the reviews on the internet to see if they had been providing quality services to their past clients. Although price may be a consideration, remember to find a service provider that offers good quality services, customer service and support because you may need to build a long-term relationship with them. It would be more assuring for you if the company replies to your initial messages within 24 hours as you will know that they are responsive.
Define Your Business Needs
Now that you have settled on an incorporation service provider, the next step is defining what actually you want the incorporation service provider to do for you. As said before, there are some prerequisites for running a company. You would want to choose a service provider who can help you to fulfil that.
Choosing the Correct type of Company to Incorporate in Singapore
If you are a local, you can either open a sole proprietorship, partnership, or a limited liability company. If you are an international investor, you have to open a limited liability company, or more precisely, a private limited company.
These are the requirements for opening a private limited company in Singapore:
- At least one resident director
- Between 1 to 50 shareholders
- One resident secretary
- A registered address
- The company must do an annual audit every year
What Types of Services do you Need?
After choosing a company type, you should settle on the support you need to run your company. Especially with Startups and SMEs having little budget, they can’t afford to pay many employees like bigger established corporations. If that is the case, they need to outsource administrative tasks to other companies for fees that are lower than hiring employees.
In your company too, you may need help for accounting, secretary, auditing, etc. Find an Incorporation services Singapore based on whether they offer what you need.
Documents/Information Required to Submit
You now know the required support and have chosen an incorporation service provider. It is time to gather your documents and information that you need to register a company. These are the documents you need:
- Company Constitution, or Memorandum and Articles of Association
- Particulars of the director and signed consent to act as a director for each director
- Particulars of the secretary and signed consent to act as a director for each secretary
- Identification and residential address of each executive of the company
You may need more documents depending on the nature of your business. This isn’t an issue, as your corporate service provider will help you with it. However, they will need the verification of the documents of identification and address, or the professional background of stakeholders and officers of the company to make sure that they don’t help parties trying to do illegal stuff.
Costs Required to Set Aside for Company Incorporation
This depends on what kind of services are performed during the registration. If you just need minimal support, around S$500 to S$800 would be enough. If you want various services with the registration, you may need to allocate around S$15,000 or more for registration only, which is still less than the annual salary of an employee.
How 3e Accounting Offers Various Packages Tailored to Different Business Needs or Types of Assistance Needed at Different Stages
3E Accounting is a registration service provider in Singapore which helps investors register their company in very little time and at affordable costs. They also are a one-stop service provider, providing administrative services such as accounting and bookkeeping, auditing, secretarial, and others for minimal price. Once you call them, they provide everything; from incorporation services Singapore to other administrative support that you need to operate, and succeed in Singapore.