How to set up a company in Singapore (2026): steps, tax & cost

Overview

Singapore is one of the most respected places in the world to run a real company. The registry, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), incorporates a private limited company (Pte Ltd) online through its Bizfile portal, often within a single business day. The tax system is simple and territorial in flavour: a flat 17% corporate rate, generous exemptions for young companies, no capital-gains tax, and foreign income taxed only when remitted (with exemptions). That combination — plus first-class banking and a strong reputation — is why founders across Asia and beyond base holding and operating companies here.

The catch is that Singapore is not an anonymous, hands-off offshore shell. It expects substance and local compliance. Every company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, a registered local office, and a qualified company secretary. For non-residents this is the central friction, and it is almost always solved by paying a corporate service provider for a nominee director. Get that right and the rest is straightforward.

Who it's for

A Singapore Pte Ltd fits people building a genuine business or holding structure who value reputation, banking and treaty access over pure tax minimisation. It is a poor fit for anyone wanting a cheap, anonymous, do-nothing shell — the local-director and reporting obligations make that both expensive and pointless.

• Founders raising capital or serving Asian markets who need a credible, bankable entity
• Software, consulting and IP-holding businesses that can genuinely be managed from or through Singapore
• Groups wanting a regional holding company with strong treaty coverage and no capital-gains tax
• Entrepreneurs planning to relocate to Singapore (via an Employment Pass or EntrePass) and run the company themselves
• Not a fit: those seeking secrecy, no local presence, or a nil-tax structure with zero substance

Types of company

Foreigners almost always use the private limited company. The other structures exist mainly for local sole traders, partnerships or large multinationals opening a branch.

Corporate tax & key taxes

The headline rate is a flat 17% on chargeable income, but new companies rarely pay the full amount for years. A qualifying new start-up gets the Start-Up Tax Exemption (SUTE) for its first three Years of Assessment; thereafter it moves to the Partial Tax Exemption (PTE). Both are applied automatically by IRAS — there is no application step.

The SUTE requires a genuinely new company with no more than 20 shareholders, at least one of whom is an individual holding at least 10% of the shares (investment-holding and property-development companies are excluded). Verify current thresholds with IRAS, as exemption caps and rebates are adjusted from time to time.

How to set it up, step by step

1. Choose and reserve a company name through ACRA's Bizfile portal (a S$15 fee); approval is usually near-instant unless the name needs referral.
2. Line up the mandatory people and address: at least one shareholder, at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, a registered local office address, and a plan to appoint a company secretary within six months.
3. If you have no qualifying resident director, engage a corporate service provider to supply a nominee director — this is the standard route for non-residents.
4. Prepare the constitution (you can adopt ACRA's model constitution) and confirm the share capital (a minimum of S$1 is legally sufficient).
5. Register the company via Bizfile and pay the S$300 registration fee; incorporation is frequently completed the same day.
6. Appoint a qualified company secretary within six months, and an auditor within three months unless the company qualifies for audit exemption.
7. Open a corporate bank account and, if turnover will exceed S$1 million, register for GST with IRAS.
8. Set up bookkeeping and calendar the annual obligations: hold the AGM (where required), file the annual return with ACRA and file corporate tax (ECI and Form C-S/C) with IRAS.

Costs & timeline

Substance, banking & the reality

A Singapore company is easy to register and hard to abuse. The corporate bank account is the real hurdle: banks apply strong anti-money-laundering checks and increasingly want to understand where the business genuinely operates, who runs it and why it is in Singapore. A non-resident director with no local footprint can face delays or refusals; providers that bundle banking introductions help, but nothing is guaranteed. Beyond banking, the nominee director is a compliance formality — they are a statutory officer with legal duties, not someone who runs your business, and reputable providers require you to have real management control.

Common mistakes

• Treating the nominee director as if they run the business — they are a statutory officer with duties and liability, not a manager
• Assuming the 17% headline rate applies from day one and ignoring the SUTE and PTE exemptions when budgeting
• Believing Singapore is a nil-tax haven — it is low-tax and territorial-ish, not zero, and remitted foreign income can be taxable
• Running the company from your home country and ignoring CFC or place-of-effective-management rules there
• Missing statutory deadlines: company secretary within six months, auditor within three months, plus annual returns and tax filings
• Underestimating the corporate bank account, which can take weeks and is not guaranteed for non-resident-run entities
• Forgetting GST registration once taxable turnover crosses S$1 million