Incorporating in Singapore

General

Incorporating in Singapore

Previously we went through the necessary step of making Plunify a legal business entity--a process which was fortunately relatively painless.

In Singapore, it seems fairly straightforward to get one's business registered, at least compared to Tokyo and the San Francisco Bay Area. The fees are comparatively lower as well.

First, one surfs over to the ACRA website at http://www.acra.gov.sg
The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore seems pretty new-business-friendly and has set it up such that most procedures can be done online.

Figuring out what to do exactly, however, can be non-trivial depending on the type of business entity one is registering. For example, sole proprietorships and limited partnerships are relatively simple. A corporation, or what is known as a private limited company, involves more brain cells.

Interesting (to me) distinctions are made between a "business"(sole proprietorship / partnership) and a "company"; full details can be found in the Companies' Act.

Plunify falls under a private limited company because, among other things, we would like to register property and capital assets required for our business in Plunify's name. After making sure that we satisfy the eligibility requirements, we then made the decision to let a specialist vendor handle the incorporation for us. That involves things like setting up bank accounts, hiring a corporate secretary to file our annual accounts with the regulatory bodies and putting into writing things like share ownership and who gets to take the office chairs home if the business folds. Our vendor? Just google something like "incorporation services singapore" and there will be tons of relevant hits. We just called each one in turn and decided on one which felt the most comfy. Cost and professionalism were our deciding factors. The government also provides one called The DP Bureau.

Little details, but essential to get the business going. Of course one can do it without enlisting any help. For us, it was a matter of asking that same old question, "Is our time worth the amount we're paying the vendor?" again.

Harnhua

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