Singapore's company rules: quick facts
- Entity
- Private company limited by shares (Pte Ltd)
- Tax model
- Corporate tax on profit, 17% Source: iras.gov.sg, checked September 29, 2026. IRAS: flat 17% of chargeable income for local and foreign companies. All companies get the partial tax exemption (75% of the first SGD 10,000 and 50% of the next SGD 190,000 of normal chargeable income, Income Tax Act section 43) unless they claim the start-up exemptionHeadline corporate tax rate
- Tax on $100,000 of profit paid out to a non-resident owner
- 8.17% Source: iras.gov.sg, checked September 29, 2026. IRAS: Singapore currently does not impose withholding tax on dividends, so paying out the SGD 117,337 left after tax adds nothing; the total stays SGD 10,436, 8.17% of profit
- Dividend withholding for a non-resident owner
- 0% Source: iras.gov.sg, checked September 29, 2026. No withholding tax on dividends, even where a tax treaty lists a dividend rate (one-tier system)
- Formed without visiting
- Yes
- Stripe available
- Yes Source: stripe.com, checked September 29, 2026. Singapore is listed as a supported country
- Bank or EMI account
- Good
- Audit required
- No
- EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions
- Not listed Source: data.consilium.europa.eu, checked October 12, 2026
- FATF grey list
- Not listed Source: data.consilium.europa.eu, checked October 12, 2026
- Economic substance rules
- No
Singapore Pte Ltd: the company a non-resident forms
The vehicle is a private company limited by shares, the Singapore Pte Ltd. Shareholders can be individuals or companies and can live anywhere. The constraint is the board: ACRA requires at least 1 director who meets local residency rules, meaning a Singapore citizen, a permanent resident, or the holder of an Employment Pass, Personalised Employment Pass or ONE Pass. A founder abroad fills that seat with a nominee director.
The company also needs a registered office, a Singapore address open to the public in business hours, and a company secretary appointed within 6 months of registration who is also locally resident and cannot be a sole director. A one-founder company abroad rents both people from one provider, which is why it costs more to keep than a Hong Kong company run from abroad or a UK Ltd.
How a Singapore company is taxed in 2026
Corporate tax is a flat 17%, but every company gets the partial exemption on its first SGD 200,000 (about $157,000) of chargeable income: 75% of the first slice of SGD 10,000 (about $7,830) is exempt, and 50% of the rest up to that ceiling. On $100,000 of profit at the ECB rate of September 28, 2026, the tax comes to SGD 10,436 (about $8,170), which is 8.17% of the profit.
Paying the profit out adds nothing. Singapore does not withhold tax on dividends, even where a treaty lists a rate, and under the one-tier system the company's tax is final, so its dividends are not taxable for a shareholder living in Singapore. A shareholder abroad answers to their own country.
A company that is Singapore tax resident can take the start-up exemption instead for its first 3 years of assessment: 75% of the first SGD 100,000 (about $78,300) of chargeable income and 50% of the next slice of the same size, which cuts the tax on $100,000 of profit to 5.17%. Residence follows control and management, which a founder abroad with a nominee director does not exercise in Singapore.
Working from abroad does not take the income out of Singapore tax on its own. IRAS treats a Singapore resident company's service income as Singapore-sourced unless it is provided through a fixed place of operation abroad, and foreign-sourced income is taxed once it is brought into Singapore, so a consulting company paid into its Singapore account is inside the net either way.
GST registration becomes compulsory when taxable turnover passes SGD 1,000,000 (about $783,000) in a calendar year or is expected to within 12 months, zero-rated international services included, and the rate is 9%.
David's note
I would form a Singapore company when you are moving there on a work pass, or when a partner in Singapore really runs the business. For a founder who stays abroad, the nominee director and secretary are a bill every year, the start-up exemption is out of reach, and your home country can still tax the profit as its own. You pay for Singapore's reputation without getting Singapore's tax result.
Cost and timeline to set up in Singapore
| Company name applicationOfficial fee | SGD 15 (about $12) Source: acra.gov.sg, checked September 29, 2026. ACRA fee page, last updated January 29, 2026. About $12 |
|---|---|
| Company registrationOfficial fee | SGD 300 (about $235) Source: acra.gov.sg, checked September 29, 2026. About $235 |
| Annual returnOfficial fee | SGD 60 (about $47) Source: acra.gov.sg, checked September 29, 2026. About $47 a year |
| Setup, all inMarket range, checked Sep 2026 | $1,950 to $4,220 |
| Running cost per year, all inMarket range, checked Sep 2026 | $2,590 to $5,870 |
Official fees come from the government or registry schedule. Market ranges cover formation and yearly upkeep through a provider, including a registered agent and filings. Timeline: Registration is online through Bizfile. A founder without Singpass engages a registered corporate service provider, which files for the company, usually within a few days once the resident director and documents are in place.
How to register a Singapore company from abroad
You do not travel for the registration. Filing yourself needs a Singpass login, so foreigners must engage a corporate service provider to reserve the name and register the company through Bizfile. ACRA approves most registrations soon after payment and complex ones within 15 working days, and a name that needs another agency's approval can take 14 to 60 days. The bank is the step most likely to bring you to Singapore.
Forming a Singapore Pte Ltd as a non-resident
- Engage a registered corporate service provider and pass its checks: your passport, proof of address, what the company will do and who will pay it.
- Reserve the company name with ACRA through the provider; nothing else is filed until it is approved.
- Appoint the locally resident director. Since June 9, 2025 only a registered corporate service provider that checks the person is fit and proper can arrange a nominee director, and the nominee must tell the company who nominated them.
- Fix the registered office and shareholders: a Singapore address open to the public in business hours, and each shareholder's residential address and contact details.
- Submit the registration and pay the fee through Bizfile; the company exists once ACRA approves it.
- Appoint the company secretary within 6 months, and an auditor within 3 months unless the company is exempt from audit.
- Lodge the register of registrable controllers with ACRA, naming who ultimately owns and controls the company; it is not public.
- Open the business account with the ACRA business profile, the constitution, your passport, proof of address and the source of the first money.
Singapore company annual filings and deadlines
A Singapore company answers to ACRA for the company record and to IRAS for tax. A private company that meets 2 of the small company tests for 2 years running (revenue and assets each SGD 10,000,000 (about $7.83 million) or less, 50 employees or fewer) skips the audit, but it still prepares accounts every year.
Yearly filings for a Singapore Pte Ltd
| Filing | Filed with | Deadline | Cost of missing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI); waived when revenue is SGD 5,000,000 or less and the ECI is nil | IRAS | 3 months after the financial year end | An estimated Notice of Assessment based on what IRAS thinks you earned |
| Corporate tax return (Form C-S, C-S (Lite) or C) with the accounts and tax computation | IRAS | November 30 each year | An estimated assessment payable within 1 month, a composition of up to SGD 5,000 (about $3,910) per offense, and in court twice the tax assessed plus a fine |
| Annual return, SGD 60 (about $47), with the financial statements or a solvent exempt private company's solvency declaration | ACRA | 7 months after the financial year end | SGD 300 (about $235) up to 3 months late, SGD 600 (about $470) after that, then prosecution, director disqualification and strike-off |
| GST return, once registered | IRAS | 1 month after each accounting period, with no extensions | SGD 200 (about $157) at once, SGD 200 more per month, up to SGD 10,000 (about $7,830) per return |
| Your own tax return, with the dividends on it | The tax authority where you live | Your country's deadline | Your country's penalties and the tax itself |
Opening a bank account for a Singapore company
Singapore's 3 big banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB, take foreign-owned new companies selectively and may want you in the branch. A founder abroad usually opens the first account with a Singapore business account fintech instead, which onboards online with the company's ACRA profile and your ID. A bank account can follow once the company has a trading record.
Expect questions about where you live, who your clients are, where the first money comes from and why the company sits in Singapore at all. The provider that lends you a nominee director asks the same questions before it signs, because the director it supplies is personally responsible for the company's compliance.
Singapore exchanges financial account information under the Common Reporting Standard, and every account opening asks where the company and its owners are tax resident. That residence box on the bank form is the first place the question of where the company is really run gets asked.
Where a Singapore company's profit is really taxed
The 8.17% is Singapore's bill, and it is final only when no other country has a claim. Management decides who does: IRAS locates control and management where the board makes strategic decisions and asks whether the directors and key employees are based in Singapore. A nominee who signs what you send is not making those decisions.
Tax on $100,000 of profit in a Singapore Pte Ltd by owner situation (Singapore column from the IRAS rules above)
| Owner situation | Tax in Singapore | Where else the profit is taxed |
|---|---|---|
| Lives in Singapore on a work pass and runs the company there | 8.17%, or 5.17% in the first 3 years under the start-up exemption; the dividend is not taxed | Nowhere else, as long as no other country treats you as resident |
| Lives in a high-tax country and runs the company from home through a nominee director | 8.17% on income received in Singapore, with no start-up exemption and usually no treaty access | Your country, as company profit managed from there or under its CFC rules, and again when the dividend reaches you |
| Lives abroad while directors based in Singapore really manage the company | 8.17%, and nothing withheld on the dividend | Your country taxes the dividend, and its CFC rules can tax low-taxed profit before it is paid out |
| Has no tax residence anywhere | 8.17%, and nothing withheld on the dividend | No country claims the dividend on paper, and bank forms asking where you live become the problem |
The version that holds up is moving there. An Employment Pass, Personalised Employment Pass or ONE Pass also makes you a locally resident director of your own company, so the nominee fee goes and the board meets where you live; an Employment Pass holder needs a Letter of Consent from the Ministry of Manpower first. Living in Singapore as a tax resident then means personal tax on any salary and none on the one-tier dividend.
A nominee director does not make the company Singaporean for tax
A founder who lives in Germany, makes every decision at home and pays a nominee to sit on the register in Singapore usually has a company that is not Singapore tax resident. It loses the start-up exemption and treaty access, still pays Singapore tax on income received in its Singapore account, and can be treated by Germany as managed in Germany and taxed there on the same profit.
A non-resident's Singapore company, set up right and wrong
Works
You move to Singapore on an Employment Pass, get the Letter of Consent, act as the resident director yourself, hold board meetings there, take profit as one-tier dividends and file the ECI, Form C-S and annual return on time.
Fails
You live in Madrid, pay a nominee to sign resolutions you draft, invoice clients from your apartment, report the dividends nowhere and assume the 8.17% is all you owe.
