Today, locals and foreigners prefer to initiate their business set up in Singapore. The general procedure to follow while Singapore companies setup, is described below.
The first stage begins with deciding the type of business for your formation in Singapore. In case you decide to start a tourist or recruitment agency; bank, financial or insurance company; restaurant or bar; or a private educational institution; it is mandatory to acquire the related license or permit from the concerned government authorities.
You will also need a special permit that is only issued by the specific government officials; in order to import goods into Singapore, and for selling and manufacturing certain goods, food items and liquors within the boundaries of Singapore. You must therefore carefully select a business activity and obtain the necessary permission for the same. After deciding the name of your incorporation in Singapore, it must be approved by the Singapore Registrar of Companies. You should provide at least two to three names, because the proposed name should be unique, and must not be already registered; or it may be rejected due to some other reasons.
The likely reasons may be: violation of patents or trademarks; or usage of offensive name, etc. It should be noted that names that include words like bank, school, financial institution, tourist agency, etc.; must be specially approved by the regulatory authorities related to business registration Singapore. The normal process for business incorporation Singapore takes only a few hours. However, using the restricted words in your company name, may delay the registration process for a couple of months.
Further, your company can be registered with just S$1; however a considerable amount of paid-up capital is recommended and also essential in some cases. For instance, a paid-up capital of at least S$100,000 is required to form a tourist business. Besides this, you need to determine and even approve the shareholders of the company; as well as the amount of paid-up capital for each shareholder.
Moreover, as per the laws of Singapore, a nominee director should be appointed, in order to act as the local company director; until the foreign director gets an Employment Pass or Entrepreneur Pass. And after receiving the Employment Pass or Entrepreneur Pass, the interim nominee director will resign. Once all the mandatory documents are ready, they should be duly signed and submitted online to the Registrar of Companies in Singapore or now known as Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore (ACRA). The process to set up a Singapore company; may take few hours to several days; depending on several factors such as; approval of the company name by the registration authority, and preparation and signing the company registration documents.
Furthermore, opening a bank account for your company may take one day to few weeks; based on the related bank; and physical presence of the company’s director at the bank, for signing the bank account opening documents. Additionally depending on the activities of your incorporation in Singapore, and based on the complications to obtain the information and preparing the required documents; the relevant licenses or permits, can be received online within few days to several weeks.
