A Guide to Setting Up a Company in Singapore

A Guide to Setting Up a Company in Singapore

If your company is doing well and you are looking to get into the South East Asian market, you would be hard-pressed to find a better country than Singapore, the tiger economy of the region. Of course, when you form a company overseas, it is vital that you are compliant with local laws and the best way to achieve this is to enlist the services of a local company that specialises in helping businesses to set up in Singapore.

Here are the various ways that you can open a business in Singapore.

  • Representative Office (RO) – This is perfect for the company that would like to explore the local market and carry out market research and while the entity is not allowed to trade, you can have one corporate shareholder and also a staff member from your head office can legally work at your RO.
  • Private Limited Company – If you wish to trade immediately and be compliant with local laws and regulations, the private limited company (PLC) is the ideal solution. This limited liability entity can have one shareholder, one resident director and a company secretary, plus the entity can be 100% foreign owned. As the company is limited, you are not risking your personal wealth when setting up the business, while shares are fully transferrable, making it easy to transfer ownership, should you wish to sell at any point in the future. If you need to outsourcing payroll in Singapore, the business formation company offers such a service, which is very convenient. The payroll system is set up in stages; a) the initial assessment, b) the service blueprint, c) the testing phase, d) the parallel run and finally, e) the testing phase. Then the payroll system is ready to use and you no longer have to worry about how your employees are paid, as everything is taken care of by the payroll service provider.
  • Limited Liability Partnership – This is perfect for professionals such as doctors, lawyers and business consultants, while a private equity fund can be set up with limited investors. This trading entity is fully compliant with local laws and you can have one manager and up to two partners, which can be individuals or corporations. There are no restrictions or capital requirements and as you have limited liability, you are not risking your estate. Click here for a few good ideas to make money online, which might turn out to be valuable.

Essential Business Services

The company that offers a business formation service would also offer other business services, such as payroll and accounting, both of which are usually required. You can easily manage your payroll with the easy to navigate user interface, which you can access from any location, thanks to the Internet.

The service provider can handle all the annual tax returns for your local employees, making sure that you are compliant with all the rules and regulations, and with the right advice, you can choose the type of business formation package that best suits your needs.