When you think of setting up a business, the location plays an important role. Everyone would look for the best location that would bring ease in their business with assets and growth. There are many people who decide to set up a business abroad.
Talking about setting up a business in a foreign country, nations like New Zealand and Singapore are leading the race in attracting businesses from foreign nations. Even so, the businesses have been preferring these countries for business abroad.
Singapore has been in the second best place for business for a really long time now. Business incorporation in this country is said to be beneficial and comparatively simple. Well, different countries have different registration processes for businesses. Today we are here to discuss business registrations in Singapore.
If you are wondering what are the things that you need to keep in mind or the requirements for foreigners to register a company in Singapore, you are at the right place. Below we are mentioning a few basic requirements that you need to be aware of when registering a company in Singapore.
Get An Approved Company Name
Well, it is pretty certain that since you are looking to register a business, you know what you are going to name it. However, it is important that the name of your company should be appropriate in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).
ACRA is statutory of the Singapore government. The following are a few conditions that need to be complied with when getting a name approved for your business:
- The company name should be different from the existing companies in Singapore.
- The company name should be such that it is not reserved by any other business.
- The company name should be such that it does not violate any trademark.
- The company name should not be obscene.
Once your company name meets all the requirements of ACRA, you can then get your name approved easily and move forward with other processes.
Get A Verified Business Address
Another thing that you need to be ready with before registration is that you should have a legitimate business address. When you instate a business in Singapore it is important that you get your business address verified and then submit all the necessary documents regarding the same to ACRA.
The business address should be the place where all the statutory documents are stored. This address also needs to meet certain requirements like:
- The business address cannot be a PO box.
- The property for your location should be a commercial property.
- The business address should be an actual legitimate location.
Appoint A Company Secretary
When you are setting up a business in Singapore, you should keep in mind that corporate services or secretarial services play an important role. Corporate compliance is one of the important parts of running a business in Singapore and this is why you need to hire a Company Secretary for your company.
The following are a few requirements that your Company Secretary has to meet:
- He or she should be a local citizen of Singapore.
- He or she should be well versed in the corporate activities of Singapore.
- The Company Secretary has to be appointed within 6 months of business incorporation.
- He or she should be not less than 18 years old.
- A company secretary can’t be the same person as the director unless your company has assigned more than one director.
If you are baffled about how you can handle the corporate services you can learn more about it.
Appoint Directors For Your Business
Just like appointing a Company Secretary, you also need to appoint a director for your business. The requirements of appointing a director are as follows:
- The director has to be a local citizen of Singapore.
- There can be a foreign director given that your company has more than one director and at least one of them is a Singapore citizen.
- The director can’t be less than 18 years old.
- He or she must not have any criminal record history.
- He or she must not have ever been declared bankrupt in their life.
Be Prepared With Shareholders
When you are planning to set up a business in Singapore, it is important that you are ready with shareholders for your business. Talking about shareholders, your business should have at least 1 and not more than 50 shareholders. Your shareholders can be individual persons or even corporate entities. Also, it is permitted to have a fully foreign-based shareholder for your business.
