Key regulatory requirements for local companies

Key regulatory requirements for local companies

This guide provides an overview of the key regulatory requirements that local companies in Singapore need to comply with.

• Requirements during company incorporation

  Requirements during company incorporation

  

  When incorporating your local company:

  Before registering your business, determine your business activities (SSIC code), business structure and address.

  Apply for Local Company Name with ACRA.

  Incorporate your Local Company with ACRA.
  
  When incorporating your company, specify when your Financial Year ends, upload your company constitution, and appoint officers including:
  

  • Company Director
    
  • Company Secretary
    
  • Auditor (Not required for small companies, more details on audit exemption)
    
  • Chief Executive Officer (optional)
    
  • Managing Director (optional)
    

  After incorporating your local company:

  After you have received your UEN, register for a Corppass admin account to gain access to all the government services.

  Set up Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) within 30 days and file the RORC information with ACRA within 2 business days after the RORC has been setup unless you are exempted.
  
  Registrable controllers (RC) are people in your company who:
  (a) has an interest in >25% of shares in your company; or
  (b) hold >25% of members’ voting rights in your company; or
  (c) can exercise significant influence or control over your company/LLP

  Before you hire your first employee:

  Employers will require a CPF Submission Number (CSN) to submit CPF contributions for their local and Singapore Permanent Resident employees.

• Ad hoc requirements

  Ad hoc requirements

  

  Register for GST if taxable turnover has:

  • exceeded $1 million at the end of the calendar year or
  • you expect taxable turnover to exceed $1 million in the next 12 months.

  Submit an incident report with Ministry of Manpower’s WSH Incident Reporting system, if a work-related accident has happened within 10 days of the incident.
  For fatal accidents or dangerous occurrences, notify MOM immediately at mom_oshd@mom.gov.sg.

  Update ACRA if there has been any change in company information (within 14 business days) or to the Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) information (within 2 business days after updating your RORC) of your company.

  Update MOM when your staff, who are work pass holders, change their residential address within 5 days of any change.

• Monthly requirements

  Monthly requirements

  

  If your business hires foreign workers:

  View your MOM Foreign Worker Levy bill by the 6th of every month.

  Payment for the Foreign Worker Levy will be made via Giro by the 17th of each month.

  If your business hires Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents (SPR):

  Make employee CPF monthly contribution and Skills Development Levy (SDL) payment by the last day of each month. Action will be taken against employers who fail to pay by the 14th of the following month.

• Quarterly requirements

  Quarterly requirements

  

  Update MOM's Occupational Employment Dataset (OED)

  By the 14th day after the end of each quarter, remember to update the OED on changes to the occupational and employment details of your employees.
  To allow MOM to shape manpower policies, businesses are required to provide MOM with updated details of your workforce’s occupational and employment details via the OED Portal every quarter. Read more about OED.

  

  File and Pay your GST

  If your company is GST-registered, e-file your GST F5 via IRAS’ Seamless-Filing-From-Software (#SFFS) or myTax Portal within 1 month from the end of the GST accounting period.

  Most GST-registered businesses file GST returns on a quarterly basis. The start and end of each quarterly period is dependent on your Financial Year End (FYE).

  For example:
  Company A
  Financial Year ends in December
  

  • For the quarterly GST accounting period of 1 Jul - 30 Sep, they would have to e-file their GST F5 and make payment by 31 Oct if they are not on GIRO.
  • Alternately, if the company has a GIRO arrangement with IRAS, e-file by 31 Oct and payment deduction will take place on 15 Nov.
    
    
• Yearly requirements

  Yearly requirements

  

  From your second financial year

  Submit employees income information

  By the 1st of March of your 2nd financial year, submit employees income information electronically to IRAS if on Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) for Employment Income. Otherwise, provide Form IR8A and appendices (where applicable) to employees.

  

  From your second/third* financial year

  *Whether you do the following in your second/third financial year depends on whether your company has closed its books in the year of incorporation and income received for the year.

  File your Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI)

  File Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) within 3 months of FYE if company does not qualify for ECI filing waiver.

  Receive Notice of Assessment (NOA) within 7 days after ECI filing. No NOA will be issued when a NIL ECI is filed.

  Pay Tax Bill within 1 month from the date of the NOA.

  File your annual returns with ACRA

  	Listed company	Private company
  Hold annual general meeting. Present financial statements & updates to members.	Within 4 months from the end of FYE.	Within 6 months from the end of FYE.
  File annual returns with ACRA	Within 5 months from the end of FYE.	Within 7 months from the end of FYE.

  

  File your corporate income tax

  File Corporate Income tax returns [Form C-S/ FormC-S(Lite)/ Form C] by 30 Nov

  - Receive NOA by 31 May of the following year, and Pay Corporate Income tax within 1 month from the date of NOA. If company does not agree with assessment raised, it can file an objection within 2 months from the date of NOA with the Revise/ Object to Assessment digital service.

• Hiring workers

  Hiring workers

  

  If you're hiring local or foreign workers

  We recommend applying for CPF Submission Number (CSN) once you have set up your Corppass account. Employers will need a CSN when submitting CPF contributions for employees.

  Before your local or foreign workers start work, remember to obtain work injury compensation (WIC) insurance if they are:

  • Manual workers
  • Non-manual workers with a salary of less than $2,600/month
    Information about WIC
    Tools and resources for employers to download about WIC

  

  If you intend to hire foreign workers:

  Assign the Work Pass eService to required officers on Corppass.

  Register for an account for MOM services Work Pass Account Registration eService, and declare your business activity.

  Apply for work pass holders (if needed).

  Set up GIRO with MOM for Foreign Worker Levy (if you hire Work Permit or S Pass holders).

  Secure accommodation for workers, and register residential address in Online Foreign Worker Address Service (OFWAS) before issuance of work passes.

  Ensure that migrant workers have attended the necessary training courses.

*Information on this page is accurate as of 7 Jul 2023.

The content made available or accessible through this page may not be correct, complete, current or accurate and you should perform your own checks or obtain professional advice relevant to your particular circumstances.

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