How to Register a Business in Singapore

Choose the route to register a business in Singapore

Start by choosing the legal structure, rather than treating “business registration” as another name for incorporating a Pte Ltd. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) registers several structures through Bizfile. Liability, ownership and ongoing administration should determine which route you take.

These distinctions follow ACRA’s business-structure comparison . An ordinary partnership and a limited partnership are additional routes with different liability arrangements. An overseas company establishing a branch needs a different filing from a newly formed local company; do not select a local company merely because both will operate in Singapore.

First confirm that registration is required. ACRA’s eligibility guidance covers regular profit-making activity, including online and home ventures, subject to exemptions. The full-NRIC-name exemption is narrow: adding a brand or descriptive words changes the position. An exemption from business-name registration does not settle activity or premises approvals. Applicants must also satisfy age and role requirements; individual registrants must be at least 18.

For example, a solo consultant choosing a trading name must consider personal exposure before selecting a sole proprietorship. Two partners wanting a separate entity should compare an LLP with a company. A business expecting share investors should settle its ownership and governance before a company filing. These are decision prompts, not automatic recommendations.

Resolve filing access and the Singapore resident role

Confirm both who can submit and who will hold the required local role. Singpass is an individual login; having it does not by itself establish eligibility to run a business. Foreign Identification Number holders should check their pass conditions with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) or the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority before accepting a role.

Overseas foreigners should engage a registered Corporate Service Provider (CSP) . ACRA’s general foreign-applicant guidance directs foreigners to a CSP, while its entity filing guides also describe eligible locals and foreigners with Singpass. If you are a resident foreign pass holder considering self-filing, confirm the applicable route with ACRA and your pass issuer before reserving the name. Without Singpass, use a CSP.

For an eligible direct filing, the name applicant must also hold the prescribed role: owner or authorised representative for a sole proprietorship, partner or manager for an LLP, or director or secretary for a local company. A consultant’s ability to log in is not a substitute for the applicant’s role.

Under the Corporate Service Providers Act regime effective from 9 June 2025 , businesses providing corporate services in and from Singapore must register with ACRA. Nominee directors acting by way of business must be arranged through a registered CSP and assessed as fit and proper. Agree who actually performs each role, rather than treating a nominee appointment as an administrative name on a form.

If you intend to relocate and run the business, obtain the appropriate work permission. Incorporation does not grant a work pass. Review Singapore company registration and formation support if the company route fits your plan, with the resident-director arrangement and immigration work scoped separately.

Reserve the name with the correct entity type and SSIC activity

Reserve the business name before filing the entity. In ACRA’s name-reservation instructions , prepare the proposed name without its legal suffix, the chosen entity type, the primary Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) activity and any applicable secondary activity. Keep a valid email address for the outcome.

Prepare supporting justification only where required, such as consent for an identical name or evidence supporting restricted wording. Choose the activity that describes the actual operation, rather than the broadest label that appears convenient. The code helps classify the business; it does not grant a sector licence.

Save the approved name’s transaction reference and expiry date. Registration must be completed within 120 days; afterwards the name is released. Keep the entity type consistent between reservation and registration. A name approval is also separate from trade-mark protection and ownership of a matching website domain.

Prepare the inputs for your chosen filing

Use one agreed fact sheet for the owners, local role, addresses and activity. Then collect the additional inputs required by the entity; a generic passport-and-address checklist misses important Singapore fields.

Follow the official sole-proprietorship filing guide , LLP filing guide or local-company filing guide for the exact fields. A company may use the model constitution or upload its own. Its public contact address must be in the same country as the residential address and must not be a P.O. Box. A registered office and the place of actual operations can differ.

For companies, prepare the Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) position and the Registers of Nominee Directors and Nominee Shareholders (ROND and RONS) position before submitting. If applicable, provide controller and nominator information; where controllers cannot be identified, the form requests individuals with executive control. An LLP also has controller questions. “No nominees” and “exempt from maintaining the registers” are different declarations.

Ask the CSP which identity and ownership evidence it needs for its due diligence, especially for overseas corporate owners or layered ownership. Do not assume that every applicant must obtain the same notarisation or translation. Resolve discrepancies in names, ownership percentages and addresses before anyone confirms the filing.

Submit in Bizfile and retain evidence of approval

For the direct route, log in to Bizfile as an individual and select Register, then Register new entity and Register new business entity. Retrieve the approved name using its reference, complete the applicable fields and review the declarations. A CSP uses its own provider route; do not share personal login credentials.

1. Check the entity type, activity, office and all position holders against the agreed fact sheet. For a company, reconcile share capital and each shareholder’s allotment before confirming the constitution.
2. Complete endorsements where required. For a company or LLP filed without a CSP, the other position holders must endorse within 60 days; the CSP-filed route does not require that separate endorsement step.
3. Pay through the official transaction and keep the receipt. Read the Bizfile inbox for the registration outcome, rather than treating a payment acknowledgement as approval.
4. Retain the successful registration or incorporation notice, the unique entity number (UEN) and the Business Profile. Reconcile the approved particulars with the submitted facts.

The entity guides describe many routine registrations as approved soon after payment; additional review and referrals can take longer. Keep document preparation, endorsements, authority review and any operating approvals as separate planning stages. A provider should not turn the routine case into a guaranteed opening date.

If support is being outsourced, compare company formation providers by their checking and handover responsibilities . Require the final records, account responsibilities and outstanding tasks to be handed over to a named person, not simply a message saying “done”.

Connect the UEN to banking, licences and ongoing duties

Use the UEN as the entity identifier, then complete the tasks triggered by the actual business. A bank account, permission for a regulated activity and the founder’s work status each need their own outcome. The ACRA local-company post-registration checklist is a practical starting point.

• Access and banking: arrange Corppass and authorise the people handling government transactions. Ask the chosen bank for its current identity, ownership, signatory and business-evidence requirements; registration is not a promise of account approval.
• Activity and premises: use the GoBusiness Licence e-Advisers linked from ACRA’s checklist. Confirm the issuing agency’s conditions for the activity and operating site before opening. Import or export operations also need the Customs account and trade-permit route.
• Company administration: appoint a secretary within six months and an auditor within three months unless audit-exempt. Maintain the applicable company registers, keep changes current and schedule annual-return and meeting duties according to the company’s circumstances.

For an LLP, use ACRA’s LLP post-registration guide for controller-register tasks and the structure comparison for annual declarations and accounting records. For a sole proprietorship, follow the sole-proprietorship post-registration guide and track registration expiry and applicable Medisave requirements. Company annual returns, LLP declarations and business-registration renewal are different obligations.

Set up bookkeeping from the first transaction and assign the tax work. IRAS’s basic company tax guide separates Estimated Chargeable Income from the annual Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) or Form C filing. The first filing position depends on the financial year end and first accounts; an ACRA annual return does not replace an IRAS return. Separately assess whether GST registration is required or appropriate, using IRAS’s current conditions rather than assuming incorporation registers the business for GST.

Decide whether the registration file is ready

To register a business in Singapore, make four decisions explicit before submission: the entity being created, the person entitled to file, the local role holder and the activity being declared. Hold the filing if those answers conflict with the proposed name or ownership records.

After approval, close the registration task only when the notice, UEN and Business Profile are retained. Keep a separate operating checklist with an owner for licences, premises, banking, tax and work permission. That division gives the founder a clear answer to two different questions: whether the business is registered and whether its planned operations may begin.