[Q] Summary of FAQs and Replies for Existing Company in Singapore

Recommended linkages:

◎ [SG] Existing Company - Package for Annual Statutory Services

◎ [SG] List of Fees – Secretary | Finance (Accounting & Report) | Tax | Others

◎ [SG] EStar Business Online Service Application Platform

Summary of FAQs and replies:

Qs: What’s the basic compliance obligation for existing entity in Singapore?

Reply: Singaporean established company needs to comply with at least the following compliance obligations during its existence:

- Finance (Accounting & Reporting):

Proper and accurate book keeping;
Prepare financial statement in comply with local and company’s requirements (at least once a year)

Engage external auditor to perform audit on the annual financial statement (Please refer to following FAQs for criteria of exemption)

- Taxation:

The calculation and declaration of corporate income tax, including pre-declaration of income tax (once a year) and annual income tax return (once a year).

- Corporate secretary:

The company must appoint a local company secretary in Singapore to provide relevant secretarial services

ACRA Annual Filing Returns (once a year)

Filing XBRL financial statements to ACRA (Please refer to following FAQs for criteria of exemption)

- others: 

Maintain the aforesaid documents according to local and company’s requirements

The place of registration of the company must in Singapore

The company must have at least one director who is locally resident in Singapore.

EStar Business is a SG certified service provider who can provide remote one-stop services for the aforesaid services and consultations. You can refer to our Package for Annual Statutory Services, Online Service Application Platform, Singapore Compliance Manual and List of Our Fees for more details.

Qs: What’s the criteria of audit exemption for local companies in Singapore?

Reply: According to ACRA regulation, if a local entity is a non-license entity, and the entity and its whole group meet at least 2 of 3 criteria as below for immediate past two consecutive financial years, it can be qualified for audit exemption.

(i) total annual revenue ≤ S$10m,

(ii) total assets S$10m, and

(iii) no. of employees ≤ 50.

Relevant links of ACRA regulations for reference: [More Details on Small Company Concept for Audit Exemption] 

Qs: What is XBRL? What’s the criteria of XBRL exemption?

Reply: XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a computer language that, through a process of tagging, makes documents machine-readable. The common practice is that the company to engage a third party to prepare XBRL based on the annual financial statements, and then let the company secretary perform XBRL online submission.

According to ACRA regulation, if a local company is a "Solvent Exempt Private Company", or is "SG-incorporated companies preparing FS using accounting standards other than prescribed accounting standards in Singapore or IFRS”, or “SG-incorporated companies limited by guarantee”, or “Foreign companies with SG branches”. This is effective from 1 May 2021,

Of which, the criteria for "solvent exempt private company" are as below:

(1) The company is insolvent;

(2) The company’s shareholders are all individuals and no more than 20;

(3) The company is a non-listed limited liability company and is not in the business of banking, finance, and insurance regulated by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Relevant links of ACRA regulations for reference: [Who Needs to File Financial Statements?] 

Qs: How to save statutory fiscal & tax cost for a Singapore company that has not commenced or stagnates?

An entrepreneurs who incorporates a company in Singapore may encounter situations that the company's business does not commence as expected or stagnates. Under the aforesaid mentioned situations, the entrepreneur and/or the company’s management is recommended to perform self-assessment whether the company meets the definition and requirement of “dormant company” according to the following guidelines, thereby further saving the local statutory fiscal and tax costs. You can refer to following linkage for more details:

◎ [C-SG] How to Save Statutory Fiscal & Tax Cost for a Singapore Company that has not Commenced or Stagnates?

Qs: Is electronic signature legal in Singapore? If Yes, how to do it?

Reply: To put it simply, electronic signatures are legal in Singapore, except for certain special scenarios where physical signatures are mandatory required. Relevant linkage for laws & regulations and common practice are as follows:

◎ [C-SG] Electronic signature_Introduction to laws and regulations

◎ [C-SG] Electronic Signature_Common Practice

If you have any other question, please leave a message online or contact us, we will get back to you soon. We will keep updating this FAQs and replies to better address your queries.